Packed-Water Beef Chili
Dehydrated ground beef, bean flakes, and instant rice. Built for trips where every drop of water rides in the boat.
- calories
- 900
- weight
- 6.5 oz
- cal / oz
- 138
- protein
- 55 g
- serves
- 1, scales
- prep
- 2 min
- cook
- 10 min
- total time
- 12 min
- water
- 360 ml boiled
- cost
- $$
Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.
- Dinner
- Canister stove
- Liquid fuel
- Canoe / raft
- Backpacking
- Basecamp
- Gluten free
- Dairy free
- Nut free
- One pot
- Dehydrate ahead
- Shelf stable
- Basic
Ingredients
| Dehydrated ground beef | 1/3 cup | 90/10 beef, rinsed in hot water before drying so it rehydrates |
|---|---|---|
| Instant refried bean flakes | 1/2 cup | |
| Instant rice | 1/3 cup | the parcooked kind, not minute-long-grain imposters |
| Tomato powder | 2 tbsp | |
| Chili powder, cumin, garlic powder | 2 tsp total | |
| Olive oil | 1 tbsp | |
| Salt | 1/2 tsp |
Method
- Pour 360 ml of water into the pot and drop in the beef and tomato powder. Let it sit off heat for five minutes if you have them; the meat drinks slower than everything else.
- Bring it to a boil, then stir in the rice. Cover, kill the stove, and wait five minutes.
- Stir in the bean flakes a spoonful at a time. They thicken fast and they will clump if you dump them.
- Add the oil, spices, and salt. Let it stand two minutes so the beef finishes softening.
This started as an argument about cans. If you are paddling water in anyway, a can looks appealing: no rehydration, no fuel, no critter-proofing. The math still favors dried. A dinner like this takes about a cup and a half of water, which weighs less than the liquid already sealed in two cans of chili, and at the end of the week the trash is a fistful of flat bags instead of a bag of sharp metal.
The beef is the part that goes wrong. Ground beef dried straight out of the pan holds fat, and fat blocks water from getting back in, which is how you end up chewing gravel. Rinse the cooked meat with hot water before it hits the trays and it rehydrates in minutes. Bean flakes do the thickening so the pot never has to simmer, and the oil goes in last, once the heat is off, where it adds calories instead of interfering.
Packing
Everything but the oil goes in one quart freezer bag. Oil travels in a dropper bottle. Double-bag the beef if the trip is long or hot; rendered fat is what goes rancid first.
Variations
- Canned chicken or a foil pouch of tuna in place of the beef, added at the end so it does not shred to nothing.
- A handful of crushed corn chips stirred in at the table for fat and crunch.
https://www.canoetripping.net/threads/canned-food-v-dehydrated-packed-water.94917