Trail Taco Filling
Dehydrated taco beef and vegetables, rehydrated in the pot with your own spice blend.
- calories
- 620
- weight
- 5 oz
- cal / oz
- 124
- protein
- 38 g
- serves
- 1, scales
- prep
- 2 min
- cook
- 12 min
- total time
- 14 min
- water
- 400 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
- Alcohol / Esbit
- Backpacking
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Bikepacking
- Gluten free
- Dairy free
- Nut free
- One pot
- Dehydrate ahead
- Shelf stable
- Basic
Ingredients
| Dehydrated ground beef | 3 oz dry | 90/10 or leaner, rinsed with hot water before drying |
|---|---|---|
| Dried onion | 2 tbsp | minced, not powder |
| Dried celery | 1 tbsp | |
| Dried mushrooms | 3 tbsp | crushed small so they rehydrate at the same rate as everything else |
| Dried carrot | 2 tbsp | shredded, not coins |
| Taco seasoning | 1 1/2 tbsp | chili powder, cumin, paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, oregano, red pepper flakes, salt, pepper |
| Olive oil | 1 tbsp | in a dropper bottle; the dried meat has no fat left |
| Corn tortillas or corn chips | 3 small tortillas |
Method
- Pour 400 ml of water into the pot with the beef, vegetables, and seasoning. Stir once.
- Bring it to a boil, then cut the heat to the lowest flame it will hold.
- Simmer 8 to 10 minutes. Stir every couple of minutes so the meat does not weld to the bottom.
- If it goes dry before the meat is soft, add water 50 ml at a time. Dehydrated beef takes longer than the vegetables.
- Off the heat, stir in the oil and let it sit two minutes covered.
- Spoon into tortillas, or eat it straight from the pot with chips.
Ground beef dehydrates badly unless you strip the fat first. Rinse the cooked crumbles under hot water, blot them, then dry them at 145F until they rattle. Fat left in the meat goes rancid in a pack, and it also blocks water from getting back into the protein at camp. The oil goes back in at the end instead, where it does the same job for calories without the storage problem.
The vegetables are here for bulk and to stretch a small amount of meat, which is the whole point of the original. Mushrooms and carrot rehydrate fast; the beef does not. That mismatch is why this simmers rather than steeps in a cozy. Ten minutes of low flame is the difference between taco filling and gravel.
Packing
Beef, vegetables, and seasoning share one bag; they rehydrate together anyway. Oil rides separately. Tortillas go flat against your back panel or they come out as crumbs.
Variations
- Ground turkey dehydrates the same way and costs less.
- Add 2 tbsp instant refried bean flakes at the end to thicken it and stretch it to two people.
- Skip the tortillas and stir the whole pot into instant rice.
https://dontwastethecrumbs.com/ground-beef-taco-meat