Vegetable Trim Polenta
Cornmeal, bouillon, and whatever vegetable ends you dried before leaving the house.
- calories
- 540
- weight
- 4.5 oz
- cal / oz
- 120
- protein
- 10 g
- serves
- 1, scales
- prep
- 2 min
- cook
- 10 min
- total time
- 12 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
- Liquid fuel
- Backpacking
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Bikepacking
- Vegetarian
- Vegan
- Gluten free
- Dairy free
- Nut free
- One pot
- Dehydrate ahead
- Shelf stable
- Basic
Ingredients
| Quick-cooking cornmeal or instant polenta | 1/2 cup | coarse grind takes longer than the label claims |
|---|---|---|
| Home-dried vegetable trim | 1/3 cup | pepper tops, carrot ends, mushroom stems, onion, tomato |
| Vegetable bouillon | 1 cube or 1 tsp powder | |
| Olive oil | 2 tbsp | dropper bottle |
| Nutritional yeast | 1 tbsp | |
| Black pepper and dried herbs | 1/2 tsp |
Method
- Pour 400 ml of water into the pot with the dried vegetables and the bouillon. Bring it to a boil and let the vegetables sit in it for two minutes so they start to take on water.
- Turn the heat as low as it will go. Rain the cornmeal in with one hand while stirring with the other. Dumping it all at once gives you lumps you will not stir out.
- Cook eight minutes, stirring every thirty seconds and scraping the bottom. It will go from soup to porridge to something that holds a spoon upright.
- Kill the heat, stir in the oil, yeast, pepper, and herbs. Cover for two minutes, then eat.
This is a way to carry the parts of vegetables you would otherwise throw away. Pepper tops, carrot ends, mushroom stems, and onion trim all dry fine in a dehydrator or a low oven, and once dry they weigh almost nothing and keep for months. The bouillon covers whatever your scrap mix lacks in flavor.
Cornmeal is the right base because it rehydrates the vegetables while it cooks, so nothing needs a separate soak. The stirring is not optional at camp stove heat: polenta scorches on a thin titanium pot bottom faster than it does at home. The oil goes in off the heat, where it stays as fat and calories instead of cooking off.
Packing
Cornmeal, dried vegetables, bouillon, yeast, and seasoning all go in one bag at home. Oil rides separately in a bottle that seals.
Variations
- A foil packet of tuna or a handful of shelf-stable salami stirred in at the end makes it a heavier dinner.
- Extra oil and a spoon of tomato powder turns the leftovers into something you can slice cold in the morning.
https://thesurvivalmom.com/wasting-food