I'm in the process of dehydrating spaghetti sauce (To be used with Penne pasta) My question is; should I....

A. Dehydrate the sauce and simply cook the pasta in camp?
B. Partially cook the pasta, mix it in with the sauce and dehydrate all at once?
C. Cook pasta separately and dehydrate separately?
D. other?

Also,
I've read that people pre-cook the pasta at home. Does this allow it to cook faster in camp??

EDIT....
One more Question;
I know dehydrating times will vary, but "Generally" speaking, is this something that will take 8 hours? 16 hours? (If I put it in early this afternoon and let it go all night, will that be too long? or should I wait until later on tonight to start dehydrating?

Thanks!~
sb

I think all of those work. My preference, believing one lives to eat, is to dehydrate the sauce separately from the meat and vegetables, rehydrate and mix in camp. I also take uncooked pasta noodles - usually angel hair. But it is neither the easiest nor quickest nor most fuel efficient - but I like it and believe it tastes better.

Certainly cooking pasta, mixing with sauces, and dehydrating all at once will be the quickest and easiest in camp and quite satisfactory.

I make my own spaghetti sauce and dehydrate it although Prego right out of the jar works fine. I spread the sauce into a thin layer on a silicon sheet for use in my Excalibur dehydrator. The edges dry faster than the middle so I spread the edges of the sheet slightly thicker than the middle. I pick the temp setting from the guide on the dehydrator and generally just let it go 24 hours. Going too long is better than going too short.

For the spaghetti, I use thin spaghetti. I have a 12 cm aluminum cup with a lid and pot cozy I made from Reflectix. I break the thin spaghetti into thirds so that the length will fit into my cup. I measure out 5.5 oz of thin spaghetti and vacuum seal it. At camp, I put the spaghetti into my cup so the noodles are vertical. Then I pour in boiling water to near the top to cover all the noodles. Put on the lid and let sit in the pot cozy for 20 minutes. Then strain off the water and the spaghetti is done. No need to waste fuel cooing pasta. I usually boil the water in a larger pot on my LittlBug wood stove.

For the sauce, I put the leather in a separate cup and add boiling water bit by bit until it is reconstituted to the proper thickness. If needed, I heat it a little on a small alcohol burner (MiniBull). I do that while the spaghetti is sitting in the pot cozy and then pour the sauce into the spaghetti cup. Add some oregano, shaved parmesan, and some red pepper flakes. this is a great meal on a foul weather day because it is so easy. Cleanup is simple also.

"going to long is better than going too short". Totally agree. Always liked this meal but it always took me a long time to rehydrate. One year I somehow completely forgot that I had the sauce dehydrating. Had planned on about 12 hours but instead it was more like 36. Was pretty sure I may have ruined it but didn't have time to redo. When I took it off instead of fruit leather consistency it crushed down to powder. Rehydrated in just a few minutes and tasted just as good. Now it usually takes me about 24 hours but if in doubt I let it keep going untill crispy.

Thanks for the info everyone. I'm trying some mixed with pasta and some without. It's in the dehydrator now and I'll leave it overnight.
Thanks again!

I'd keep it separated. Dehydrating spagetti sauce to a powder works the best for me. And the angel hair pasta re-hydrates in no time.

I use the leather technique. I have never tried to pre-cook the noodles, sounds like a good idea. I also add a half pound of re-hydrated hamburger and mushrooms to the sauce. easy to prepare and adds a lot to the sauce.

I have been drying the sauce until it's leather but now I'm going to try leaving it in longer and grinding it up.

I add dried morels, dried ground beef, dried onions, and dried bell peppers. I rehydrate everything and then mix it into my frybake oven and sit it on the fire to simmer for awhile. I prep it right away at the campsite and by the time everyone is ready to eat it's ready to go. My spaghetti in the woods is as good as what I make at home.

I always dehydrate Spagetti sauce into leather, tear into SMALL chunks and zip lock it, then rehydrate it with WARM/HOT Water. It takes a bit of stirring and time to get Spagetti Sauce back into good consitancy, but it is GREAT stuff. A little secret, I also one of those small pouches (the same ones that Taco Seasoning, or Chili Seasoning come in at the grocery store?) Anyway I take a Packet of that McCormick's or some other brand Spaggetti Sauce Powder, and I add it to my deydrated stuff, and it REALLY adds more flavor, and stretches my Dehydrated Sauce. I ussually pick up the VERY SMALL zip locks at HOBBY LOBBY and repack that powder into two little zip locks.
So split the bag in half, I rehydrate the "leather" first, and if I get to much water in there and made it to thin, then I add the McCormicks in there to get it a little thicker. Just a trick I decided to try, and it really works Peachy.

SunCatcher

Oh, and as far as the best way to go cooking the noodles and making the meal and rehdrating it or taking ingredients and cooking them.
Well the easiest way is to make the meal at home finished product and re-hydrate it. It makes life "simpler" on the trail.
However, I feel that the meal is better if you boil the water and noodles at camp, rehydrate the sauce at camp, and rehydrate the burger at camp, and add it all together. TASTES BETTER, and more like a home cooked meal. Also don't forget the parmesian cheese!!!
fyi, I package the Parmesian Cheese up In those little zip locks from Hobby Lobby also...they are slick little bags to have for lots of things.
Darys, I let my after browning hamburger/vension I put it in a collander and rinse it, and then dehydrate 12 - 24 hours. 16 for me would be about normal.

SunCatcher

Well here it is. I'll report back after we try it.

Spaghetti Sauce & Meat Dehydrated.



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Spaghetti Sauce with Meat & Pasta dehydrated together.

When i tried this last year it dehydrated down to a powder like substance but turned out to be perfect. I too was worried that it was suppose to be a leather. I just made sauce as normal then put it in a food processor then poured it out on the trays. Don't remember how long it was in the dehydrator but probably over night. I think it tasted better than when it was made the 1st time. I vacuum sealed the noodles after breaking them down a couple of times.

quote Bwoods: "I have been drying the sauce until it's leather but now I'm going to try leaving it in longer and grinding it up.


I add dried morels, dried ground beef, dried onions, and dried bell peppers. I rehydrate everything and then mix it into my frybake oven and sit it on the fire to simmer for awhile. I prep it right away at the campsite and by the time everyone is ready to eat it's ready to go. My spaghetti in the woods is as good as what I make at home. "

That sounds really good!

I dehydrate my sauce on its own, then rehydrate it on its own..same as the meat. I was going to attempt to make spaghetti with sauce and dehyrate the whole thing together...as so many do. Then I found out Ronzoni makes 3 minute pasta. It comes in elbows & penne style (and one other style I can't remember-spiral maybe?). Great for saving fuel & time and it tastes just like regular pasta. Holds up well and you can just throw some into any soup or dish to add some extra calories/bulk. Love it. Good luck to you.
http://ronzoni.newworldpasta.com/quickcook/

All good tips. Only thing I would say is once you have the sauce dehydrated is to break it up in a blender for 5 seconds. Helps at camp to hydrate it again.

My wife and I do it by dehydrating the sauce seperate from the noodles. We usually take the angle hair pasta as it cooks quicker. We put dehydrated TVP or ground beef in with our suace when we rehydrate it.

I just add the spaghetti to the sauce as it is heating to rehydrate, cook it right in the sauce.. works great, and only one pot to clean

Better to make your dehydrated spaghetti sauce fresh.
Dehydrating already made sauce drives out much of the flavor.

Here's how I do it.

Fry 1 pound of hamburger, drain fat. Put into fine mesh sieve and run hot tap water through it to get last of the grease off. Dehydrate. Divide evenly by weight using a kitchen scale into 8 sandwich bags and twist tie closed.

Dehydrate 4 cans of tomato paste to leather stage. Cut with scissors into linguini-like strips. Divide evenly by weight into 8 sandwich bags and twist tie closed.

Combine all your spices, 1.5 T garlic powder, 1 T onion powder, 1.5 t oregano, 1 t basil, 3/4 t salt, 1/2 t pepper, and mix well. Divide evenly into 8 sandwich bags and twist tie closed.

Place 8 portions of pasta, I like to use cheese tortellini, into 8 quart size freezer bags. Into each freezer bag add one hamburger, tomato and spice bag.

In camp, put hamburger and tomato into a small pot or a large cup.
Add 1.5 cups boiling water. Wrap in towel to keep in heat. Start pasta water boiling. After 5 minutes add spices to sauce and stir to combine. When pasta is done, stir sauce again until the tomato is completely re-hydrated and add to pasta.

It's dehydrated, but it's made fresh!

NorthernWay