Do you find much difference between the following methods of rehydration / heating:

Add air temp. filtered water to the bag of dehydrated food, let sit for some time depending on the food, then boil one minute

versus

Boil filtered water, add to bag of dehydrated food, let sit for some time depending on the food

I favor the latter because I try to use minimal fuel. What have been your experiences?

Thanks, Beth

I use a soaking jar so I prefer the second method (except I use unfiltered water if boiling). I am able to use minimal fuel and do not get my cooking pot dirty. The jar is easy to clean by just adding a half cup of water, shaking, and then drinking the dregs.

I have tried eating food out of a bag and I find it disgusting and food gets stuck in the corners. Plus then I have a dirty, hard to clean bag or a bag that will make stinky garbage in a few days of hot weather.

I add it to the bag - it saves cleaning the pot :)

#2 is what I do when cooking. If it’s sausage or hamburger I will add water and let it set out for a couple of hours covered in a pot. Then cook what ever else for the meal. The key is to re-hydrate and cook with as little fuel or effort as possible.

I often do first, start rehydrating at lunch for dinner in a fair share mug. Albeit, for me its often ingredients like vegetables or sauce, not whole meals. In second, if boiling I don't use filtered water, a plus.

For commercially packaged freeze dried foods I boil water and let soak in the bag for 15-20 minutes as per the directions. In the past 2 years I’ve done a lot more dehydrating of my own foods, and generally do the same boil, let soak in pot, then eat, but sometimes find the food does not rehydrate as well as I would like. I recently watched some dehydrated meal recipe videos from a YouTube channel Kevin Outdoors, and he adds the stuff to a pot, heats up to a boil for a minute or so, then let’s sit in a cozy. I’ve started experimenting with this at home and think it works better than what I was doing.

I’ve seen videos of people who just cold soak everything so they can avoid fuel use or event the burden of carrying a cat food stove. I’ve never been this concerned about fuel, but I don’t single portage either. It only takes about 1/2 oz of fuel to boil 2 cups of water.

Jaywalker: "For commercially packaged freeze dried foods I boil water and let soak in the bag for 15-20 minutes as per the directions. In the past 2 years I’ve done a lot more dehydrating of my own foods, and generally do the same boil, let soak in pot, then eat, but sometimes find the food does not rehydrate as well as I would like. I recently watched some dehydrated meal recipe videos from a YouTube channel Kevin Outdoors, and he adds the stuff to a pot, heats up to a boil for a minute or so, then let’s sit in a cozy. I’ve started experimenting with this at home and think it works better than what I was doing.


I’ve seen videos of people who just cold soak everything so they can avoid fuel use or event the burden of carrying a cat food stove. I’ve never been this concerned about fuel, but I don’t single portage either. It only takes about 1/2 oz of fuel to boil 2 cups of water. "

Well, this is why I brought this up. I've been doing the same for years - adding boiled water to the package, bag, jar, whatever, then inside some insulating thing, and then eat after awhile. But then I was watching some videos where they consistently boils the rehydrated meals for a minute. So I tried that. I rehydrated some homemade dinner recipe with air-temp filtered water, and then boiled the rehydrated product in the bag for about a minute, maybe a little less. Not only was it piping hot, but it tasted better than what I had been doing. I guess I'd burn twice the fuel, so that's a consideration, but it was better-tasting.

If you don't mind spending a little extra, freeze dried is a good option. We dehydrate some things, but chicken, celery, broccoli and peaches were much better than dehydrated. I could never get the celery or chicken to come back to anything that was as good and it rehydrated in minutes instead of hours. We ordered FD Backpackers Pantry chicken online. It claims to be gluten free. It has some powdered chicken, but it's still protein. The celery from North Bay does not indicate GF. You could ask them if it's safe or maybe find a supplier that does. Also, Karen's naturals FD Just Pineapple was a great snack and doesn't have the added sugar that most dried pineapple has. I know you probably have what works for you, but if someone is having trouble with lag times for rehydrating, it's a solution.

I dehydrate all my own meals over the course of the winter. I have 2 nested pots that I bring, with the larger one have a homemade coozy surrounding it for insulation. I then boil water in my smaller pot and cover the dehydrated meal with that water and then let it set for 10 minutes or so in the insulated pan. If it is a pasta-base meal I will sometimes put the pan back on my stove for a minute or so, after it has soaked, just to avoid crunchy pasta. The added weight of a second pot and a little more fuel is minimal in my opinion since my canoe is carrying that little added weight for the majority of the trip. If I were going on a lengthy backpacking trip I might rethink my strategy.