Chicken Pasta Primavera - thehippyhomemaker.com

We tried a second dehydrated meal for the upcoming backpacking trip this summer. We used some of the chicken that I had previously dehydrated and added some new dehydrated items. The one that was most surprising to me was the pasta. The recipe had me cook the pasta as the box suggested first and then dehydrate it. It stated that the pasta would reheat better if it was prepared this way.

The ingredients and flavors that were included in this recipe all sounded good to me. I think that if I had prepared it like normal at home that it would have tasted great. We tried the recipe just as it suggested, the vegetables I used were carrots, mushrooms, peas, and peppers. What I have discovered when making these dehydrated meals is that they give an amount of water to boil and then the water gets poured over the dried ingredients to then sit and rehydrate. The suggested time to rehydrate varies, but it is often about 10 minutes. In the experience of creating two of these meals I have learned that it generally takes at least double the suggested time to have these meals become edible.

I understand that these are not meant to be meals for every day unless it is a necessity. This is meant to be a meal for the trail that is lightweight for carrying, easy to prepare, and full of nutrients to refuel the body. I think these meals can do that, but I certainly would not want to eat meals like this daily if it was not necessary. Hubby brought the leftovers to work for lunch and found that by the second day they were much more tasty after the rehydrating had significant time.

We will keep looking for other meals to try and hopefully get better at this before the trip in August.

The recipe is available at thehippyhomemaker.com.

Timing: Recipe States: doesn't say, My Actual Timing: 50 minutes
Servings: Recipe States: 4 generous servings
                Servings For My Family: 5 servings, plus leftovers
Leftovers: Better than the first time it was served.


Family Ratings:
Me: It was fine for trail food, but not great for at home.
Hubby: Not his favorite, so he wants to try some others.
Big Man: No thank you.
Bear: He found the mushrooms, so it was all over from there.
Mr. T: He did not like the noodles prepared this way at all.

Will I repeat: No.

What will I change: The amount of time I let the food sit to reheat.