The Road to Sidmouth (part 4): The Food Edition

I've got about 5 drafts queued up/nearly ready to go, so excuse the potential deluge...

You read earlier that we got a Jetboil and decided to embrace dehydrated meals. You saw earlier some cosies for our little mealboxes. Now you will see the fabulous borrowed dehydrator making its presence known on top of my sewing cupboard:

And all over my sewing space:

With hindsight I think I may have over-prepared our food for Sidmouth. While we did follow an ultralight dehydrated food method, it was too much food, and when all the meals added up I wasn’t really able to carry the weight of my own bag. In total I prepped breakfast, lunch and dinner for 2 people for a full week. And, naturally, I made massive portions. And then insisted we pre-buy all of the snacks.

In general it was a success, though some meals didn't turn out as good as others. I guess that's not uncommon, but we got exceedingly lucky considering the whole method was new and I invented most of the recipes. The runaway recipe winner was my Upside-down Fish Pie, although the chickpea curry and Jetboil couscous were also really good. So, for the benefit of maker-kind, here’s the recipe:

Ultimate Dehydrated Upside-down Fish Pie for camping, hiking and fast cooking.

Serves 2 generously

You will need:
Boiling water
Cooking pot or cosy

Ingredients:
A handful of dehydrated vegetables (I mixed carrots, peas and sweetcorn, and measured about ¾ of an American cup measure per person)
2 tbsp powdered full-fat milk (e.g. Nido)
1x sachet of Coleman’s Cheese Sauce (or any other sachet of cheese sauce with a respectable level of cheese content)
60g Smash instant mashed potato
Pinch of black pepper
2x60g cans of no-drain tuna
1x can of anchovies in oil

Method:
Before Your Trip

• Assemble the meal by putting the dehydrated vegetables into 1 zip-lock bag, and by combining the powdered ingredients + black pepper (to taste) into another zip lock bag.
• Store the bags and cans of fish together in an airtight container until ready to use

At Camp

• Boil some water and pour the veg into your cooking pot/cosy. Stir in a small amount of hot water, just enough to cover the veg, to rehydrate. Cover with a lid and leave to sit for a few minutes.
• Tip the sauce sachet into your cooking pot/cosy and stir, gradually adding more water until you reach a potato-y fluffy consistency. Cover again and leave to sit for a few mins.
• Fluff up the tuna in its can and add to the pot/cosy. Stir.
• Divide the anchovies between serving and pour in a little of the oil to loosen the mixture if desired
• Serve.

Well, there you go, enjoy!
K