What’s for Dinner? Part II

Here’s how my week of food prep worked during our practice run on Drummond Island and what I need to tweak for the actual trip.

Day  1

Dinner –

• Appetizer – Veggie snack bags (dehydrated veggies – seasoned squash, seasoned zucchini, salt and vinegar green beans – peppers, and okra – didn’t care for the okra); We eat these while getting camp set up and hydrating dinner. I guess you could call them our appetizers.
• Entree – Zucchini, mushroom, olive, onion, and snap pea stir fry with rice – leftovers from a dinner at home – (1 ounce rice and 2 ounces stir fry)
• Dessert – Mud pie pudding – http://www.backpackingchef.com/mud-pie.html (1/3 cup mix in each bag)

Wow! Wonderful! Healthy – we could pronounce all the ingredients. Inexpensive – all veggies were grown in my garden.

Day 2

Breakfast –

• Breakfast casserole – Backpack Gourmet by Linda Federick Yaffe – page 21

Very good. The book says a serving size is 5.5 ounces, but we split a 6 ounce package, which was plenty for the two of us. (When I was vacuum sealing my packages, I ended with 6 ounces…)

Snacks –

• No bake peanut butter energy bars –http://www.-food/recipes/backpacking-lunch-snack-recipes/

I added chia seeds and milled flax seed. I am going to try baking them, as well.

Lunch –

• Peanut butter wraps with dehydrated bananas – surprisingly very good
• Dehydrated veggie bag – cucumber chips – http://www.frugallivingmom.com/crispy-cucumber-chips/, salt and pepper zucchini chips – http://www.frugallivingmom.com/salt-and-pepper-zucchini-chips/#_a5y_p=1646249, bell pepper candy – http://skinnyms.com/bell-pepper-candy , vinegar potato chips – http://veggieconverter.com/dehydrated-and-delicious-vinegar-potato-chips/ .We loved the candy bell peppers!
• Fruit and nut bags  (hmmmm….) – almonds, dehydrated grapes and pineapple

Dinner –

• Appetizer – Veggie snack bags (dehydrated veggies – seasoned squash, seasoned zucchini, salt and vinegar green beans, peppers)
• Entree – Spaghetti – a dehydrated left over with Parmesan cheese (in a separate small bag) We split a 4 ounce bag, which was not quite enough – 3 ounces per person would be perfect. Oops, the Parmesan cheese was actually dehydrated milk. I guess we can use the dehydrated milk on granola for breakfast since I forgot shelf stable milk…… Hmmm……
• Dessert – Zucchini bread – nice treat, but I think we will only be able to take it during the first couple of weeks of the trip because it probably would not last more than a couple of weeks even if it is vacuum sealed. I may do a test run by vacuum sealing a piece and opening it after four months to see how it stores – I better hurry, I only gave seven months…..

Day 3

Breakfast –

• Oatmeal with dehydrated blueberries and granola with a side of 1/2 cup dried milk. http://www.backpackingchef.com/oatmeal-recipes.html The dried milk really wasn’t as bad as we thought it would be. I had planned on using shelf-safe milk, however, I think 3/4 cup dried milk will be just fine.

We did notice we were hungrier sooner and had less energy after eating the oatmeal compared today we ate breakfast casserole for breakfast.

Lunch and snacks –

• Repeat of yesterday

Dinner–

• Thunderstorms so we are spending the evening at a local bar. We are on vacation……

Day 4

Breakfast –

• Canadian hash browns (1 1/2 ounces) with tortilla – http://www.backpackingchef.com/breakfast-camping-recipes.html

Lunch and snacks –

• Repeat of yesterday

So far we have only eaten 1 of our 2 energy bar snacks each day.

Dinner –

• Appetizer – Veggie snack bags
• Entree – Dehydrated sloppy jo (3 ounces) in tortilla – http://www.backpackingchef.com/backpacking-food-ideas.html
• Side dish – Veggie macaroni and cheese – (1/2 cup pasta) cheese sauce mix (1/8 cup) – http://www.trailcooking.com/dry-mixes-seasonings/parmesan-cheese-sauce-powder-mix/ I need to add more salt to cheese sauce mix. Also, John would like more pasta – I will double one serving size for him.
• Dessert – Banana pudding – http://www.food.com/recipe/instant-backpacking-pudding-420912 – using vanilla pudding and dehydrated bananas

Day 5

Breakfast –

• Breakfast casserole – (I had planned on granola, but we both woke up really hungry, so…..) This morning we are eating 5.5 ounce each – perfect amount!

Lunch and snacks –

• Repeat of yesterday

Dinner–

• Appetizer – Famous veggie snack bag
• Entree – Spaghetti – (so I wasn’t very creative preparing for this week) I did bag these in 3 ounce bags – perfect amount. I also included 2 tablespoons of parmesan cheese to share instead of dehydrated milk – 4 tablespoons would be more appealing on this amount of spaghetti. Garlic bread would be a tasty addition – I will have to investigate and experiment.
• Dessert – Zucchini bread

Day 6

The radar indicates there could be some severe weather on its way, so this will be a driving day as we explore the interior of this diverse island. I have prepared our lunch for a picnic perhaps.

Breakfast –

• Granola – insert web site. We shared 1/2 cup dehydrated milk, but I think I will make 3/4 cup – I would like to drink some as well.

Lunch – (no snacks needed since we didn’t paddle)

• Repeat of yesterday

Dinner –

• Storms again so we ate at the local bar.

Day 7

• Going home today so everything is back to normal:( I won ‘t be able to just pull something out of a bag and add water – I’ll have to cook!