Making your own trekking provisions: long-lasting food

Air-drying is the simplest, most energy-efficient option and is perfect especially for herbs or fruits and vegetables with a low water content. You can tie herbs into small bunches and hang them upside down from a piece of twine, while apples or mushrooms, for instance, can be sliced into thin rounds and strung onto a thread using a needle. You’re best off hanging this over a radiator. Alternatively, if you have an air dryer in your drying room or utility room, you can hang them on the washing line in there.

You can use your oven to dry small quantities of fruits, herbs, vegetables and even meat and fish. It’s important to thinly slice or grate all the ingredients and spread them across the baking sheet so they’re far enough apart. Set your oven to the lowest temperature (50 degrees, ideally with the fan on) and prop the door ajar with a wooden spoon so moisture can escape. You should turn over the items that you’re drying from time to time. How long this takes depends on their thickness: small herbs or thin spinach leaves will dry quicker than, say, apple rings.

Drying food in the oven uses a lot of energy, so we recommend scheduling it for when you’re turning on the oven anyway. For instance, you can use the residual heat left after you’ve cooked a pizza.

If you really want to dive into the world of dried food head-first, a dehydrator is what you need. This device runs on electricity and contains multiple shelves, offering a fail-safe way to dry huge quantities of food. Once again, it’s worth bearing in mind that dehydrators also use a lot of power.

Ingredients for bag 1:

30 g coconut milk powder (available from Asian food shops)
1 tsp stock powder
2 kefir lime leaves (available pre-dried from Asian food shops)
1 small dried chilli
1/2 dried lemongrass stalk
1/2 tsp powdered ginger
1/2 tsp dried coriander
1 handful of dried mushrooms of your choice (e.g. button mushrooms)

Ingredients for bag 2:

80 g dried rice noodles
1 handful of roasted peanuts

Preparation:

Toast the peanuts in a frying pan until golden brown, then leave them to cool.* Measure out the remainder of the ingredients. Then, put ingredients 1 into a freezer bag and ingredients 2 into a second freezer bag.

*The nuts need to be cold before you package them, otherwise condensation can form.

Instructions for during the tour:

Put 300 ml of water into a pan and add the contents of bag 1. Put a lid on the pan, bring the mixture to the boil and stir well. Careful: the coconut milk can quickly boil over, so keep an eye on it. Then, add the contents of bag 2 and stir well. Turn off the stove and leave the soup in the pan, with the lid closed, for five minutes until the noodles are soft.

If you can’t find dried kefir lime leaves and mushrooms, you can dry them yourself – by air, in the oven or in a dehydrator.

Ingredients:

80 g instant polenta
1 tsp stock powder
1 tsp roasted onions
1 tsp rosemary (dried)
1 tsp thyme (dried)
Pinch of garlic powder
Pinch of pepper
2–3 leaves of Swiss chard (alternatively, spinach)
50 g Salsiz sausage (or other dried meat)

Preparation:

1. Heat the convection oven to 50 degrees.

2. Remove the stalks from the chard leaves and use them in another dish. Tear or chop the leaves into small pieces and scatter them across a baking sheet.

3. Dry in the oven for 2.5 hours, leaving the oven door ajar (prop it open with a wooden spoon).

4. Leave the dried leaves to cool: they need to be totally cold before being packed, otherwise condensation will form.

5. Put all the ingredients (apart from the dried meat) into a freezer bag. Pack the dried meat separately.

If the weather is cold and the meal doesn’t need to last for long, you can also take some grated cheese in an additional bag. Scatter the cheese across a baking sheet and leave it to air-dry for 24 hours before putting it into a bag.

Instructions for during the tour:

On the tour, all you need to do is bring 300 ml water to the boil and shake the ingredients into the boiling water. Stir well multiple times. Then, turn off the stove and leave the polenta to absorb the liquid in the pan, with the lid on, for approx. 3 minutes. While this is happening, chop the Salsiz sausage into small pieces. Add them (and the grated cheese) to the polenta, and voila!

Ingredients for bag 1:

100 g couscous
1 tsp stock powder
1 tsp ras el-hanout (Moroccan spice blend)
1 tsp dried chives
A few peppermint leaves (dried, available as tea)

Ingredients for bag 2:

1 handful of flaked almonds
1 handful of pine nuts
1 handful of raisins

Preparation:

1. Put the couscous, stock powder and spices into a freezer bag.

2. Toast the almonds and pine nuts in a frying pan until golden. Then, leave them to cool (they need to be totally cold before being packed, otherwise condensation can form).

3. Put the toasted nuts and raisins into a freezer bag.

If you can’t find any ras el-hanout, you can make your own blend using e.g. mild ground paprika, cumin, pepper, garlic powder, caraway and cinnamon.

Instructions for during the tour:

On the tour, you simply need to bring 150 ml water to the boil, then shake the contents of bag 1 (couscous and spices) into the boiling water. Stir well, switch off the stove and leave the couscous to absorb the water for five minutes with the lid closed. Then, mix in the toasted almonds and pine nuts, plus the raisins – and you’re done.