top of page

Easy, Budget-Friendly Base for Vegan Dehydrated Hiking Meals

Nov 1, 2024

4 min read

Hey there! Just got a dehydrator? After trying all those fancy recipes and realising how much time they take, come back here and try my go-to base for low-effort hiking meals.


Last year, Ames and I got gifted a dehydrator from a friend who wasn’t using it (thank you so much!). We were stoked and went all out with gourmet recipes. As foodies, the idea of making our own meals was exciting. A dehydrated meal from a store can cost around $18 AUD, and the vegan options? Slim. Plus, with the amount of hiking we do, who can afford that?


The Lazy But Delicious Route


At first, we cooked up full-on meals and dehydrated them. They were delicious but honestly time-consuming. So, we got lazy and created a simple base formula that saves us time, money, and effort—without skimping on flavour. Instead of using the brain power to concoct a recipe, we dehydrate and store the elements of our meals separately, whatever carb, veg and protein we have at the time, and decide on the flavour later. Most items we dehydrate ourselves, but there are a couple of cheap dried goods we grab from the store.


Vacuum sealed and dehydrated food sits on a table. The ingredients are all seperate. One bag contains pasta, another vegetables and chickpeas, and another lentils and vegetables.
An example of some dehydrated dinner components. Here we have pasta, chickpeas, lentils and mixed vegetables.

Base Elements and Inspo Ingredients:


  • Carb: Rice, pasta, wheat noodles or couscous 

  • Veggies: Frozen veggie mix or whatever’s in the bargain bin

  • Protein: Canned lentils, chickpeas, edamame or TVP (textured vegetable protein),

  • Flavour: Seasoning packets from the supermarket or sauces put in refillable packets


With these simple and cheap ingredients you can whip up an array of easy vegan dehydrated hiking meals.


How We Do It:


  • Cook your carb, then toss it in the dehydrator.

  • Sauté veggies (no oil!) and chuck them in the dehydrator.

  • Rinse canned beans or chickpeas, then yep, dehydrate them too.

  • TVP (textured vegetable protein) doesn’t need dehydration—it’s lightweight and packs a protein punch right out of the bag.


It’s that simple. No need to make it complicated unless you’re in the mood to experiment. 


We keep these ingredients all separately store in bags until we are ready to hike. When the date is close we assemble our meals and decide the cuisine with whatever flavour we are feeling.


Note; we dehydrate our own rice and pasta, but wheat noodles we cook at camp. 


Supermarket Seasoning Packets: The Real Game-Changer


These have been a life-saver for quick and easy flavour. You can find everything from fried rice seasoning to Indian, Mexican, or Mediterranean blends. The options are endless, so go wild! It’s all about mixing and matching your base with these seasonings to create something fresh for each hike.


Our Go-To Combos For Easy Vegan Dehydrated Hiking Meals:


  • Mexican Rice: Rice, mixed veg, TVP, taco seasoning.

  • Fried Rice: Rice, mixed veg, TVP, fried rice seasoning.

  • Ramen: Soba noodles, mixed veg, chickpeas, pho or veg stock cube.

  • Curry: Rice, lentils, mixed veg, dehydrated curry paste, coconut milk powder.


Supermarket Dehydrated Finds:


We have discovered some even lazier things that don’t even require you to whip out your dehydrator.


  • Instant couscous: A hiker’s dream—already dehydrated, cooks fast, lightweight and cheap as chips. We’ve made up bags of instant couscous, dehydrated veg, chickpeas, a stock cube, and seasonings, then just dry-soaked it in the morning for lunch. Ames loved it... until we had it way too often. Lesson learned.

  • Dry Roasted Edamame: While dehydrating your own edamame from frozen is more cost effective, if you’re in a pinch you can use Dry Roasted Edamame from the International section and rehydrate for a protein in your meal. We originally bought these for snacking and had a light bulb moment. Found at Coles.



Dry Roasted Edamame in a green packet. Great for snacking and to add to hiking meals for protein.
  • Dehydrated plant chicken: Also at Coles we came across Nature’s Kitchen brand dehydrated vegan chicken in the health food section. We tried it once, and while it was tasty, it takes up more space than you’d expect for the amount of protein. Super sweet treat though! Definitely rate it.

  • Coconut milk powder: Great for making your own dehydrated curry or a hot choccy on the trail. Keep in mind if you're vegan, the brand Ayam found at Coles does contain milk! Sneaky sneaky. We have gotten vegan alternatives from Source or other bulk food stores.



Café Freebies


Whenever we're out for a meal, we like to grab a few salt and pepper packets. They're super handy on the trail for adding extra seasoning to your meals. Plus, the salt packets serve a dual purpose—if you run into any pesky leeches, a little salt can quickly take care of them!


Homemade Sauce Magic


Sometimes we whip up our own sauces, like a peanut satay (peanut butter, soy sauce, chilli, vinegar, and maple syrup). We store them in refillable pouches from Kmart. They have quite a large ranges of refillable pouches, probably designed for cosmetics but ultra-handy for hiking. Pretty lightweight too. A bit heavier than dried seasoning, but the flavour payoff? Totally worth it. You can also store soy sauce, sweet chilli, or any of your favourite condiments in these handy pouches.


Learn From Our Mistakes:


We’ve saved a ton of money with these meals, but not every experiment is a success. We’ve crushed pasta in our packs, added way too much seasoning (hello, salty dehydration), and turned tofu into a trail brick. But that’s part of the fun!


The key is to stay creative and keep it simple. What low-effort dehydrated meals are you going to try on your next adventure?



Comments

Share Your ThoughtsBe the first to write a comment.
bottom of page