Storing my dehydrated foods in separate jars is not only the way I keep track of my backpacking meals, it is one way I prep fresh food for the week at home. I will spend a few hours every weekend cutting, steaming, and cooking ingredients I can easily throw together for breakfast on the go, lunch at work or a quick dinner before meetings in the evening.
I fill individual mason jars with things like sweet potatoes, vegetables and cooked meat and top with plastic lids I can put in the microwave at work. You can usually find the lids at any store that sells canning jars.
#porksausage #sweetpotato #kale #purplecabbage #sage #crackedpepper #seasalt
This is one of my favorite meals to cook up for breakfast at home and another way I enjoy sweet potatoes on the trail. I talked about these powerhouses of nutrition in my post Sweet Potato Staples; can’t get enough of them! Not a fan? You can substitute regular potatoes or parsnips.
If at home, I toss the sweet potatoes and vegetables in the cast iron pan for a few minutes with a little coconut oil to soften and then mix with the meat for a filling breakfast. This mash is great without meat as a side to eggs, as well. You can saute pecans with the vegetables if you prefer to go vegan.
Because I forego peppers (of the nightshade family), I use things like fresh cracked pepper to spice my food up. Have you tried the rainbow or mixed peppercorns? I picked these up at my local co-op (Trader Joe’s also sells them) and love the subtle flavor difference from straight black peppercorn.
You can grind them up by hand or use a spice grinder. The ones from Trader Joe’s come in a grinder already!
When added to my heritage ground pork sausage from Central Market with some ground sage, it has a warm and spicy flavor that gets me started right in the morning.
Add the ground sage first and cook the sausage until there is no more pink. Begin to break the meat chunks up as much as you can, this helps not only to cook faster but for when dehydrating for the trail. Add the cracked pepper and blend well.
Also, for dehydrating you want to reduce the amount of fat left to prevent spoilage on the trail. You can do this by dabbing the meat after cooking with a paper towel. Some recommendations are to rinse the meat and if you decide to go that route, you will need to cook the meat without the spices first, rinse, and then add the spices. For more tips on dehydrating, check out my page Dehydrating 101.
If eating at home, you can add the meat to your sautéed vegetables at this time and enjoy. If dehydrating, continue to break the meat up until quite small.
Lay out on jelly roll sheets in your dehydrator and set it to the meat setting. This should be 130-140 degrees. It will take about 10-12 hours to dry completely. Test by crumbling in your fingers to make sure the meat is dry in the middle. For even faster rehydration, you can pulse the dried meat in the food processor a few times to break it down even further.
Again, food safety recommendations are to cook ground meat to 165 degrees, so after dehydrating bake the meat in the oven for 10 minutes at 165 degrees as a final step.
Combine the dried meat with an assortment of dried vegetables and sage leaves. You can also sprinkle in some extra salt and pepper if you like. If you check out my post on Sweet Potatoes Staples, you know you have a variety of ways to use them. Both mashed and shredded work great.
If using mashed, they already contain added coconut milk for creaminess and calories. If you use shredded, you can add powdered coconut milk to the individual meals you prepare.
I usually do a ratio of 1/2 cup dried sweet potatoes, 1/4 cup dried meat, 1/2 cup dried vegetables, 1/4 cup powdered coconut milk, a pinch of green onions, a pinch of sage, and a dash of salt and pepper. If using hot water on the trail, adding a package of coconut oil to the meal after rehydrated adds more calories.
If you are going stoveless, you can use olive oil or heat that coconut oil up in the sun. If you have it sun that is! You can find individual packets of coconut oil at Trader Joe’s or olive oil at Minimus.biz.
If you are new to dehydrating or want more information, especially if you need your meals to last more than a month without refrigeration, please visit my Dehydrating 101 page to find out how to do it safely. Looking for some more tasty backpacking meals? Check out my Backpacking Paleo page for some of my favorites.
Want to make sure you don’t miss the ones I’ll be putting together for this year’s hiking season? Subscribe to my blog and get them straight to you Inbox.
Sweet Sage Sausage Hash
Prep Time
10 minutes
Cook Time
20 minutes
Total Time
40 minutes
Course: Breakfast, Dinner, Lunch, Main Dish
Cuisine: Autoimmune Protocol, Dairy Free, Gluten Free, Nightshade Free, Nut free, Paleo, Whole Food
Servings: 4 servings
Ingredients
- 1 pound ground pork sausage
- 1 teaspoon ground sage
- 1 teaspoon cracked pepper omit for AIP
- 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
- 3 cups shredded sweet potatoes or dried
- 1 cup shredded purple cabbage or dried
- 1 cup chopped kale or dried
- 2 tablespoon coconut oil at home only
- 3-4 fresh sage leaves or dried
- sea salt optional, to taste
- 1/4 cup green onion optional, or dried
Instructions
- Brown the ground sausage over medium heat with the dried sage, cracked pepper and salt until cooked through.
- If eating at home, saute 3 cups shredded sweet potatoes, 1 cup chopped kale and 1 cup shredded cabbage in 2 tablespoons coconut oil until soft and mix with the cooked pork. Garnish with fresh sage.
- If making for the trail, break the meat into very small pieces, pat with a paper towel to reduce the fat and dehydrate at 130-140 degrees for 10-12 hours until the meat is crumbly and dry through. Pulse a few times in the food processor to break it down even more.
- For each backpacking meal, add 1/2 cup dried sweet potatoes, 1/4 cup dried meat, 1/2 cup dried vegetables, 1/4 cup powdered coconut milk, a pinch of green onions (optional), a pinch of sage, and a dash of salt and pepper to a freezer Ziploc bag. Pack a package of coconut or olive oil to add on the trail if you want the extra calories.
- At camp, add water to the bag to cover and let sit until soft. If using hot water, this will be about 7-8 minutes. If using cold water, you will need 1-2 hours. Add oil if desired.
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