When I first started hiking and backpacking, dinners were different. You either had a space-age mylar bag with styrofoam-looking freeze-dried food (and no idea if it would even taste OK), or you had some weird meal you cobbled from stuff you found at the store. This is what inspired me to develop and write recipes all those years ago. Before that day came, when I put down my first recipe in writing, there was a meal I took far, far too often, with me on trips.
And somehow, it never made it to the website or the cookbooks.
Stovetop stuffing with canned chicken and freeze-dried peas. I’d happily eat it while everyone gagged around me. But it was perfect: Carbs, salty, protein, and look! Veggies!
I first ate it on an early summer trip to Flapjack Lakes in the Olympic Mountains. I had a few backpacking trips under me but wasn’t accustomed to carrying loads in hot weather. I was so miserable. The trail had sloughed off in one section and had been hastily cut out of the dirt where it was barely a foot’s width.
I remember having to crawl under a massive downed tree and having leg cramps in both the front and back of my leg all at once. So that night, as I ate my salty mess out of a bag, I suddenly felt better (my electrolytes were stripped).
In this era, my tent in the middle was a sweet sauna! Target tents were all the rage in the early 2000’s.
After crossing that mess, I deserved to eat my carb mess. (I am on the far right.)
Even if my hiking partners were grossed out, I didn’t put too much stock into them, as they were eating Mountainhouse Spaghetti out of a mylar bag/turkey roasting bag combo that long ago.
This version serves 2-3 and uses freeze-dried chicken instead of canned chicken, making it shelf-stable and long-lasting. When I first made the meal, sourcing single freeze-dried ingredients wasn’t easy. Peas I could get because…Mountainhouse actually sold bags of them. I didn’t add the butter powder long ago (the internet brought unusual ingredients to the masses). Sometimes, I would pack a cube of butter if the weather was cool. But I usually didn’t worry about it. Being young made life that much easier. And now I use the lower sodium version of the stuffing.
If you are dry camping, or as it is called now, boondocking, this is an easy recipe. It doesn’t require a lot of water or refrigeration, and cleanup is easy if you use a non-stick pot. I would suggest a slick-lined 2-liter pot, wide and shallow, for this recipe. Cleanup is easy with a damp paper towel. It works well for both backpacking and RV/trailer/cabin camping.
Stovetop Stuffing and Chicken
In a gallon freezer bag:
- 1 6-ounce box Stove Top Stuffing (used lower sodium)
- ½ cup freeze-dried chicken
- ½ cup freeze-dried green peas
- ¼ cup butter powder
FBC Method:
Place the freezer bag in an FBC Cozy or similar. Add 2½ cups boiled water, stirring well. Seal it tightly and let it sit for 15 minutes. Fluff up and serve.
One Pot Method:
Bring 2½ cups water to a boil, and add the dry ingredients. Stir well, cover tightly, and let it sit for 15 minutes. In cooler temperatures or at high altitudes, insulate the pot. Fluff up and serve.
Serves 2 to 3, depending on appetite.
Notes:
Want to learn how to freeze-dry peas at home?
~Sarah