One Pan Wonders
Backcountry Cooking at its Finest
Canned
I've had a lot of people ask me about the canned chicken I mention in my recipes. "A can is too heavy." they say. A little 3 ounce can? For a one-nighter? I'm fine with it. I don't think it is too heavy, but I can offer up another option if you have a dehydrator.
Dried, canned chicken. I may not be an ultra light backpacker, but I hike with a lot of (self-proclaimed) "ultra-light wankers." This is for them.
I dried two 12.5 ounce cans of chicken. The chicken in the left of the photo is how the chicken looked right out of the can (drained). I broke up the large chunks into smaller pieces so that it would dry more easily. I put the contents of one can per tray, set the dehydrator to about 140* and let it run.
It only took a few hours for the chicken to be completely dry. Crunchy, with NO moist spots. I then crumbled the larger chunks and put them in a ziplocking freezer bag for storage. 2-3 tablespoons of dried chicken is the equivalent of a 3 ounce can. You will need to add the water back in as well though. It rehydrates beautifully. About 5 minutes in hot water will bring the chicken back, almost to its original state. And you're saving all that weight. One run of the dehydrator could stock your backpacking pantry for the entire hiking season.
The brand of canned chicken I purchased is relatively high in sodium. When I added my dried chicken to a freezer bag style meal, the sodium flavor was a bit more concentrated. Keep this in mind when you are putting meals together. Maybe use a little less chicken than what is called for. Or omit any additional added salt from the recipe. You can always add more in camp, but you can't take it out.
