Vegetarian Chili backpacking dinner
Serves 2

At home:
Before we begin, let's pause for a moment to highlight something of critical importance: Dehydrated beans are not the same as dried beans purchased from the store! Beans must be fully cooked before you dehydrate them. You will be very sad and hungry on the trail and you will think this is the worst recipe ever if you bring dried beans instead of cooked, dehydrated beans.

To avoid confusion, this recipe calls for canned (cooked) beans. If you cook your own beans, it's cheaper, but make sure they are on the tender end of done before draining and dehydrating them. If they are not tender enough, then both dehydration and rehydration will take much longer.

Dry the following ingredients in a food dehydrator:

2 cans black beans*
1 can garbanzo beans*
1 can kidney beans*
10 sliced roma tomatoes
1 bell pepper sliced
2.5 cups corn (frozen corn works great)

Pack:
In one bag:
All dehydrated beans and veggies
2 tablespoons garlic powder
¼ cup onion flakes
3 tablespoons chili seasoning

1 tablespoon cilantro
½ teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons oil or butter in small container

1 pot to cook chilli
1 spoon for stirring
Serving dishes and utensils
Extra salt

Extra Cayenne pepper

On the trail:
1. A few hours before dinner add water to your chilli to begin the rehydrating process.**
2. When you are ready to eat boil the chilli until all the ingredients are soft. Stir frequently and add water as necessary.
3. Add the oil or butter and stir.
4. Serve and eat

*Really, you can use any beans you like. You can soak and cook the beans yourself instead of using canned beans if you want to save money. Note that soaked, cooked and dehydrated beans are different than the raw dry beans that you buy at the supermarket.

** Take special care not to allow the rehydrating food to spill in your pack. Place the rehydrating food in a sealed water bottle or carry it in your hand if necessary. A backpack that smells like food can attract unwanted and dangerous attention from animals.