Homemade Potato ChipsSnack on homemade potato chips while hiking… or turn them into mashed potatoes for the evening meal! How to Make Homemade Potato Chips:
Peel and boil 2 ½ pounds of potatoes until soft. Drain. Mash potatoes with 16 ounces of fat free vegetable, beef, or chicken broth. Because fats and dairy products don’t dehydrate well and can spoil, do not add any milk or butter. Add salt, if desired, but you’ll get some sodium from the broth. Run the mashed potatoes through a blender or mixer until creamy and lump-free. Cover dehydrator trays with non-stick sheets or parchment paper. I use Paraflexx® sheets which you can purchase directly from Excalibur Dehydrators. They clean-up easily and are reusable. Pour a six inch puddle of potatoes onto the covered tray and spread thinly (about an eighth inch) with a spatula. 2 ½ pounds of mashed potatoes will take up five 15 x 15 trays. Dehydrate at 135° for approximately eight hours until potatoes form a brittle sheet. To thoroughly dry the underside of the potato sheet, use the “flip-trick” as follows: After about five hours of drying, place a dehydrator tray on top of the potato sheet and flip the two trays over so that the moister bottom side is facing up. The dried sheet of potatoes will easily snap into chips or crush down for tighter packing. Yield: 2 ½ pounds of potatoes will dehydrate down to 5 ½ ounces and fill two cups when crushed. How to Make Mashed Potatoes: Combine ½ cup hot water with ½ cup Potato Bark and presto… homemade mashed potatoes! Add your favorite dehydrated meats and vegetables to mashed potatoes for a satisfying one-pot backpacking meal.
Here are some of my favorites…
Mashed Potatoes with Meat and Vegetables Ingredients:
At Home: For more food dehydrating information, see dehydrating meat and dehydrating vegetables. Crush potato chips into small pieces for tighter packing. Pack ingredients in a 4 x 6 plastic bag. On the Trail: Combine all ingredients with water in pot. Cover pot and light stove. Bring to a boil, remove pot lid, and continue cooking for another minute. Because the potatoes will soak up most of the water once the boiling temperature is achieved, grasp the pot with a pot gripper and hold higher above the stove to prevent burning. Stir continuously once the water has been absorbed. You can add a few spoonfuls of water to make the potatoes easier to stir and less likely to burn. Remove pot from heat and place in insulating cozy for a few minutes to give the meat and vegetables a little more time to soften. More Bark Recipes...
Click here for information about purchasing dehydrated vegetables and meat for this recipe.
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