Taking Tanya's Tasty Burritos on the Trail

Like most backpackers, we eat a lot of freeze-dried dinners on the trail. They're lightweight, don't take up much room in the bear canister, and provide a moderate amount of both flavor and calories.

But no, they don't drive us to rapture.

Last year we bought a food dehydrator, to see if we couldn't come up with something better. So when M (who is, after all, a professionally trained chef) cooks up something tasty, we figure out if we can toos it in the dehydrator and take it along for a future backpacking trip. We've had moderate success with everything from sausage and rice to pasta in tomato sauce.

But nothing comes close to Tanya's Taqueria and their amazingly tasty Carnitas Burritos. Tanya's is just down the street from us, and they sell these delicious burritos for about five bucks--one of them is enough food for both of us, with a little left over. We slice them up like a loaf of bread, and lay the slices on a tray in the dehydrator. A few (well....maybe 12) hours later they are dried up and ready for the trail. To keep them fresh, we store them in the freezer in a zip-lock bag.

And on the trail, we simply boil up a couple of cups of water, empty the burrito slices into the pot, and wait. About fifteen minutes later we have the best tasting Burrito Casserole you have ever eaten. And somehow, on the trail, there isn't any left over.

Mmmmmmm. We can taste it right now!