Does anyone know where l can buy dehydrated food cheaply, or how l could make my own? I will be on a 4 day trip in Yosemite this September. Thank you!

You could check your local outdoor store for it. As for freezedrying it, it requires a machine to lower the temp to -40C. So l do not know how you would go about that. You might want to try REI. They are an extremely popular store and they carry some good equipment and food.

Go to Walmart & buy an American Harvest brand food dehydrator. They work very well!!!

I've been dehydrating food for 3 years & it is saved me a fortune. Better yet, the food tastes so much better.

My favorites:

- bananas (sprinkle with cinnamon before dehydrating)
- pineapple (choose one that is fully ripe & cut very thin)
- tomatoes (sprinkle cut tomatoes with Italian seasoning before dehydrating - the tomatoe will absorb the spice & it will taste really good)
- apples
- lemon or lime slices - goes well with the flask of rum
- mushrooms, peppers, onions
- beans, chick peas, etc. - cook them fully before dehydrating
- raspberries & strawberries - they do not lose any flavour

l have my own food dehydrator, which l used this year to successfully dehydrate things l can not usually buy in the grocery store, such as peas, corn, peppers, refried beans, & spaghetti sauce.

l even bought the supposedly super nutritious ''corn spaghetti cooked it & then dehydrated it, so that it is almost the consistency of ramen noodles, so that it requires minimal soaking & cooking to be edible, but in oh so much better for you. You could do that with regular spaghetti noodles if u prefer.

Anything else u want can be obtained at the grocery store, but l am sure u know that in Yosemite everything must fit inside a bear canister so packability is just as important as weight.

On our most recent three day hike, our menu consisted of a box of Curry Couscous which we mixed with a tuna packet (foil wrapped tuna available at the grocery store near canned tuna), & we had another dinner of instant brown rice, dehydrated corn, peas, & peppers, mixed with a chicken packet & soy sauce (in a 1 oz turret top bottle) for mountain fried rice. And another meal was of course the corn spaghetti & dehydrated spaghetti sauce, without meat, but with olive oil, which we also bring in a 1 oz. turret top bottle.

Snacks included chocolate chip cookies, dehydrated mangoes, & peanut M&MS. Lunches were peanut butter, honey & crackers. (Honey in small bottles as well), crackers & cheese, dehydrated refried beans (unheated) mixed with cheese, slightly crushed tortilla chips & hot sauce. Breakfast was cereal & dried milk & instant oatmeal with dried fruit & honey.

The ''secret'' l read about recently was to add olive oil to ur food for extra calories, but also it provides some essential nutrition after hard exercise. Another secret was not to load up on proteins in the evening, but instead have more carbs for dinner & save the proteins for breakfast. Supposedly that will prevent u from waking up with muscle aches. Furthermore, u only actually have to stuff into ur bear canister what u will have to store overnight. On the first day u can carry ur lunch & even dinner in another sack at the top of ur pack. Just be sure not to leave u pack unattended for a second, nor to leave it behind if a bear approaches u or charges u (Ha! l camped at the beariest place in Yosemite, Hetch Hetchy is Rancheria Falls campground this summer & did not see a single bear).

It is amazing what u can get at a regular grocery store. For instance, top ramen is great. Just add anything to it. Powdered milk & cocoa is a must & those packaged seasoning mixes including spaghetti sauce mix is real handy. The of course Mac & cheese in a box is great. l take it out of the box & put it in a baggie so it takes up less room. So l hope l gave u some ideas of what to buy right from ur grocery store. Also surplus stores carry MRE is which r really good to eat & require no cooking. They r a lot better then what u think, so give them a try.

You should bring all MREs, buy a whole case, & a case of bear canisters to carry them in, & wear two backpacks, one with MREs inside bear canisters, & one with MREs inside bear canisters, because they're just that great! YAY! In fact, my brother joined the Marines because he heard from his father who heard from his father, who was a Kamikaze pilot in WWI l that the real reason for Pearl Harbor was a massive effort to acquire MREs, which r known to float, from the sunken ships. In fact, my father emigrated to the USA solely to acquire MREs & eventually became owner of his own Army Surplus store just for the discount! l am eating one right now, with the little tiny bottle of Tabasco sauce, nom, nom, nom!!! Watch out for what is known in the industry as ''the five fingers of death'' (hot dog meal)! Banzai!

RE l is pretty good - if you buy less exotic dehyds like spaghetti or lasagna, they can be around $6 per meal (hint, since you are a guy, get the 2 serving meals; the one serving is just not enough food).

Of course, there are substitutes that you can get at the grocery store: Cup a soups, cup a noodles, ramen noodles, pasta meals, instant mashed potatoes.

I'd avoid MREs - they are bulky, heavy, and have a lot of packaging that you have to pack out.

most of the sporting good stores like Dick is or Bass Pro Shop sell dehydrated meals where u just add boiling water. The grocery stores sell a lot of single serving meals that require hot water only, like single serving cups of soup, hot cereal, etc. Other light weight foods u can bring r regular or instant oatmeal or other hot cereals, dry cereal, energy bars or granola bars, dried fruit or trail mix, powdered milk. Just remember u need calories not necessarily quantity. You will be exerting a lot of energy while back packing & hiking. And plenty of water, either carried in or have a way to purify water yourself such as boiling, tablets, etc. And if u can keep from squashing them, peanut butter & jelly sandwiches always hit the spot after hiking a long ways.

stay away from the outdoor sports stores, they r overpriced. You can go to u local grocery store & find alot of dry food. ck out the stuff for microwaves. remember u have to pack out ur trash, so stay away from cans. also buy stuff like trail mix or dried fruit. slim jims or jerky is good to munch on while hiking along too. u may have to go to the outdoor spors stores for carb boosters though. like Carboom is one brand, they can help u out with them. they r like 1 or 2 tablespoons of thick stuff u squeeze in ur mouth, full of stuff ya need to keep ur energy up, well worth any price. just keep everything light, because ya gotta carry water. lots of it

You can usually find cheap dehydrated food at larger Asian markets. In all honesty, though, u should be able to get by on a 4-day trip with things available at the local grocery store. Here r a few things l usually get at the store & how l use them:

- Foil packs of chicken and/or tuna. Great in salads ( l usually find edible plants for the greens) & pretty much anything else.
- Rice, Barilla Plus pasta, dense whole-grain bread, pitas, whole-grain tortillas.
- Peanut butter & Nutella mixed 50/50 in a squeeze tube is great on bread, graham crackers, & alone.
- Dried milk. For coffee.
- Granola. Pre-mix with dried milk. Add hot or cold water for a killer breakfast.
- Just-add-water pancake mix. Take it out of the jar & put it into a bag to save space.
- Trail mix.
- Snickers. Gets u over the hump.
- Clif Bars, Powerbars, Probars, etc. These r usually lunch, plus whatever l could stuff in my pockets from the snack supplies.
- Instant oatmeal.
- Tang.
- Pre-packaged salami or summer sausage. Great with mustard as a sandwich or with eggs for breakfast.
- Jello. Mix with hot water to warm u up at night.
- Bisquick. Makes everything.
- Spam. Mmm. Spam.
- Powdered eggs. Not as good as regular eggs, but much lighter.
- Eggs. They do not really need to be refrigerated. Really. Just put unblemished eggs in an egg case & pack it in a big ziplok in the middle of ur pack. Just in case.

Be creative. Just walk the aisles of ur local supermarket & look for powdered, dried, or durable foods. You will be surprised.