Jul 233 min read

Trail Food Recipe: Beef Stroganoff

Stroganoff is a common trail food and there are a lot of recipes and packaged versions out there. I did a little tweaking to an existing recipe we had in an effort to try to get the calories up a bit, and (if I'm being honest) make it a little higher quality. This recipe has a good calorie profile because of the different creams and, of course, the noodles! It is full of flavor (I actually tested it!) and at 864 calories, it is a nice addition to the rotation!

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup Egg Noodles

1/2 cup Freeze Dried Beef (Ground or Diced)

1 Tbsp Freeze Dried Mushrooms

1 tsp Dried Minced Onions

1 tsp Beef Bouillon

1 tsp Tomato Powder

1 Tbsp Heavy Cream Powder

2 Tbsp Sour Cream Powder

1 tsp Butter Powder

1 Tbsp Unflavored Collagen Powder

1/4 tsp Worcestershire Powder

1/4 tsp Salt and Pepper

2 Tbsp Olive Oil (added when preparing on the trail with boiling water)

DIRECTIONS:

Combine all dry ingredients in a meal pouch or prep bowl.
Toss to evenly distributed ingredients.
Remove as much air as possible and seal.

PREPARATION:

Add 1 1/2 cup boiling water to the meal pouch.
Let sit in a meal cozy or other insulated container for approximately 10 minutes.
Stir well and dig in.

A Word or Two About the Ingredients

Any egg noodle will rehydrate and work in this recipe, but a quick cooking one is best. We used Emergency Essentials egg noodles. There are other quick cooking brands you can find, such as Legacy Essentials, but honestly, as long as it's not a super thick or sturdy noodle, it works.

In my version of this recipe, I use this diced beef rather than ground beef. Either one works well in this recipe, but since I use ground beef a lot in Chili Mac Jamie's staple recipes (Chili Mac, Burrito Bowl, Spaghetti with Meat Sauce & Pine Nuts, etc.) I wanted to go for some textural change up.

We keep this Mountain House Diced Beef on hand because it works well with a lot of recipes. Beef & broccoli stir fry, burrito bowls, beef stew, etc.

Jamie is not a huge fan of mushrooms, but I am pretty (very!) sure this is a texture issue. I can appreciate that. I have my own issues with texture (tomato seeds, ewww!).

But mushrooms are so essential to the flavor here, that I wanted to find a way.

I figured these Harmony House diced mushrooms might be a good option. However, when I got them, I still thought they might be a little too chunky for Jamie's taste!

So, I decided to smash them up a little with the mortar and pestle before including them. I think this is a pretty good option if you or your hiker has a similar texture issue!

I always have to give some love to my go-to brand for powdered dairy, Hoosier Hill Farm. Always clean and simple ingredients, and this recipe relies heavily on them.

And once again, I have been using this Great Lakes Collagen for a long time in coffees and shakes, and it's great; grass-fed, high quality, single ingredient collagen. It is a really great add to hiker recipes to thicken and/or boost protein, and if it helps with hair, skin, nails, and joints, that's a bonus!

And just because I am a fan of transparency, I will include an actual picture of my test version. Now, the picture on the left is some lovely, food styled image I found on the internet. The one on the right is a mini-batch I made to test the proportions and tweak the recipe slightly, which I did. After increasing the amount of sour cream, it looked a little more close to the goal!