Trail Cooking

At home:
Cook a 16 ounce package pasta of choice. Cut the cooking time by 2 to 3 minutes. Drain and rinse. Spread on two dehydrator trays and dry at 135* till hard and fully dry (see here for hints).

On the other two trays, line with parchment paper. Spread a jar of pasta/spaghetti sauce of choice on the two trays evenly(24 to 32 ounce size jar). Dry at 135*. Halfway through its drying, when it is dry enough to touch (a bit tacky is ok), pop the leather off the parchment paper, and flip over, so it evenly dries. You want a dry leather, with no tacky or sticky spots. When cool, rip into small pieces, or whirl into a blender.

You can also combine the sauce with pasta and dry it that way.

Either way, look at your appetite at home: do you eat a lot? Or little? Will you be adding dried hamburger? 4 ounces is a serving that will fill up smaller stomaches, but if you are a man with a big appetite, you may need 8 ounces of pasta. The dried sauce and pasta can be split into 1- 4 servings. If you dried the sauce separately, pack it into a quart freezer bag, the pasta into another one.

In camp:
Pour boiling water over the pasta, to cover. Seal and put into a cozy for 10 minutes. For the sauce, if you are using 1 serving, add 1/2 cup boiling water, stir and let sit in a cozy for 5 minutes. Check if it needs water, add up to 1/4 cup more water. Toss with hot pasta and add lots of Parmesan cheese!

Notes:
If you would like to add dried hamburger, add it with the pasta. You can also add dried mushrooms, bell peppers, onions, etc.
Avoid "vodka" sauces as they contain cream, the higher fat content can be an issue for long term storage. Store your dried sauces in your freezer, tightly wrapped till trip time.