Whos Hungry - Part 3 Pesto Noodles

D.I.Y. Meals For The Trail

To start I must reiterate, these are not my meal creations, they come from sources that I found on the internet.  I will attach links to where I found them.

My third recipe again comes from one of Andrew Skurka's Favorites.

Andrew Skurka’s Favorite Recipies #3

Pesto Noodles

Key Stats

• Recommended meal weight: 5.7 oz
• Total calories: 790
• Caloric density: 139 calories/ounce

To increase the caloric density, which is already very high, add more olive oil or Noodles (which are fried).

Ingredients

• 3.0 oz || Ramen noodles
• 0.75 oz || Olive oil
• 1.0 oz || Parmesan
• 0.75 oz || Sun-dried tomatoes
• 0.1 oz || Garlic
• 0.1 oz || Basil
• Salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes to taste

For extra goodness, drop in some chunks of salami, beef jerky, or similar.

At-home preparation

Discard the MSG-loaded seasoning packet in the bag of noodles, either at home or in the field.

For single-servings, all ingredients should be bagged together, except for the Parmesan — keep that separate. Store the olive oil in a separate container, inside of a gallon-sized plastic bag for extra protection.

In a group setting, each group member receives their own ration of noodles, and all of the other ingredients (Parmesan, olive oil, sun-dried tomatoes, and spices) are packaged separately. Divide them in the field. Andrew recommends storing the olive oil in 16- or 32-oz Platypus bottles, or hard-sided Nalgene bottles if weight is less of a concern; either way, keep the bottle in a gallon-sized plastic bag.

Cooking instructions

Andrew likes his meals soupy. To each their own, it comes out great either way:

1. Bring 10 oz of water to a boil, or a near-boil
2. Add all ingredients, save for the Parmesan; the seasoning packet should be discarded. Stir and let reconstitute. No simmer is needed, but a longer soak will help soften up leathery sun-dried tomatoes.
3. Once the ingredients have cooked and the pot has been removed from the stove, add the Parmesan. Unless you want a gooey cheese mess in your pot, do not jump the gun on the Parmesan.
4. Add salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes to taste.

My Finished Meal

My Gathered Ingredients

My Rating

• 4.5 out of 5

What I liked:

• The taste was very good.
• The tomatoes rehydrated nicely.
• I lowered the basil to .025 oz, which I found to be plenty.
• Probably my second favourite so far.
• Quite simple

What I disliked:

• I only used 10 oz of water and I think that it would have been better if I had used 11 or 12, 10 left it a bit dry, a little more water would have helped with the rehydrating.
• Took a little longer to hydrate then I had hoped, the longer time allowed the meal to cool quicker, but not too bad.  This could be improved using a cozy.

What my fellow tasters thought:

• Everyone really liked it, in fact it disappeared quickly, faster than all the others.

My thoughts and recommendations:

• Again, I think I would increase the water to 11 or 12 oz to help improve the rehydration of the noodles and tomatoes, or at least speed it up. I found that with only 10 oz that I had to continually stir the contents to reach full hydration.
• I used less Basil and think it was great as is, .1 oz seemed like a lot.
• I also think cutting the sun-dried tomatoes into smaller pieces would help it rehydrate quicker and allow for more pieces in each bite.
• Other than boiling water, all of this does work in a Zip Lock Freezer bag if that's how you prefer to do it, be sure to use a cozy either way to hold in the heat.