Hey pineknot I have a vector for that adventure with the boys in cooking-Backpacker Pantry's Outback Oven....They like Chocolate Cake and Pizza?

8 years old and 40 pounds--now that brings back memories of canoe trips about 10 years ago (my sons would have been 7 and 9 back then).  Yes, teenagers can be a real pain in the butt sometimes.     My 17 year-old football playing son is rarely home anymore....when I do see him in the morning, I get a couple grunts, a few belches and other bodily function noises, then a request for the keys and some money....when he comes home later, he empties the fridge, belches some more, but will actually talk in complete sentences instead of grunting...then he's off till the wee hours around midnight.  All in all a typical teenager, but of good character. 

The good news is, even though my boys eat alot more now, they're stronger than me and can carry the extra food and the heaviest of the packs on the trails...they've also become really good fishermen...all I really have left to do now is teach them how to cook!   

Yah I know, cant weight to spead the weight-the boy is a mere forty pounds now keep feeding him but I'm not in any rush to get those teenage years from what I've heard, and gourmet makes for a great trip. Just trying to "improve".

I'm all done with dehydrated chicken.  My last trip I brought a pack of vaccum packed cooked fajita chciken.  It was to die for!  Will be on my list from here on out.

The older I get, the more weight I'm willing to carry for good food.

Just trying to cut weight and spread my wings a bit It is just me and my eight year old-ergo my desire to cut the weight....Lord any weight cut is a good thing...but not at the costs of gourmet and a wash in fuel weight:)A friend of mine shreads it post steaming and rinses very well with hot H2O and runs it through the freeze drier at work...dont have that apparatus at home...so I thought that i would bounce the bird dilemna off yawl.

Marlin,
How many people in your group and how many pouches of the foil chicken would you normally carry?

If it's only one meal for four or six people, yes, the pouches can be a little heavy, but it's not that big of a deal if you eat it early in the trip.  Plus, they're awfully handy and easy to use.

Maybe you want chicken for multiple meals.

Thanks! Chicky Burger Chow Mein!

Grind it, cook it, dehydrate it.  Chicken in chunks or even worse, shredded, tends to be like sharp leather shards - tough to rehydrate and will slice through your ziplocks/vacuum bags like razors.  Grind it up like hamburger, or buy it ground from the store.  It will respond to the dehydrating/rehydrating process just like ground beef.

Dried chicken for our last trip...Not very happy with the results. It was old boot chow mein instead of chicken Way lighter than the foil packs. Had issues with the rehydration time-had plenty of fuel-it just took way to long....any suggestions-Looking to hear from ya campgirl and all that have the knowledge I think that if I shread it the results maybe better-does anyone have good methodology-got the hamburger down pat