I’m sorry to hear that! Beans can be difficult to rehydrate out in the field sometimes. One option could be to slightly mash your beans at home before dehydrating. More like slightly squished, not really mashed, so they retain their shape. This will allow them to dehydrate and rehydrate faster.

We have not tried cutting the chickpeas in half, although I’m sure that will decrease dehydrating time at home and increase their ability to rehydrate out in the field. So definitely a good idea – if a little time consuming on the front end (cutting each individual chickpea). Another idea could be to ever so slightly mash the chickpeas, so they squish a little but still retain most of their shape. This will accomplish the same goal of accelerating the dehydrating and rehydrating process.

Correct. Sweating the onions (with water) and then simmering everything else in the skillet until tender will have the same effect as blanching. Have an awesome trip! Let us know how the meal turns out!

So glad you enjoyed it! A warm meal at the end of the day of backpacking really does hits the spot!