Help.

I plan on using a few Hawk Vittles meals on my next backpacking trip and I just noticed that the rehydrating instructions are a little vague. I will be using the Freezer Bag Cooking Method (just add hot water to the meal in a freezer bag and wait) to avoid dirtying my cooking pot.

Unfortunately the rehydrating instructions don’t specify the specific amount of boiling water I should add to each meal. As an example, the instructions for the Hot Italian Sausage & Pasta single serve meal just states to cover with boiling water to ½ inch above the level of the food. This seems to assume that the food will be in a pot. However, I won’t be putting the food in a pot.

I would like to know how much water (1/2 cup, 1 cup, 1 ½ cups…..) to add to each meal. Can anyone enlighten me on approximately (or exactly) how much water it takes to rehydrate the single servings of the Shrimp Cappellini (1 inch of water), Hot Italian Sausage & Pasta (1/2 inch of water), Beef Stew (1 inch of water) and Spicy Chicken (just above level of food) meals?

The bag should say height above food or line on bag if I recall. Just add hot water to plastic package and put in cozy

I believe the intent is to add water to the food in the bag it's packed in. Then into a foil cozy, then pot if desired. The measurement info is for the level in that bag.

Thanks for the clarification. I'll use the supplied bag rather than repacking and fill as specified.

Richard, Yes fill a little above the food. For an idea of how much water it takes for a 1 person Hawk Vittles I think it will be around 1.5 to 2 cups of water. I did mine with a 475 ml ti cup full and was fine. If in doubt add a little extra water. It is easy to eat it soupy than if too dry to rehydrate.

Jamie

Hi Richard,
The Hawk Vittles bag is not intended to be used for rehydration. There is no way to reseal it for one thing. Better to repackage in a freezer bag as you had originally planned. Eyeballing the 1/2 inch above the food level works just fine (corresponds to roughly 1 1/2 to 2 cups water per single meal). Be aware that some of the foods, like the Italian sausage pasta for example, have larger macaroni pieces that are fairly slow to rehydrate. This is true for the chicken in the spicy chicken pasta as well. Make sure your water reaches boiling for those, use a little extra water, and allow a good 20 minutes for rehydration.
Hope you enjoy.

I just used some this past week. It took about 1.5 cups per meal for me. Also note, some of the rehydrate times are long(20 mins). I don't always use a cozy but its probably useful with this food.