After receiving the Harmony House Backpacking Kit I wondered what I’d do with all the different vegetables. It took some time but then it dawned on me, minestrone soup!

Minestrone soup has no official recipe, and simply contains whatever vegetables are in season or available. It can have meat, or not, it can have rice, or pasta, it can be a vegetable based broth or a chicken stock. It’s whatever I (and you) want it to be.

The majority of recipes I’ve posted contain meat of some sort. I’m well aware that there are many people out there climbing mountains, fording rivers, and sleeping under the stars who “don’t eat friends” so this one's for y’all. Not only this is recipe vegetarian, it’s vegan too.

All dehydrated ingredients contained in this recipe can be found in the Harmony House Backpacking Kit or purchased individually. Alternatively, you can dehydrate each ingredient on your own if you’ve got a dehydrator and some time. The kit definitely makes life a lot more convenient given the number of ingredients involved. Everything else like the spices can be found readily at the grocery store, and more than likely it’s already in your pantry.

This recipe might be one of the best ones we’ve created so far. The ratio of effort to taste is remarkably high. Dump everything into a pot, fill it up with water, bring to a simmer, stir, cover and let it sit for 10-15 minutes. If you’re using something like a Jetboil, you literally only have to pay attention for 3-5 minutes. This translates into a huge fuel savings too.

If you’re feeling particularly fancy like me, you can toss in a packet of “fancy ketchup” to accentuate the tomato flavor that most minestrone soup is based on. I should note that Harmony House actually sells tomato powder, I just don’t have any of it. You could also add your own dehydrated tomato paste as well. Or leave it very well alone, it’s really delicious without any adulterating.