Dehydrating DIY Meals, and the end product.

[grfox92]

There are quite a few threads about dehydrating meals. All of it pertains to recipes and thats not what I'm after.

I am currently suffering from some GI . auto immune issues and am only able to eat meat and very limited green vegetables. But basically, completely carnivore day to day. With that being the case, I really need to figure out what I'll be able to eat in the field this year. That has led me down the road of dehydrating my own stuff. I plan on buying a freeze dryer, but that will likely be next year and not before this upcoming season.

I was about to dehydrate Scrambled eggs with sausage in the oven on 170 overnight, and while doing some toilet research found out that without a fan it could take as long as 30 hours to dry.

So now i need to know if the end result of dehydrated food is worth spending the money on a good dehydrator, or do I buy a cheapie to hold me over until I get my freeze dryer?

Ideas, thoughts, suggestions?

 

[Idaboy]

You can do pretty decent meal prep with a dehydrator.....a freeze drier is spendy. For $150 bucks in dehydrator & mylar bags, you can then experiment with recipes and logistics to see if long term that's gonna be your thing

 

[MBN]

Not sure if you are against buying powdered eggs or not, but cooking bacon before you go out in the field and adding them to powdered eggs is pretty good. Cooked bacon lasts a long time. Another option is getting a jerky gun and making strips of sausage jerky or just hamburger. When you rehydrate your meals add it in and it turns out pretty good. I get tired of spending 12 a meal for mountain house and have tried instant mash potatoes, butter, and jerky. It is high calorie, pretty tasty, and cheap. Putting a light smoke on the jerky makes it pretty flavorful.

 

[NRA4LIFE]

You can buy a cheap dehydrator, 5% of a freeze drier and make your meals. Have done it for years. Just do stuff without much fat and you'll be OK. Lean chicken breast, venison, etc.

 

[BBob]

I dehydrate my own and would love to have a freeze dryer but every time I amortize the cost out for just my pack meals it makes no sense to buy one. If I branched out and truly used it for a bunch more things it might be worth it but it'd still be a stretch for the payback. So for now I keep using my dehydrator. I had one of the nicer circular plastic ones I used for many years (the brand escapes me at the moment) but it finally broke. I bought a nice stainless Lem's return refurb. It's been great and I use it all the time. With it I really don't need the freeze dryer at the moment or maybe never.

i need to know if the end result of dehydrated food is worth spending the money on a good dehydrator

I have no issues with my meal quality or taste using a dehydrator. That's another reason I'm hesitant to spend the $$$ on a freeze dryer.

 

[grfox92]

I dehydrate my own and would love to have a freeze dryer but every time I amortize the cost out for just my pack meals it makes no sense to buy one. If I branched out and truly used it for a bunch more things it might be worth it but it'd still be a stretch for the payback. So for now I keep using my dehydrator. I had one of the nicer circular plastic ones I used for many years (the brand escapes me at the moment) but it finally broke. I bought a nice stainless Lem's return refurb. It's been great and I use it all the time. With it I really don't need the freeze dryer at the moment or maybe never.


I have no issues with my meal quality or taste using a dehydrator. That's another reason I'm hesitant to spend the $$$ on a freeze dryer.

Great info thank you.

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[grfox92]

You can buy a cheap dehydrator, 5% of a freeze drier and make your meals. Have done it for years. Just do stuff without much fat and you'll be OK. Lean chicken breast, venison, etc.

That's why I was leaning towards a freeze dryer, the fat. I'm waiting to see some specialists to figure out my GI issue, but if I need to stay on a meat only diet I will require a ton of fat daily. I'm wondering what I could do to add fat to dehydrated meals in the field.

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[svivian]

That's why I was leaning towards a freeze dryer, the fat. I'm waiting to see some specialists to figure out my GI issue, but if I need to stay on a meat only diet I will require a ton of fat daily. I'm wondering what I could do to add fat to dehydrated meals in the field.

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Bring a small bottle/container of olive oil or bacon grease.

 

[grfox92]

Bring a small bottle/container of olive oil or bacon grease.

I found individual packets of olive oil on Amazon that would be perfect. Or like you said, I could fill a small container.

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[BBob]

I dehydrate ground chuck with breadcrumbs. If I do that way ahead of time I vac bag it separately in single servings and freeze it until I need to take it on a trip. No problem with the fat. I dehydrate low sodium spam. A fair bit of fat there. If I’m making my meals up for a trip just ahead of the trip I’ll just mix the dehydrated fatty meats into the mix, bag and freeze until I’m ready to go. Ghee is a great non perishable fat source. A carnivore buddy uses it heavily when packing. He can live many days on just ghee and jerky and seems pretty happy while doing so. Olive oil can be had in individual packets. Not sure if that’s a fat source you can use though. I used to just bring a small Nalgene bottle with it and pour it into my meals. There’s a number of ways to add fat.

 

[grfox92]

I dehydrate ground chuck with breadcrumbs. If I do that way ahead of time I vac bag it separately in single servings and freeze it until I need to take it on a trip. No problem with the fat. I dehydrate low sodium spam. A fair bit of fat there. If I’m making my meals up for a trip just ahead of the trip I’ll just mix the dehydrated fatty meats into the mix, bag and freeze until I’m ready to go. Ghee is a great non perishable fat source. A carnivore buddy uses it heavily when packing. He can live many days on just ghee and jerky and seems pretty happy while doing so. Olive oil can be had in individual packets. Not sure if that’s a fat source you can use though. I used to just bring a small Nalgene bottle with it and pour it into my meals. There’s a number of ways to add fat.

Yea that's a good idea. I can use olive oil but ghee would work great as well.

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[grfox92]

I dehydrate ground chuck with breadcrumbs. If I do that way ahead of time I vac bag it separately in single servings and freeze it until I need to take it on a trip. No problem with the fat. I dehydrate low sodium spam. A fair bit of fat there. If I’m making my meals up for a trip just ahead of the trip I’ll just mix the dehydrated fatty meats into the mix, bag and freeze until I’m ready to go. Ghee is a great non perishable fat source. A carnivore buddy uses it heavily when packing. He can live many days on just ghee and jerky and seems pretty happy while doing so. Olive oil can be had in individual packets. Not sure if that’s a fat source you can use though. I used to just bring a small Nalgene bottle with it and pour it into my meals. There’s a number of ways to add fat.

How does the ground meat rehydrate? I can't use breadcrumbs, I know that's a trick to good rehydration. I use pork rind crumbs in place of bread crumbs, I'm just not sure it would be as effective.

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[BBob]

You can do it without the breadcrumbs it’ll just be a firmer chew since it doesn’t dehydrate quite as well. I did it that way for years and wouldn’t have a problem with it now if I was out of breadcrumbs.