Home made dehydrated meals

[weatherbow21]

Tagging along

 

[jwatts]

I just put 2 cups of chicken and rice soup from earlier this week in the dehydrator. I am anxious to see how this turns out.

 

[jwatts]

The soup was a success. I figured the chicken would give me problems but it didn't. I rehydrated it in water for around an hour, then cooked it in the cook pot. Worked great and retained most of it's flavor.

 

[colonel00]

For recipe ideas check out:

http://www.backpackingchef.com/

 

[Ray]

All sounds very interesting. Does anyone have any good recipes?

Look up, up there at the top of the cooking in the wild sub forum...its called freezer bag cooking....and there used to be a website called freezerbagcooking that had thousands of DIY meals, but that appears to have now morphed into trail cooking. Lots of helpful info.

One thing you will find is that many DIY meals require some kind of soaking or in pot cooking. If you are in an area where there is enough water to wash your pots, then in pot cooking the meal is not a bad way to go. But if you are in a spot were every cup of water is a chore to obtain then you need to prep meals that require just boiling water to be eaten. That is what I focus on. I have my tips for that in the sticky at the top of this forum.

 

[blgoode]

You can also toss in some instant potatoes to thicken up the dish if too soupy.

I am preferring to just eat out of the pot at times but will take a FB as an option if I am not near a water source and low on water for cleanup.

Also tossing in some dried hamburger to a box of dried hash browns is killer! Tried that last night for a test. Very tasty.

 

[Jason Snyder]

You can also stir fry some chicken and vegetables, dehydrate, and then add some couscous. Rehydrate it all and it makes a pretty good meal. You can throw in different kind of sauce mix packets for variety.

 

[rbljack]

Good timing, the wife made some a thick chicken soup with some veggies and potatoes added in, along with some dumplings. Although it was more like soup when made, after the leftovers went into the fridge, it thickened up. I got hungry for a snack, and pulled it out of the fridge, went to throw my bowl in the microwave and the light in my head went off....DING!! Time to try this dehydrate thing. So pulled out the dehydrator, and luckily, it has one plastic tray like the one in someones picture above. So now, Ive got my first DIY dehydrated backpack meal experiment underway. So to rehydrate later, I just take the weight of what I put into the dehydrator, and add however much water weight that is later for the whole batch correct? then divide by the number of finished bags of equal size I guess to get water per serving amount?

 

[blgoode]

That will work. I'm just guessing at this point because I don't have a scale.

 

[blgoode]

Putting together some recipes

Dehydrated beef



This made a good meal with it.



I can add in some shelf stable tortallini with cheeze to the meat and add in spaghetti sauce!! I also have dried mushrooms and red peppers.

 

[Foldem]

Guys, check out Thrive freeze dried foods. The chicken chunks are 100% freeze dried chicken and you can get freeze dried squash, peppers, etc to make your own backcountry fajitas mix, etc. The prices seem pretty high in $/lb, but you need to realize it freeze dried and doesn't include any water weight. Anyway, it's a good healthy alternative to MH and you can make whatever you want. The beef has more salt in it to preserve, while the chicken has none from my recollection. The biggest advantage over home made dehydrated is that freeze dried rehydrates much quicker than dehydrated.

My buddy brought this on his goat hunt and made fajitas with almond tortillas that was amazing.



Kevin

 

[Jeff Martin]

Guys, check out Thrive freeze dried foods. The chicken chunks are 100% freeze dried chicken and you can get freeze dried squash, peppers, etc to make your own backcountry fajitas mix, etc. The prices seem pretty high in $/lb, but you need to realize it freeze dried and doesn't include any water weight. Anyway, it's a good healthy alternative to MH and you can make whatever you want. The beef has more salt in it to preserve, while the chicken has none from my recollection. The biggest advantage over home made dehydrated is that freeze dried rehydrates much quicker than dehydrated.

My buddy brought this on his goat hunt and made fajitas with almond tortillas that was amazing.



Kevin

Thank you! I just looked and the individual meals look awesome. I must admit, I hate MH. I am always looking for better food on the mountain. Thanks again.

 

[huntin'monkey]

I did a test batch with venison stroganoff. It did need some cooking to fully re-hydrate it, but held up pretty well. I'm going to try chicken soup with rice and beans and polenta next. This is a genius way to prepare your own backpacking food instead of paying ridiculous prices for MH. A big thanks to the topic starter.

 

[n2horns]

Any dehydrator recommendations?

 

[blgoode]

I use a nesco with the built in timer to help cut it off.

 

[Hunt'nFish]

Any dehydrator recommendations?

Nesco/American Harvest Garden Master here. Had it for like 20yrs now.
Hunt'nFish

 

[fastphin]

Nesco/American Harvest Garden Master here. Had it for like 20yrs now.
Hunt'nFish

Thanks! Any items you feel are necessary or not needed they sell with these?

 

[White Wizard]

Great info guys. I've been "taste testing" some MH meals and it's disappointing to say the least. This is some great info and will give me a reason to use my vacuum sealer that I got for Christmas and have yet to use. Keep the recipes/ideas coming.

 

[beetlespin]

I had a dehydrated chicken soup in my vehicle for a month and ate it when i forgot to bring lunch to work one day. Tasted great and had no ill affects . I want to get a better dehydrator but just use a cheap circular stack one for know. I use one of those cheap Christmas light timers in line with my power cord to turn it off if I have a recipe down to a science. For jerky i just set it for 6 hours and I have delicious jerky waiting for me when i wake up, perfect!

Something like this:

http://www.amazon.com/2001-Outdoor-...sr=8-1&keywords=christmas+light+outdoor+timer

 

[jmez]

Interesting article in the new Western Hunter about preparing your own meals. Freeze drying is much better than dehydrating. Article said because heat is used in dehydrating up to 50% of the nutritional value of the meal can be lost. I would like a better explanation of that.

Big draw back is cost, a home use Freeze Drying machine is $3800.