dingleberns
Lil-Rokslider
I am a big fan of home cooking due to cost and healthier eating. I’ve turned my love for cooking and applied it to my backcountry hunts this year because 1) I hate mountain house and swamp butt 2) way more cost effective.
I started by buying a used Nesco snack master dehydrator on Facebook for like $40. Then I began to research recipes that I eat ate home and they best way to dehydrate each ingredient. The best advice I gained was adding bread crumbs to my beef so it doesn’t taste like sand.
My two favorite recipes this year were elk chili and the good ol’ spaghetti with meat sauce. I did not taste these prior to my hunting trip so it concerned me but I was still pretty sure they would taste better than mountain house.
Elk Chili: probably the easiest meal to make.
1.5 lbs of ground elk with about 3/4 cup of bread crumbs mixed in before browning the elk.
Brown the elk, add three tablespoons of chili powder and cook for about 5 min.
Add 1 can of kidney beans, tomato sauce, and tomatoes, and 1 diced onion.
Simmer for about 1 hour.
Let sit overnight.
Next day spread onto leather sheets evenly with room for air to get to everything.
125 degrees for 8-10 hours
Once the top appeared to be done, I flipped the leather tray upside down onto the normal tray.
Throughout the cooking process I would break up the bigger pieces of elk to ensure they were all dehydrated throughly.
I made half a tray a serving and vacuumed sealed each separately. Got 8 servings out of this.
I found 1 serving is good with a packet of olive oil for extra calories. Two can be eaten if your really hungry and burning calories during the day, just extra weight to have two servings per meal.
Cost: Free if you already have some or $9 for 1.5 lbs of beef plus maybe $4 for the beans, sauce, onion, and tomatoes. For me about $4 total so $.50 a meal.
Spaghetti with meat sauce:
Pretty basic with only four ingredients.
Al dente egg noodles, beef/elk (with bread crumbs), and tomato sauce
all of these were prepared separately, don’t need to do anything to the noodles though.
Ground beef or elk dehydrated (cook elk/beef with bread crumbs as stated above)
145 degrees for six hours (breaking up larger chunks during the cooking process)
Spread your favorite tomato/pasta sauce on the leather trays thinly
135 degrees for about six hours. (Once the top was done, flipped into onto the other side)
For one serving: about 1/2 cup of dehydrated beef/elk, half a sheet of pasta leather, and just over one cup of egg noodles.
Taste is amazing, just like homemade. I added packet of olive oil for extra calories.
Cost: $4 for the egg noodles, $1.5 for pasta sauce, $10 for the beef. Probably around $2.5-3 per meal.
Both of those were my favorite. I made a simple Mexican dish, instant rice, dehydrated veggies, and beef. I need to cook the taco seasoning in with the beef prior to dehydrating it. There was not really any taste with the spices being thrown in the vacummed sealed bag separately. Not bad though.
Peanut thai beef and noodles is out. Blew my stomach up and my buddies. Looking into more meals for next season to include breakfasts. I did a breakfast casserole and dehydrated it. It wasn’t bad but not the best, sill better than mountain house though.
Just thought I would share. Good luck!
I started by buying a used Nesco snack master dehydrator on Facebook for like $40. Then I began to research recipes that I eat ate home and they best way to dehydrate each ingredient. The best advice I gained was adding bread crumbs to my beef so it doesn’t taste like sand.
My two favorite recipes this year were elk chili and the good ol’ spaghetti with meat sauce. I did not taste these prior to my hunting trip so it concerned me but I was still pretty sure they would taste better than mountain house.
Elk Chili: probably the easiest meal to make.
1.5 lbs of ground elk with about 3/4 cup of bread crumbs mixed in before browning the elk.
Brown the elk, add three tablespoons of chili powder and cook for about 5 min.
Add 1 can of kidney beans, tomato sauce, and tomatoes, and 1 diced onion.
Simmer for about 1 hour.
Let sit overnight.
Next day spread onto leather sheets evenly with room for air to get to everything.
125 degrees for 8-10 hours
Once the top appeared to be done, I flipped the leather tray upside down onto the normal tray.
Throughout the cooking process I would break up the bigger pieces of elk to ensure they were all dehydrated throughly.
I made half a tray a serving and vacuumed sealed each separately. Got 8 servings out of this.
I found 1 serving is good with a packet of olive oil for extra calories. Two can be eaten if your really hungry and burning calories during the day, just extra weight to have two servings per meal.
Cost: Free if you already have some or $9 for 1.5 lbs of beef plus maybe $4 for the beans, sauce, onion, and tomatoes. For me about $4 total so $.50 a meal.
Spaghetti with meat sauce:
Pretty basic with only four ingredients.
Al dente egg noodles, beef/elk (with bread crumbs), and tomato sauce
all of these were prepared separately, don’t need to do anything to the noodles though.
Ground beef or elk dehydrated (cook elk/beef with bread crumbs as stated above)
145 degrees for six hours (breaking up larger chunks during the cooking process)
Spread your favorite tomato/pasta sauce on the leather trays thinly
135 degrees for about six hours. (Once the top was done, flipped into onto the other side)
For one serving: about 1/2 cup of dehydrated beef/elk, half a sheet of pasta leather, and just over one cup of egg noodles.
Taste is amazing, just like homemade. I added packet of olive oil for extra calories.
Cost: $4 for the egg noodles, $1.5 for pasta sauce, $10 for the beef. Probably around $2.5-3 per meal.
Both of those were my favorite. I made a simple Mexican dish, instant rice, dehydrated veggies, and beef. I need to cook the taco seasoning in with the beef prior to dehydrating it. There was not really any taste with the spices being thrown in the vacummed sealed bag separately. Not bad though.
Peanut thai beef and noodles is out. Blew my stomach up and my buddies. Looking into more meals for next season to include breakfasts. I did a breakfast casserole and dehydrated it. It wasn’t bad but not the best, sill better than mountain house though.
Just thought I would share. Good luck!
