The 2013 "No Mountain House Challenge"!

[slim9300]

Sounds like a unanimous decision for excalibur. I just looked them up and the look reasonable. Thanks guys! I can't wait to see some recipes...

Got mine for Christmas. Should be pretty useful.

 

[frans]

There are a couple of companies offering a free-shipping (in Canada) option, and one even pays the GST. C$260 for an Excalibur 3900. www.rawnutrition.ca. Between drving into the city to get them and the cost of commercial meals, I should easily have my money back in two seasons.

(I'm not endorsing this particularly company, I don't know them from Adam. Just passing on a deal that I found)

Frans

 

[robby denning]

I can just picture Aron baking away, apron on, and dropping f-bombs when he burns the granola bars. Need a video on that.

 

[Ray]

How do you keep the food from falling through the trays? Or are there different types of trays you can use.

You buy tray liner sheets. There are premium ones and discount brands. Both work ok. About half way through the dry time you peel the semi solid sauce off the sheet and turn it over the finish it off.

 

[Craig Van Arsdale]

You buy tray liner sheets. There are premium ones and discount brands. Both work ok. About half way through the dry time you peel the semi solid sauce off the sheet and turn it over the finish it off.

Cool!

Thanks Ray.

 

[Ray]

BTW- the website backpacking chef has good equipment reviews and tips for how to create decent meals with your dehydrator.

You can also review many different "raw food" mommy blogs for tips on preparing dehydrated food snacks that will translate to back country food. Having high carb foods to eat on the move is pretty handy. Just need to drink water often, which is not a bad thing at all.

 

[bobhunts]

Now all we need is a dedicated forum for this so we can share recipes!

 

[Brandon Pattison]

Had to dig for this one...

http://www.rokslide.com/forums/showthread.php?1629-Freezer-Bag-Cooking

 

[frans]

OK, I officialy joined the movement!

Order the 3900 today. Bring on tasty meals.

I was thinking about vaccuum wrapping the dried food. I'll have to test if, when cut open onone side, that would hold water like a MH pouch or if a different eating approach is required. Has anybody tried that by any chance?

Frans

 

[Travis Bertrand]

I'm in. I upgraded to a cabelas commercial dehydrator a few days ago, it has had a 4 hour break since I bought it. Pretty awesome!

+1 on backpacking chef, nice website full of info.

 

[CrzyTrekker]

The wife helped with a batch of elk goulash. We used vacuum-sealed FoodSaver bags. For rehydrating, I sliced the top of the bag off and added hot water. It was really, really tasty.

We made another dish with rice, chicken, and broccoli. When rehydrated it tasted like rotten broccoli... Might be OK without the broccoli.

Agree that we need to get a database of recipes going. Hopefully I will have four or five good recipes before summer. Would love to see what anyone else is cooking.

I took these meals on a short overnight hike along Grape Creek near Canon City. Discovered that pinion-juniper wood burns really hot in the K stove. Was going to do a little fishing but the creek was almost 100% frozen.

 

[Brandon Pattison]

I have been eyeballing Nesco's FD-75PR. Anyone not like theirs? Amazon has it and assessories.

 

[6t4nova]

I'm in. Just ordered the Excalibur 3926TB. Looking forward to making some of my own meals!

 

[6t4nova]

Got my dehydrator today. Got some fruit and fruit leathers in it now to try it out.

 

[slim9300]

Mountain food take 1. Elk pasta. Lets see how it dehydrates.

 

[frans]

Got the first batch of apple, kiwi, banana, and mashed yams done. That all worked and reconstituted quite nicely in a breakfast with oats. Time to move on to bigger things!

 

[Becca]

Mountain food take 1. Elk pasta. Lets see how it dehydrates.

Keep us posted...I bet it will dehydrate fine, the question is whether it's edible once you rehydrate it

 

[ohhiitznik]

Is that parmesan cheese on top? I don't know how that'll dehydrate/rehydrate.

 

[slim9300]

Is that parmesan cheese on top? I don't know how that'll dehydrate/rehydrate.

It's already basically "dehydrated" when I sprinkled it on. I'm guessing it should be just fine. I can't have pasta without parm!

 

[slim9300]

Keep us posted...I bet it will dehydrate fine, the question is whether it's edible once you rehydrate it

One step at a time Becca.

I'll post up my impressions tonight.