Dehydrating meals

[Bustercluck]

I don't know about the rest of u guys, but mountain house and backpackers pantry give me the sh#ts within minutes of eating them. Anyways, I've been getting a little more serious with my dehydrator. I've been reading a bunch of forums and websites getting recipes and thought it might be good to start a thread so we can share tips and recipes.

I'll post my jerky recipe up tomorrow, but so far I've made all kinds of fruit. Really ripe fruit seems to be best. Pineapple, pears and Granny Smith apples.

I took some some of the wife's chili and dehydrated it for my last camping trip. It took longer to rehydrate than any of the recipes I found online, but it turned out really good. I poured some boiling water on it and let it sit for a while and kept adding water and bringing it back to a boil over the fire until it quit thickening up. Probably took at least 30 minutes.

I made the banana nut pudding from backpacking chef too. I used brown sugar instead of white and whole wheat bread. It turned out pretty good. It seems like quite a bit of effort for the results though.

[Avalanche123]

The amount of sodium in Mountain House meals is almost terrifying.

My suggestion about rehydration is start it as soon as you can. If you leave camp in the AM, starting soaking your meal in water right away. Once you return to camp, all you have to do is cook it.

Pretty much any meal you can cook you can dehydrate but I do shy away from pork and chicken.

[Wentrot]

I made a load of chilli and dehydrated it a couple years ago.Packaged meticulously in individual vaccuum bagged portions. It was a painstaking process but I was determined to have my chilli while blacktail hunting. You can imagine my horror when I boiled up some water in the jetboil to have a mid day snack. It tasted like a mix of homeless ass and vomit.I don’t know if there is some special trick to dehydrating cooked ground beef but holy hell never again.

[Chrispryn]

Great thread brother.

I also dont enjoy the pre packaged salt blocks they expect us to eat while exerting so much energy hiking and hunting.

I use the dehydrator alot. I think of what I want to eat, dehydrate the ingredients separately then add them all to a zip lock as little meals.

When I'm out in the field, in the morning I'll add water to my lunch ziplock and by lunchtime its fully rehydrated. So I add seasoning, spices and what ever else it needs, then heat and serve. Repeat the same at lunch for my dinner meal.

Works a charm. Weighs nothing. Costs next to nothing and takes up no room in your pack.

Some favorites included, chili, shepard's pie, any sort of soup mix with meat, salmon pastas etc.

Chris pryn

[Sirloin]

Lots of good DIY dehydrated meals recipes here. easy, cheap. Trick to dehydrating ground red meat is to mix in with bread crumbs and cook before dehydrating.

Outlined on the site their the whole process including re-hydrating/cooking in the field.

https://www.backpackingchef.com/backpacking-recipes.html (https://www.backpackingchef.com/backpacking-recipes.html)
https://www.backpackingchef.com/dehydrating-food.html

[BTF]

I dehydrate food all the time, spaghetti sauce, chili etc. Spread the portion you want on tinfoil in your dehydrator. Dry it well and add minute rice to it for extra bulk. Vacuum seal but not too hard as rice can puncture the bag. Add your boiling water and stuff it in your toque or something to retain the heat. Never had a bad one. You can also bring a light weight container and your not eating out of a bag. I also never have done this with beef, only deer or moose. I imagine gristlely beef would be pretty bad, I butcher/grind all my own so my burger is like steak tar tare.

[lemadil]

There are freeze dryers you can buy for home use now they work pretty good.

[Bag1]

dehydrated ground beef jerky is the best, I can do 10 pounds and its gone in no time at all around here,
its nice cause you can make it up pretty much in no time at all

[huntcoop]

...I also dont enjoy the pre packaged salt blocks they expect us to eat while exerting so much energy hiking and hunting...

I also am not a fan of heavy salt in my Mountain house or Backpackers Pantry, however, after a days hiking and heavy exertion, doesn't your body need salt?

[Chrispryn]

I also am not a fan of heavy salt in my Mountain house or Backpackers Pantry, however, after a days hiking and heavy exertion, doesn't your body need salt?

Oh 100percent your body needs the salt. It's just not that much fun to have to eat it all like that. I'd rather get it from the seasoning in my dehydrated meals, jerky, snacks, water additives.

I'm not a big salt guy normally anyhow. So it just bugs me to choke it all down in one meal

[Bustercluck]

I did some sliced ham up in the dehydrator too. It turned out pretty chewy and more like jerky. It tasted good, just a bit of work to get through.

I also buy those dehydrated hashbrowns from Costco. They come in 8 or 10 packs in little milk carton type boxes.

[35rem]

Use my Excalibur a lot. Meals with quinoa work well; the quinoa rehydrates really well.

[dbergen69]

I dehydrate most of my hunting meals. I do meals like chilli were I cook the meal first and then dehydrate and also where I dehydrate the ingredients separately and then combine. Lots of recipes on backpacker websites. I have never made a meal that tasted like ass. If your meals taste like ass it might be time for different spices. Lol

[CheesyLimper]

Last year I dehydrated all the meals for a two guy trip. As said the backpacking chef site is a great help. https://www.amazon.ca/Hoosier-Hill-Farm-Heavy-Powder/dp/B00OCV3QRW/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1529072848&sr=8-1&keywords=powdered+cream. Great for beef stroganoff, indian curry, pastas and whatnot and in coffee in the afternoon with a bit of booze.

[HunterChef]

I've had allot of success dehydrating my own meals for hunting trips. Planning on really dialing in the process this upcoming season. I'm a chef by trade and have access to a commercial kitchen but similar results should be attainable at home with a few pieces of equipment and some work. PM me if anybody is interested in my method and I'd be happy to discuss

Thanks,
Hunter Chef

[Carrollizer]

Any recommendations for a food dehydrators? this thread is making we want to get one haha

[adriaticum]

Look for Joe Robinet on youtube. He has a video of dehydrating spaghetti bolognese.

[Avalanche123]

I have an American Harvest...circular. Better air flow. I did try a square type and the outcome was not good.

Many many hours on mine and still going strong.

[Livewire322]

Any recommendations for a food dehydrators? this thread is making we want to get one haha


I have an American Harvest...circular. Better air flow. I did try a square type and the outcome was not good.

Many many hours on mine and still going strong.


I’ve had exactly the opposite experience with my Excalibur in comparison to a round cabelas dehydrator.

The Excalibur ones come on sale through Amazon occasionally.

I’ve done a tonne of jerky, fruit/veggies, and fruit leathers.

[Fosey]

I use the Knorr soups add extra noodles and some dried vension, the sidekick meals and add extra pasta. Be innovative there is lots of good things in the grocery stores, just read the instructions and figure it out. Those Mountain house taste like shit and have no nutritional value. There is loads of food in the grocery stores that is inexpensive and does not take a lot of work.

[Taylor329]

I started a thread on dehydrating in the Wild Game Recipes sub-forum here a while back. Started with my jerky recipe (only recipe I have) then asked others to post theirs so we could all benefit, as I'm new to the dehydrating scene. Not a single reply yet, so if you've got some recipes let's throw them up there too! Glad someone else started a thread on this!

[Jrax]

Any recommendations for a food dehydrators? this thread is making we want to get one haha

We used to have a Canadian Tire brand, circular dehydrator that crapped out after 2 years and was OK.

The Excalibur, ordered via Amazon has been excellent. My wife dehydrates apples and other fruits, tomatoes, mushrooms or something once a week so it has seen good use. I used it last year for dehydrated meals and it was very easy and turned out better than expected and beats mountain house etc. Moose chili, Butter chicken and a stirfry with rice.

The only hiccup with the meals was that the dried rice was puncturing the vacuum sealed bags

[Andrewh]

Rather than retyping, I cut/pasted from the sheep hunting food thread

My dehydrator is an excaliber 5 rack with timer. Over 10-11 years old now and still running strong...

It will pay for itself after the first trip of not having to pay for crappy mountain house meals.

The way I do it -

dehydrate 'base' separate:
- cook rice as normal then dehydrate
- cooked pasta noodles (little shells work very well, lots of surface area)

Dehydrate 'mains' as follows and make dinners that will make your partners drool. I did this last year and I could barely finish my meals and the nutritional value was not even in the same ballpark as a mountain house meal.

- sheep curry in slow cooker
- butter chicken in slow cooker (shred chicken after cooking and before tossing in dehydrator)
- tomato sauce with large amount of veggies and cooked venison grind.
- pulled pork
- stone sheep chili

Basically you can make a meal and toss in dehydrator until totally crisp. I start by putting the 'sauces' on parchment paper until it hardens up and then remove and place directly on screen so it dries from both sides. Dry until 'crisp' and easily breakable. I then pack the mains with the bases in separate bags for each day. It is IMPORTANT to dry the bases and mains separate as they have significantly different drying times.

I weigh out portions and find this is about 1.4 times the amount of food as a mountain house and weighs less with less waste after the fact. 6oz is the total for each mixture and I usually end up giving away my leftovers to the people forcing down a mountain house and still looking for more:wink:

To rehydrate, simply empty ziplock into this bowl, close lid and wait for 8-10 minutes. https://www.mec.ca/en/product/5050-8...r-Share-Mug-II (https://www.mec.ca/en/product/5050-849/Fair-Share-Mug-II)

Other notables to dehydrate:
- pineapple slices (better than bad sex)
- mushrooms slices (add to any meal)
- zucchini (entire zuc fits in palm of hand after drying, I took a total of 4 zucchini on last trip)
- yam slices

andrew

[TreeStandMan]

The "Hunt Backcountry Podcast" recently did an informative episode on DIY dehydrated meals for the backcountry: https://exomountaingear.com/126/

[Bustercluck]

Any recommendations for a food dehydrators? this thread is making we want to get one haha
I don't know which brand is the best, but I can tell you what I don't like about mine. The racks are too big to soak in the sink and they're not dishwasher friendly. It's quite the pain in the *ss trying to soak and scrub them when you've been dehydrating jerky that has sauce and bits of meat stuck to them.

[Avalanche123]

I don't know which brand is the best, but I can tell you what I don't like about mine. The racks are too big to soak in the sink and they're not dishwasher friendly. It's quite the pain in the *ss trying to soak and scrub them when you've been dehydrating jerky that has sauce and bits of meat stuck to them.

He is so right....I forgot about how difficult and time consuming it was to clean those racks. :(
That's the main reason I don't use mine much anymore.

[Bustercluck]

Not that it's hunting related, but I just got back from a little trek and thought I'd share a little drink I made up. Rehydrate some apples, pears and pineapples. Add a little bit of dr oetker peach drink crystals and some moonshine. Tastes pretty good but it might have been because I was on a sandy beach on the coast.

I also tried out some stroganoff, chili, spaghetti and daddy mac. I'm just heading out for another few day hike and I'll try and post some recipes when I get back.

[Astepanuk]

[QUOTE=Andrewh;2014841]

To rehydrate, simply empty ziplock into this bowl, close lid and wait for 8-10 minutes.

How much water do you add in to rehydrate your meals

[Stormy]

I like to pressure cook all my chicken and beef before dehydrating - add some potatoes to the pressure cooker and mick in with the pulled (Shredded meat before dehydrating - this helps with the re hydration and getting it nice and tender.

Mountain house food is expensive and gives me the trots, My Excalibur works overtime this time of the year drying fruits like pears, cherries, peaches etc then its onto salmon and hunting season prep.

[solo]

I don't know which brand is the best, but I can tell you what I don't like about mine. The racks are too big to soak in the sink and they're not dishwasher friendly. It's quite the pain in the *ss trying to soak and scrub them when you've been dehydrating jerky that has sauce and bits of meat stuck to them.

I have dehydrated many hundreds of meals. Our scout group currently has 3 dehydrators, and we wash the trays in a commercial dishwasher in the facility we regularly meet at. Favourite meals are Mongolian beef, and Shepherd’s pie. We normally take minute rice and instant potatoes, instead of doing all the work to prepare and dehydrate the carbs. Typical cost per meal is in the $3-$5 each. Recent trips have included a KVR bike trip with 28 people, and a 2 day hike with 9.

[Bustercluck]

[QUOTE=Andrewh;2014841]

To rehydrate, simply empty ziplock into this bowl, close lid and wait for 8-10 minutes.

How much water do you add in to rehydrate your meals
I've been carrying a cheap plastic container with the sides that flip over and lock. I dump the meal in there and cover it to the top of the food with boiling water. Let it sit for about 45 mins(less if you're in a hurry). Then just warm it up and add water to the right consistency. It seems to take a while for the meat to soften up. If you're in a hurry the meat will be a bit crunchy.

Another option which i havent haven't tried is to weigh the portion before and after you dehydrate it and figure out how much water you took out in the dehydrating process.