Dehydrating food at home........

[Rob]

Some time back there was some discussion on dehydrating food at home. Does anyone have any feedback on their effort to accomplish this? Failures or successes....... ..

[mich4076]

I'v heard the 30$ dehydrators at Academy work good... never tried it tho

[bpitt]

My in-laws have one of those dehydrators that you get at the sporting goods store like Bass Pro. Some are electric but their's you place in the oven. It was a little cheaper but it seems to work good. We've made a lot of deer jerky over the last few years with it. We haven't really tried anything else, but the jerky sure does taste good!

[Graceless]

Hi I have been working through some ideas for meals dehydrated from the freezerbag cooking site . I just finished the spaghetti and it turned out really well . hash brown potatoes from frozen are really good.rice and roast beef is really really good . rice cooked and then dehydrated pretty much any way is good. I like making crock pot chicken n broccoli and mixing it with rice to dehydrate.
 Um dried apples or fruit of  any kind to use as a personal cobbler
  I tried ham just because I like the flavor but it will need to stay in the freezer until we leave because its really greasy!
 there is an applesauce cake that can be dehydrated I want to make as well YUM!!

[Grounded]

From these posts Graceless seems to be the leading authority on this. I've dehydrated many things from a food storage/harvest standpoint. Meaning that I've never tried to dehydrate meals mixed together. The cheap dehydrators, i.e. the round ones, work OK and get the job done, yard sales are a great place to find a used one. If you are looking for sun dried tomatoes that are squishy you won't get it. If you are REAL careful you can pull your food out before it turns brittle, then it will be chewy. Brittle is OK, as long as its not jerky, it would break your teeth. Nothing wrong with it, just need to hydrate it back.

All this works great mixed with ramen noodles, or mix some dehydrated fruit w/ your oatmeal. If you don't have a dehydrator, some things you can find at stores. Fresh market is good, though expensive, for mushrooms. You can find dehydrated onions, cheap!, at big lots in the spice section. Any Knorr soup mix will work. You might also try the packet gravy mix display. Many health food stores carry bulk dehydrated vegetables.

Also Mother Earth News has an article about a solar dehydrator made from cardboard boxes! Of course they can also be made from wood. Hope this helps.

[Nalgene Ninja]

I dehydrated some fruit but that's about it.
Successes: Mango, pineapple, strawberries

Meh: papaya (prob was under ripe), melon, frozen peaches, grapes (store bought much cheaper anyway)

I used a cheap Ronco round dehydrater.

[Rob]

Lots of great suggestions here folks! I think I may just make this my next project......... ...... Get ready for the fall hiking season don't ya' know...

Thanks for the replies. Happy Trails

[Graceless]

OH ! I just thought!
 BBQ beans ,any beans yk?just from the can or leftover from supper.  Squash chips ,Mushrooms n onions( with grdbeef after you dry it put a little powdered gravy in there and some egg noodles cooked then dehydrated
BBQ chicken for wraps I did some onions and mushrooms in that to and yum! Hm
I am going to make some bean burgers next week using a little Ground beef and the dehydrated ingredients with an egg( I carry our own fresh eggs btw) And put them in pita pockets with some cheese sticks:D I found some pepperjack ones !


Oh and we institued no fast food for 3 months so we could do a movie and eat out once so with gymnastics .swim team and biking we totally have been quality controlling some stuff.
I may think of more later:)

[Cuffs]

Jumping in on the food discussion (I love food!) 

You can dehydrate just about anything, but stay away from foods with high fat content, as it will go rancid if not completely dry.

Foods that dehydrate well:
Whole kernal corn
green peas
green beans
peppers (bell, habanero...)
mushrooms
carrots, slices to approx 1/4" thickness
bananas, sliced thin
tomatoes
browned ground beef
browned ground sausage

Thats all I can think of right now, Im sure theres more Ive done.

Regular-made foods also dry well.

If you make a casserole-type dish, instead of left overs, just scatter it out thin on the drying rack and let it go.
Tuna & chicken casseroles are very good this way.
Beef Stroghanoff dries well.

For a hearty, nutritious and balanced meal try a modified Shepherd's Pie
In a freezer-type zip lock baggie add the following:
1 serving of instant mashed potatoes
1 serving of dried corn kernals
1 serving of dried green peas
1 small dash of powdered gravy mix
a dash of cheese flakes
salt and pepper to taste.

In camp, add enough boiling water to rehydrate the contents, let stand in a cozy for 10-20 minutes and enjoy!

[MississippiRob]

Like Graceless I have spent alot of time at the Freezer Bag Cooking site, as well as ordered the book and several cozies. I have dehydrated enough meals for about 2 weeks of meals (myself and wife). My son (9 yrs old) had his first Freezer bag meal this weekend, he loved it. I have a cheap round dehydrator from Wal Mart, works good. I will make some meals from scratch (vegetarian chilli, etc) and I also dehydrate components of meals that I mix together in quart freezer bags to make my meals. I find it much easier to just boil water on the trail, pour it in a freezer bag, then wait about 10 minutes and eat. Plus, clean up is a cinch. And the meals I make have less salt and taste better than the freeze dried off the shelf types. Plus they cost less.

[Cuffs]

Amen!  FBC is just soooo much simpler and easier!  For breakfast I really enjoy oatmeal, but I like to doctor it up...
Oats
dash of cinnamon
pieces of whatever nuts are on sale (walnuts, pecans...)
dash of honey for sweetness

add water, wait 5 minutes. 

the east that FBC provides is great.  while food is 'cooking' there are other things to do... gather firewood, setup tent/hammock, get water, pack up camp...

[Cuffs]

For the Jerky fans...

I use venison, but a lean cut of beef works great too.

I have the butcher cut the meat thin or you can do it at home by freezing it first so that it is 'almost' frozen and the slicing it thin with a knife or meat slicer.

After slicing, place beef/venison into a large ziplock baggie and add Moore's Teriyaki marinade to the bag, enough to coat and have some left over for it to soak in. (it does not need to be in a swimming pool of sauce)

after about 24 hours, remove slices from baggie and place on dehydraytor and dry until completely dry.

[Woody]

I am no authority but be careful using the freezer bag cooking method at least over long periods of time. Freezer bags were not intended for this use and pouring hot or boiling water in the bag can cause it to release unhealthy chemicals into your food.

[Joshua Szulecki]

More importantly, pouring boiling water/food into a plastic bag could result in a failure of the bag, resulting in horrible, horrible burns. Don't put anything hot in one.

I once had a baggie filled with hot food fail, although the only consequence was lost leftovers and a mop workout.

[Nalgene Ninja]

I am no authority but be careful using the freezer bag cooking method at least over long periods of time. Freezer bags were not intended for this use and pouring hot or boiling water in the bag can cause it to release unhealthy chemicals into your food.

The Ziploc brand bags are BPA and Dioxin free. And while it is possible for the bags to fail from pouring in boiling water, a safer option would be to use the new "stand-up" type freezer bags and place the bag down on the ground while pouring.

[Rob]

I was wondering about the safety of pouring boiling water into plastic bags, from a melting/spilling standpoint, but obviously it has worked with some success for some folks.

Thanks for the Link BL. Have you tried the steamer bags for this purpose? I'm just wondering if they will handle liquids in large volume, or if the have some sort of "micro pores" to allow for venting steam while in the microwave.

I'm looking forward to trying some of these suggestions in the fall....... after a little testing in the home kitchen.

[Nalgene Ninja]

I used ziplock type bags for canning/freezing and have never had one break. Not saying it can't happen, just never happened to me.

[Cuffs]

I was doing some testing at home on the FBC stuff and found the following:

Adding boiling water to an empty bag = failure/holes/blowout
Adding boiling water to a freezer bag that contains dehydrated food, = success, no holes/blowouts

Using a cozy also helps maintain the heat.

I have used generic baggies and name brand baggies, both hold up equally well when food is already in the bag.

[Graceless]

http://www.paragonsports....logId=10051&langId=-1
 I am using the cheaper version of this because I cannot find the recycle emblem on the microwave bags and It would be more waste than I want when I get home:) I can wipe n wash:)

[Nalgene Ninja]

Almost all ziplock type baggies are a #4 recycling code. Or you can just hand wash and reuse them for leftovers, etc.

[Graceless]

Actually if you throw them inside out in with the dishtowels and washrags in the laundry its much easier:D they don't do half bad in the dryer either but that was just an accident:D
I miiiight try them on this weekends campout/pinhoti section I better get busy with this drawing so I can leave early enough to go pack us in the car to go!

[Woody]

On the bag subject I have heard that using the vacume seal bags is a safe option because they are intended to be boiled to re-heat left overs.