Food for later, easy to do.

[PPCLI_Jim]

Cooking
So I got a dehydrator, and immediately put it to work. I made an econo batch of spaghetti, and from there an it through the machine. The issue that normally pops up are 1)drying time and 2)storage
1)To compress the drying time i cooked it down as much as I could then put in in the fridge overnight to allow the pasta to pull as much of the water from the sauce. This aids in the dehydration process as it's easier to remove the moisture when its spread out . So I left it in the machine all day and it turned out much like it is supposed to.

Sealing
2)to store it used vac seal bagging techniques. BUT due to the sharp pokie bits it will commonly poke the bag losing the seal . So what I did was put it in a parchment paper envelope and used my hands to break the bits off . When actually vac sealing I payed patty cakes and tried to smooth it out while the machine pulled the vacuum.
In the end I used 1 and 1/2 cup serving size per bag, to rehydrate I added 2 cups of water and was great. Boil the water, add to your meal and let sit for about 10 min or s. Much like freeze dried meals, but way cheaper.

THE PAYOFF
Looks good tastes good . successful meal!

 

[GHI]

I don't use mine nearly as much as I should. In my defense it's an older one my neighbor gave me. It doesn't have a timer or temperature setting. The one thing I've learned thus far is never to dehydrate onions on the main floor of the house. I got scolded for days on that one. Maybe I should get an updated model. I love the Mountain House meals for backpacking, but it'd sure be nice to make my own. What make/model did you get?

 

[PPCLI_Jim]

Nesco FD 75. Its a good benchmark model , you can get various add ons . Extra trays ,fruit leather trays and non stick small hole trays for small stuff like herbs (and onion) For reference each of my paragraphs in my Thread lead shows each step.

 

[PPCLI_Jim]

I've also done fruit on it and converted a cranberry jelly log into fruit leather so its easier to save and use later.

 

[keane]

We use our dehydrator all the time and for almost every thing. In the fall when all the fruit and vegetables are on sale we run it almost non stop for a month processing all that stuff. And through out the year if we are making a stew, chili or thick food of any sort we make extra to dehydrate. We eve do left over meats, we just shred the chicken or roast first. The vegetable and fruits then get sealed in ziplock bags and put in the cold room. Anything that has meat or a broth bass still goes in ziplock bags but then goes in the freezer. We are still using stuff we dehydrated 2 years ago and are not finding anything wrong with it.

 

[GHI]

i got a good chuckle from your video. Putting the spaghetti in an old dry strawberry bag. That's something I would do. Just last week my wife asked me why I was saving the mesh bag from our garlic purchase. I told her we could put our old soap chips in there and use it like a loofah in the shower or hang it from the hand wash station in camp. She was not impressed with my ingenuity. Not sure if I'm just cheap or I don't like waste.

 

[PPCLI_Jim]

I'm not cheap, I'm Scottish !? I had dehydrated the strawberries a day or so beforehand, it was my template bag for making a "Coozie" hikers call them. I took a dollar store window reflector and made an envelope style for my hiking /BUGOUT/breakdown bag. It also can double as a seat pad minus the dried meal in it. ?

Talking about the Strawberry bag!

 

[PPCLI_Jim]

Well to add variety to my on the go adventure food without taking up my limited fridge/freezer [dometic cf40] space, I did up a Fajita mix. The peppers and onions all chopped up and mixed to the portions I like the dried. Now its easy some hot water to rehydrate while you fry the meat , then add your veggies now ready !

From here I'll make portion size packets by vac sealing.

 

[PPCLI_Jim]

more zero stress

Cooking for on the go. Keeping it simple just add water! I figure about 2 years lifespan with this method.

 

[PPCLI_Jim]

ZOMBIE HORDE SNACKS
Snacks,,,, everyone wants some!