Freeze dried food

[Steadman Uhlich]

Originally Posted by cabo_sailor

In some regards I guess it's down to the planned use. We use it for times when cooking is out of the question.

Others use it as a staple, particularly with home canning.

I'm intrigued enough to want to learn a bit more on canning. Anyone able to recommend a good intro book aimed at sailors?

Rich


Sent from my iPhone using Cruisers Sailing Forum

I have not yet started to can, but.....

There are MANY "how to can" videos on YouTube. I have watched several as I would like to can several things for eating aboard. The videos give a step by step explanation, and the ease of doing it really surprised me. I look forward to canning in the future, as I am a pretty good cook and hate ordinary canned foods.

Some of the videos will have links to the USDA books and online free resources with tips and recipes.

[StuM]

Originally Posted by a64pilot

Army, we ate a LOT of MRE's, (meals ready to eat) which to start with were heavily freeze dried, as well as LURP's (long range patrol rations), then some genius discovered the water you had to carry to re-hydrate the food weighed as much as hydrated food did and freeze drying fell out of favor.
If it were me, since weight on a boat is no issue by comparison, I'd go for good, high quality canned goods and dried beans, rice etc. Still get long shelf life, but better tasting and lots, lots cheaper

What he said!

And don't forget the pasta. I find rotini or rigatoni work well mixed in with a can of stew, chilli beans or whatever

There would be no problems sourcing your needs in Phuket.

[mausgras]

Why buy expensive freeze dried stuff from specialty stores. Go into just about any shop in asia or the local market and you will find shelves and shelves of stuff from dried meats and fungi to noodles and rice and as someone has pointed out weight is no problem ... there are lots of canned goods although western imported brands tend to be quite expensive. In Phuket there are many western style supermarkets. The biggest chain are the British Tesco.

[zboss]

We like the mountain house freeze dried in the bags for passages. No dishes to clean because we eat right out of the bag. Just boil water, seal, let sit and eat with a fork.

[Greggegner]

Not sure about UK, but we have used freeze dried foods, we even dried some ourselves. Taste is good, but it takes some practice to cook with them. I also suggest some good canned meats. It provides quick good food when you want familiar tastes. Opening canned turkey smells like you just took it out of the oven? Canned butter is the best butter I have had. Pick and choose but tried them before you leave. Storage is compact, a sack of freeze dried is a lot of food. I suggest not getting to big of containers as moisture will affect it, but single serving meals are expensive. Google should help you find source. Let us know...


Greg S/V Sweet Dreams
Pearson P385 out of Racine Wisconsin

[sparrowhawk1]

Originally Posted by Mike OReilly

The energy issue for drying is one I've been thinking about Dan. I dry a lot of food using a home-built electric dehydrator. In our future I've thought about trying to time marina stops to coincide with local harvest times. My thought is to come in, buy whatever's cheap and in-season in bulk, and then spend a few days tied to dock and shore power processing and drying all the food.

I also built a solar dehydrator (slightly modified from the one in Sailing the Farm), but I have yet to put it to use.

I've dehydrated while on the hook before. I would start in the morning off my inverter for approximately 2 hours and then run my Honda generator running the dehydrator and my battery charger approximately 4 to 6 hours and then run the inverter for one to two hours then run the generator again and then overnight I would run off the inverter on the lowest setting because jerky
will dry out but the next day have moisture on the outside so start the process over again the next day until done. Jerky is dried at the highest setting other foods need to be dried 10 degrees higher than normal because of the humidity. Edit. Actually I would start off on the generator for about a half hour to top up my batteries and the dehydrator takes a lot of juice at first to heat it up

[Mike OReilly]

Originally Posted by sparrowhawk1

I've dehydrated while on the hook before. I would start in the morning off my inverter for approximately 2 hours and then run my Honda generator running the dehydrator and my battery charger approximately 4 to 6 hours and then run the inverter for one to two hours then run the generator again and then overnight I would run off the inverter on the lowest setting because jerky
will dry out but the next day have moisture on the outside so start the process over again the next day until done. Jerky is dried at the highest setting other foods need to be dried 10 degrees higher than normal because of the humidity. Edit. Actually I would start off on the generator for about a half hour to top up my batteries and the dehydrator takes a lot of juice at first to heat it up

Great info . What kinds of dehydrator do you use? I've thought about getting one like this: http://www.excaliburdehydrator.com/d...excalibur-2400. Claims to run on 220 watts (~2 amps), although through an inverter would be double I guess.

[sparrowhawk1]

I have the 9 tray it fits underneath my ladder perfectly but the four tray would be better if it uses less electricity. Depending on how much less. They're a bit overpriced but they work perfectly all the trays dry out at the same rate. And in the far future I'm going to have a solar oven and I will hook vents to it so I can preheat the air for the dehydrator. I responded before I looked at the link wow that's a great price. I think I paid 250 for mine years ago. Now that I remember I think I paid $50 extra for the timer which got some water on it and failed. You're probably looking at 30 amps off the battery. Sorry to keep adding on but the 9tray uses 600 watts and that would be a nominal 50 amps at 12 volts but it's more like 80 in real life if I can trust my amp meter. But don't forget it's on for much less than half the time once it heats up

[Mike OReilly]

Good to know. I've looked at the larger ones there, including the stainless steel versions, but for our boat I think I'll have to stick with the smaller sizes. But 30 amps! Ouch. I don't suppose you've ever heard of 12-volt version. I sure hope my solar dehydrator works.

[sparrowhawk1]

Well it probably works out to 15 amps per hour for jerky and 5 to 10 for lower temperature things.

[newhaul]

Now I know I will get slammed for this but you can order any type of freeze dried foodstuffs from the Mormon church ( I am not a member ) Google provident living food stores they ship world wide the prices are good and the quality is excellent ( what I tried was great) .

[hellosailor]

"any type of freeze dried foodstuffs from the Mormon church "
And here I thought they were still banned from producing freeze dried foods by a legal injunction, part of the suit by the Vatican alleging that freeze-dried Eucharist crackers were a Satanic Corruption and an imminent danger to Western Civilization.

[sparrowhawk1]

I have no idea why you thought you were going to get slammed for that. I wished there was a Mormon cannery near me so I could buy some emergency supplies. never even dawned on me that they would be able to ship it to me

[newhaul]

Originally Posted by hellosailor

"any type of freeze dried foodstuffs from the Mormon church "
And here I thought they were still banned from producing freeze dried foods by a legal injunction, part of the suit by the Vatican alleging that freeze-dried Eucharist crackers were a Satanic Corruption and an imminent danger to Western Civilization.

The church doesn't make it companies owned by church members make it. The church just sells it to anyone that wants to buy it .

[newhaul]

Originally Posted by sparrowhawk1

I have no idea why you thought you were going to get slammed for that. I wished there was a Mormon cannery near me so I could buy some emergency supplies. never even dawned on me that they would be able to ship it to me

Well I did sugest people buy from a religious group
Btw are you still in Florida? They have a list on their site of stores in north America there are several in Florida.