Dehydrating Food

[Mike OReilly]

Originally Posted by Bill O

We also have have made dried strips of beef and venison w/various spices for jerky. They are a nice snack item.

We only make small batches, so they go fairly quickly. (also keep them refrigerated).

I bet it goes fast! I find most commercial dried food, including jerky, to be pretty bad. But when you make it yourself, it's awesome.

I've gotten away from jerky because I find the ground beef to be more versatile, especially when cooking, but you're reminding me how good it is. Maybe I'll have to dry some up.

What do you use for seasoning? I would marinade mine for at least 6 hrs, or usually overnight in the fridge. Red wine, various savoury spices, Worcestershire or soy sauce, usually lots of garlic, onion, paprika.

[Bill O]

We like savory items as snacks, so similar to your spices we mainly use onion, garlic powder, paprika and sometimes chipotle for a smoky flavor.

For marinades usually soy based mixtures (including teriyaki if we want some sugar w/the soy).

We usually carry a decent amount of wood chips and can smoke meat (and oily fish) on low heat in the grill. If we cook it to jerky, it is a very special treat. (I need to stop writing now as my mouth is watering just thinking about them!!)

[PUDDLE JUMPER II]

Originally Posted by Mike OReilly

I've eaten my ground beef that is over three years old. But it must be properly prepared, dried and sealed.

I don't cruise the Caribbean. If it is properly prepared and sealed, it shouldn't matter where you are.

Copy that... To each their own... I do know that the fat in beef causes the meat to spoil (rancid)-- in the freeze dry world-- all things over the 9% mark of fat content have a distinct lower shelf life...

If you are able to dehydrate meat, loose over 50% of its nutrients and it STILL tastes good... You have a winner then....

[Mike OReilly]

Originally Posted by PUDDLE JUMPER II

Copy that... To each their own... I do know that the fat in beef causes the meat to spoil (rancid)-- in the freeze dry world-- all things over the 9% mark of fat content have a distinct lower shelf life...

If you are able to dehydrate meat, loose over 50% of its nutrients and it STILL tastes good... You have a winner then....

Wow... you're completely unhelpful, and posting for some sort of ulterior motive. Thanks

[Mike OReilly]

Back at drying. Here's another week of veggies for us. Zucchini, mushrooms and red peppers.

[Jamme]

Looks good. Thanks for posting. It seems as you don’t squeeze them in the bag at max vacuum pressure?
Fair winds.

[Bill O]

Mike,
Very inspiring work. Usually wait for excess veggies to dehydrate, but they look excellent and will need to do some for ourselves.

[Mike OReilly]

Originally Posted by Bill O

Mike,
Very inspiring work. Usually wait for excess veggies to dehydrate, but they look excellent and will need to do some for ourselves.

I look for good deals, but I do the drying during my off-season (when I'm on land), so I only have a limited time to restock.

Originally Posted by Jamme

Looks good. Thanks for posting. It seems as you don’t squeeze them in the bag at max vacuum pressure?
Fair winds.

Thanks. I've learned not to go to the max because the dried food is hard enough to puncture the bags when compressed too much.

[Ilia Bellamy]

I recently had a fantastic experience using dried dishes on a 2-day kayak trip! Buying these dehydrated meals made my adventure so much easier, as they were lightweight and quick to prepare. All I needed was to add hot water, and I had a delicious meal in no time. The dishes were tasty and satisfying, making my trip even more enjoyable and carefree.

[Mike OReilly]

Originally Posted by Ilia Bellamy

I recently had a fantastic experience using dried dishes on a 2-day kayak trip! Buying these dehydrated meals made my adventure so much easier, as they were lightweight and quick to prepare. All I needed was to add hot water, and I had a delicious meal in no time. The dishes were tasty and satisfying, making my trip even more enjoyable and carefree.

Canoe and kayak tripping was what first got me into dehydrated food. The weight and space savings is wonderful when you're carrying your life around, but the real benefit is the quality of the food. This is especially true when you dry your own food.

[noeldkendall]

Backpacking, sea kayaking, have used my own dehydrated food extensively. Many recipes fare very well (chili, spagetti sauce leathers, etc). Many fruits and vegetables, although they never return to original texture, are different but good. Good dehydrators tend to be fairly bulky, so this is a dry land activity. It is a large amount of work.

Rehydrating benefits from maintaining heat - this includes purchased freeze-dried foods. When backpacking with these, I carry a pouch I made from reflectix which is very lightweight and effective at maintaining a high temperature. Big enough to hold the whole original bag. Put the bag in the pouch, add the boiling hot water, and let sit for 15-20 minutes. It will still be quite hot when you take it out of the pouch. The pouch can be made with a flat bottom so it will stand, and I use a couple of tabs of velcro to seal it up. Works a charm.

[Mike OReilly]

For reconstituting dried food, when I’m on the ball I try and get the food soaking early in the day. On board, I just toss it into a pot with enough water. On canoe/kayak trips we used a sealable container (a big peanut butter plastic jar) which I would load up after breakfast.

On board now, we have a pressure cooker which is a great way to reconstitute the food quickly if need be.

[Charlie Baker]

Originally Posted by Mike OReilly

Canoe and kayak tripping was what first got me into dehydrated food. The weight and space savings is wonderful when you're carrying your life around, but the real benefit is the quality of the food. This is especially true when you dry your own food.

So far I have only used ready-made dried products, but I want to try drying myself

[Mike OReilly]

Originally Posted by Charlie Baker

So far I have only used ready-made products, but now I want to try drying myself.

Makes a world of difference in quality, plus it’ way cheaper.

[slugsgomoo]

Originally Posted by Mike OReilly

Thanks. I've learned not to go to the max because the dried food is hard enough to puncture the bags when compressed too much.

I've had the same concern, but I also wanted to extend my shelf life, even on things that can be sharp, like rice, so I got textured mylar bags (since normal mylar doesn't work with the inexpensive home vacuum machines) from here: vacuum sealers unlimited. I think when I did the math, the bags were actually a slightly better value than the rolls. I did a smaller quantity of quart bags and mostly gallons. I figure that gives me some flexibility on portioning.

Between the vacuum and some o2 absorbers, all the dried food I've sealed has basically become a nice uniform brick, and I haven't had any bag failures.