Dehydrated vs freeze drying foods

[Bruce_America]

I have a food dehydrator but the freeze dry units are way too expensive. Anyone have any suggestions for good dehydrating meal preps.

 

[rtexpeditions]

I can give you a few tips:
1. When it comes to meat, especially chicken, factory canned dries and rehydrates better than fresh.
2. If you have ground beef recipes, e.g. spaghetti sauce or tacos, make the mix with the flavoring and then dehydrate. If you substitute 30%-50% hydrated Textured Vegetable Protein (TVP) in your mix it helps avoid the "gravel" texture.
3. Rice cooked at home then dehydrated, cooks in minutes much quicker than using raw rice.
4. Dehydrating canned beans (baked beans) works well.

 

[Downs]

I have a food dehydrator but the freeze dry units are way too expensive. Anyone have any suggestions for good dehydrating meal preps.

Yeah, don't bother. Unless you have no other option due to shelf life of already cooked food. Anything that is dehydrated has to be rehydrated. Which requires............water. So you save a bit of weight on dehydrated food, but you use that weight back up and then some because you have to carry enough water to rehydrate it. If you're in an area of easily accessible potable water then you're good but if you're in the desert or areas that don't have that access then you're dealing with just as much weight and, in the end, more hassle, since you're having to spend the time to dehydrate it prior to the trip.

 

[Bruce_America]

I can give you a few tips:
1. When it comes to meat, especially chicken, factory canned dries and rehydrates better than fresh.
2. If you have ground beef recipes, e.g. spaghetti sauce or tacos, make the mix with the flavoring and then dehydrate. If you substitute 30%-50% hydrated Textured Vegetable Protein (TVP) in your mix it helps avoid the "gravel" texture.
3. Rice cooked at home then dehydrated, cooks in minutes much quicker than using raw rice.
4. Dehydrating canned beans (baked beans) works well.

That’s very helpful Thank You!

 

[Ragman]

I am pretty fond of these two books that might give you some good ideas-

https://amzn.to/3Uez6Xp

https://amzn.to/3JcZkU6

 

[HighVoltOverland]

I've found that pastas or rice dishes rehydrate very well

some ones I'd recommend (no good personal recipes sorry):

Pah Thai
Jambalaya
Creamy Chicken mushroom rice casserole
beef strogonoff
"Risotto" (texture won't win awards but still can have a great flavor)
Most curry dishes

You can make some tasty dry snacks too (be generous on the seasoning)
favorite meat jerky recipe
kale chips
plantain chips
snap peas
Fruit Leather
Cheese Leather

Also, not directly a DIY dehydrator move but you can make great trail gnocchi with instant mash mix and flour

 

[mirinda]

Hi, thanks for sharing it's very useful

Kodi​

 

[mindfulmarket]

I understand the high cost of freeze-dry units. Try dehydrating fruits like apples, bananas, and berries for snacks or to add to oatmeal. You can also dehydrate prepared stews or pasta sauces. Just rehydrate with water when ready to eat. These tips can help you maximize your dehydrator without breaking the bank.


4o mini

 

[grubworm]

You can also dehydrate prepared stews or pasta sauces. Just rehydrate with water when ready to eat. These tips can help you maximize your dehydrator without breaking the bank.


4o mini

have you actually used a dehydrator to dehydrate stew? i'd definitely like to know how to do it step by step because i have a food dehydrator and cant for the life of me get those kind of results from it...

 

[Grover the Roamin Ram]

Yeah, don't bother. Unless you have no other option due to shelf life of already cooked food. Anything that is dehydrated has to be rehydrated. Which requires............water. So you save a bit of weight on dehydrated food, but you use that weight back up and then some because you have to carry enough water to rehydrate it. If you're in an area of easily accessible potable water then you're good but if you're in the desert or areas that don't have that access then you're dealing with just as much weight and, in the end, more hassle, since you're having to spend the time to dehydrate it prior to the trip.

I find that dehydrating food before the trip does take time but you gain 75%-85% of that back on the trip in the fact that you can almost eliminate your cooking time and if packed properly you can also reduce your needed dishes to a spork per person. Yes, carrying water adds weight to the overall trip but you reduce the need to refrigerate food along the way as well which takes out the weight of the cooler filled with ice or the 12v refrigerator. The only place that I foresee a major issue is in freezing temperatures as once water freezes trying to thaw it to rehydrate food is a pain and a major waste of resources. Some of the most amazing meals I have had were rehydrated.

 

[grubworm]

you can also reduce your needed dishes to a spork per person.

very true. i went on amazon and found actual MRE mylar bags that you can fill with your own dehydrated/freeze dried food and all you have to do is open the pouch and pour in hot water and let it sit a few minutes and then eat right out of the bag. that coupled with a long handled titanium SPORK is unbeatable...when finished eating, toss the empty bag, wipe the spork off on your pant leg and get back to business...

 

[Grover the Roamin Ram]

very true. i went on amazon and found actual MRE mylar bags that you can fill with your own dehydrated/freeze dried food and all you have to do is open the pouch and pour in hot water and let it sit a few minutes and then eat right out of the bag. that coupled with a long handled titanium SPORK is unbeatable...when finished eating, toss the empty bag, wipe the spork off on your pant leg and get back to business...

View attachment 282344 View attachment 282346

As a dumb army guy i have had my fair share of find dining with a titanium spork

 

[grubworm]

As a dumb army guy i have had my fair share of find dining with a titanium spork

must have been nice! i was navy and all we got was a used plastic spork that we had to share

 

[Grover the Roamin Ram]

must have been nice! i was navy and all we got was a plastic spork that we had to share

View attachment 282351

i have so many navy jokes but... rules. lol

 

[Nomad]

With the advent of 12 volt fridge freezers is their really a need for a dehydrator or freeze dryer anymore?

 

[Ragman]

have you actually used a dehydrator to dehydrate stew? i'd definitely like to know how to do it step by step because i have a food dehydrator and cant for the life of me get those kind of results from it...

Hey Grub, I know this is a bit old but we dehydrate pasta sauce and salsa as well as some stews. The pasta sauce and salsa come out like a fruit leather and simply rehydrate when steeped in boiling water. The stew is more crumbly when dehydrated, not like a leather but reheats well-use hamburger instead of any beef or simply reheat meatless stew and add some beef jerky when rehydrating.

 

[Ragman]

With the advent of 12 volt fridge freezers is their really a need for a dehydrator or freeze dryer anymore?

We don't use a fridge/freezer instead opting for a lighter and simpler set up (could always change our minds on this so no virtue signaling going on here) and find that the dehydrated stuff works very well as it is light and, more importantly, shelf stable for longer trips. The benefit/trade off vs less water and carrying canned goods for example for us is generating much less trash to carry out.