[pct-l] Food Dehydrator Tips or Recipes

[SUSAN G COOPER]

Lisa

I have dried all our meals for the PCT.  You need to learn what works and what doesn't, then just cook extra for dinner at home and dehydrate the extra.

Beef, veggies, fish, beans, rice, polenta, pasta, tofu all rehydrate well.  Poultry and pork do not (unless you use the stuff that comes in cans and looks disgusting).  I dry the complete meal in one pouch - I.e. beans and rice, spaghetti and noodles.  I cook all and then mix together before dehydrating.  This makes dinner in camp much easier and less disaster-prone.  Figure out your favorite meals that fit the criteria and use those for your recipes.  I use a single pot for cooking meals and another for boiling water, but the second is not necessary.  I boil water, pour over dinner, cover with pack towel or whatever to insulate and let sit.  Usually there is no need to reheat - it's still hot.  Saves fuel.  Cutting food into small pieces speeds up the rehydration process.  I also found certain beans take longer to rehydrate - pinto for one.  Honey in recipes I have found does not rehydrate - the food remains a big blob.  

I buy my soup - there is a bigger selection on the internet (Amazon) than in the groceries these days.  I made soup once and decided the effort was not worth it.  Besides, the instant soups require little wait time while the ones I made required more.  

One recipe book I could recommend for dehydrating is 'High Trail Cookery' by Yaffee.  I'm not sure if it's still in print.

I use a general guideline of 8-9 oz dried per dinner for 2 people.  This works for us but you need to figure out your needs.  Dinner for us is soup, main course and a substantial cracker.   

As far as the seal-a-meal bags, I do find that some foods have sharp edges when dried and can puncture the bag.  You can avoid this by stopping the suction before it's complete.  But regardless, I found that these punctures did not matter.  The food keeps well (for a year or more) even when stored in warmer environments.  I don't like the heavy plastic the sealers use - but there is no affordable alternative.  I also find that sometimes the bags inflate after sealing - possibly from gases released from the food.  But none of that ever caused my food to go bad.

Feel free to email me with your questions and I'll try to help.  I have a backpack full of recipes I use.  

Ma