[pct-l] Absolute Barebones Dehydrating List

[kborski@xxxxxxxxx (Karen Borski)]

Mountain Dave,

I'll post my response to you on the PCT-L, too, in
case anyone is interested.

You may be able to buy off-the-shelf scrambled eggs
and dehydrated potatoes easier and cheaper than doing
those yourself.  Not sure, but I do have experience
with ground beef.

The following method worked really really well for us
on the trail, and I even dehydrated spaghetti sauce to
cook with it.  The beef would be good in just about
anything, though.  It's not a food that I crave ever
in "real life" (I hate that term, but what to say?),
but when I'm thru-hiking, red meat is very appealing.

Buy the most lean ground beef that you can find.
Boil the ground beef in plenty of water.
As it cooks, break it into very small pieces.
Drain, add more water, bring to a boil again and then
immediately drain again.
(this insures that you remove as much of the fat as
you can, which is what makes dehydrated meats spoil)
Place beef on dehydrator for at least 2 days (see
normal drying times guide).
It will come out like little hard nuggets.
Pack in ziplocks or in food vacuum sealer.
When rehydrating, try to place your dried ground beef
in the cooking water while you're unpacking camp, or
at least a few minutes before you add the main
ingredients, as it needs just a bit more time to
rehydrate.

Enjoy!

Nocona



--- CMountainDave@aol.com wrote:
> Karen-thanks for the info - I am always looking for
> ways to lighten my load.
> I've gotten the gear down to where I like it for
> hiking in the Olympics (20
> lb. with ax). Now I would like to lower my food
> weight while keeping he same
> level of calories. So I thought I would add fat
> (more nuts, oils and other
> high fat foods) and take away water from things I
> like to carry such as fruit
> and veggies. I'm particularly interested in
> potatoes, scrambled eggs, and
> ground beef.  David


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