Got my dehydrated food!

[10-K]

Ok... got my freeze dried beans (pinto and black) and they plump up plenty soft enough to eat in 30 minutes. Instant white rice (minute rice) takes longer but within an hour it's good to go too. I added some seasoning and chopped up a pepper and it was regular ol' beans and rice.

I've got some freeze dried chicken and beef on the way as well as several different kinds of vegetables to play with.

I've got some rice pasta soaking right now....

So I'm thinking about how to package it.

Do most people make meals before they leave by combining ingredients or is it common to carry the ingredients separately and mix together what you feel like having when you eat.

I'm thinking it would be better to carry ingredients and mix up what I want at suppertime.

[rocketsocks]

Ok... got my freeze dried beans (pinto and black) and they plump up plenty soft enough to eat in 30 minutes. Instant white rice (minute rice) takes longer but within an hour it's good to go too. I added some seasoning and chopped up a pepper and it was regular ol' beans and rice.

I've got some freeze dried chicken and beef on the way as well as several different kinds of vegetables to play with.

I've got some rice pasta soaking right now....

So I'm thinking about how to package it.

Do most people make meals before they leave by combining ingredients or is it common to carry the ingredients separately and mix together what you feel like having when you eat.

I'm thinking it would be better to carry ingredients and mix up what I want at suppertime.

Maybe do some of both,that way if your felling like a little like one or the other,your all set,but if you don't,no big deal,whip out the premix.On the rice,are you saying that you soak the rice for one hour prior to cooking?just curious.

[Sailing_Faith]

Not telling you anything you do not know, but the portions that seem 'reasonable' to me sitting in my living room and the portions I want after a day of hiking can be dramatically different.

Better to carry the 'ingredients' and mix as you go IMHO.

[Tipi Walter]

I've got my dehydrator cranking as we speak and for my next trip, so far, I have canned black olives drying, a big bottle of salsa, a couple jars of strawbelly jam, two raw sliced potatoes, several cans of vegetarian chili and refried beans, baked tofu into jerky, and four packages of frozen butternut squash which dries to almost nothing weight-wise.

[shelb]

I've got my dehydrator cranking as we speak and for my next trip, so far, I have canned black olives drying, a big bottle of salsa, a couple jars of strawbelly jam, two raw sliced potatoes, several cans of vegetarian chili and refried beans, baked tofu into jerky, and four packages of frozen butternut squash which dries to almost nothing weight-wise.

Wow! Please, when you get a minute, explain what you pack for your trip!

[Mountain Mike]

Tipi packs everything! He is the lost mountain man, 3 week trips with no resupply. I envy him.

[10-K]

I will be dehydrating my own food shortly, you'll see.

Just getting started over here.

[Rocket Jones]

When I first started making my own dehydrated meals, I would prepackage everything at home. Over time it's evolved into packing some pre-made meals, but I also take some basic 'ingredients' for on the fly meal selection. 'Ingredients' includes some fresh food too, like fruit, an avocado, cheese, hard boiled eggs, etc.

[10-K]

I ordered a Nesco/American Harvest FD-80 Square-Shaped Dehydrator this morning from Amazon.

We'll see how it goes but I can already tell I'm hooked on drying my own food. Healthier and cheaper - what's not to like about that?

[Tipi Walter]

Wow! Please, when you get a minute, explain what you pack for your trip!

On a 20 day trip in April I brought the following foods---

bag red grapes
16 oz cashew butter
10 rice tortillas
12 oz Odwalla mango smoothie (first day drink)
five 18.3 oz McDougall's black bean soup (these are now dehydrated to save weight)

2 bags Amy's canned chili (in ziplocs but now dried)
2 white onions
8 oz eggless mayo
2 bags cooked brown rice (now dried)
2 bags cooked butternut squash (now dried)

10 oz blueberry jam (now made into fruit leather---will it spread on bread??)
bag peanuts
3 bags black sesame rice crackers
8 oz non-dairy cream cheese (tofutti)
bag walnuts and black walnuts

20 probars (66+ ounces!!)
20 Dale's protein bars
red apple
bag organic dates
8 oz almond butter

8 oz olive oil
7 Tasty Bite meals (all now dehydrated)
full bag almonds
Lundberg sweet rice cakes
bag garlic cloves

bottle (!) 13.5 oz buckwheat honey
Ezekiel cinnamon raisin bread
Nasoya super hummus 10 oz (to be dried)
bag amazing grass green powder/chocolate powder
Dale's raw protein powder

bag dried papayas
bag vitamins
bag organic raisins
bag blue corn chips
peppermint tea bags

bag macadamia nuts
3 bags granola
10 packets oatmeal
fruit powder drink mix from Frontier Co-op
tempeh (to be dried the next trip)

soy sausage 4 links (dried next trip)
3 paks wildwood baked tofu (dried now into jerky)
pak tofu turky slices (dried later)
bag tofu---soured and thrown out on Day 14
2 seeds of change beans and rice, 8.5 oz each

4 paks soba ramen organic noodles 2.1 oz each
bag dehydrated organic eggs
5.5 oz quinoa-to-cook---never used and probably tasteless

Okay, so ends a typical 20 day food load. Obviously it's a vegetarian and mostly a vegan diet. My main cooked meals are beans and rice or oatmeal or tofu/tempeh flavored with onions, squash, walnuts, olive oil, garlic, hummus and corn chips.

[Praha4]

more power to you guys, too much work for me, all that kitchen work with dehydrating stuff, yuk. I like these Trail Foods dehydrated meals. Heat up the water and mix, ready to eat. Checkout the Slickrock Beans.



http://www.austinkayak.com/brand/335...ail-Foods.html

[Farr Away]

I ordered a Nesco/American Harvest FD-80 Square-Shaped Dehydrator this morning from Amazon.

...

Great choice! I really like mine.

-FA

[sarbar]

I ordered a Nesco/American Harvest FD-80 Square-Shaped Dehydrator this morning from Amazon.

We'll see how it goes but I can already tell I'm hooked on drying my own food. Healthier and cheaper - what's not to like about that?

You'll have fun! Have you checked out the cooking forum as well?