Food Dehydrators

[Wildfang]

So I recently looked into getting a food dehydrator before starting my thru hike in 2017. They're pretty cheap and seem easy enough to use. I definitely have the time to cook plenty of food and dehydrate it. I like mountain house food and backpacker's pantry. I would probably do half dehydrated meals (especially fruits and veggies and dinner) and half non dehydrated meals on the trail.
What are some pros and cons to this method of cooking on the trail?
What are good meals to try in the dehydrator?
Any advice or issues y'all have had with this method of trail food?
I'd love to hear anyone's thoughts or feedback. Thanks.

[Tipi Walter]

I have two categories of backpacking food: Snackable and Cookables. My snack bag is full of food I can eat without the stove: Cheese, fruit, bread, peanut butter, rice cakes, nuts, larabars, corn chips, ETC. My cook bag is full of food I have home dried using my TSM 5 tray food dehydrator.

I used to use a Nesco type round plastic dryer but it was rinky dink and came with only one silicone sheet and just too small for my needs, so I upgraded to something bigger and more industrial. Makes home drying a 100% faster and easier, i.e. much more efficient.

https://tipiwalter.smugmug.com/Backpacking2013-1/Test-Gallery-For-Trip-150/i-LjzZh9K/0/M/TRIP%20150%20005-M.jpg
Here's the TSM in action. This baby has saved me thousands of dollars on backpacking food and has decreased my pack's food load by 40%.

https://tipiwalter.smugmug.com/Backpack-2014-Trips-152/Bald-River-Backcountry/i-pGcGJcJ/0/M/Trip%20158%20003-M.jpg
Getting some tomatoes ready for drying.

https://tipiwalter.smugmug.com/Backpack-2014-Trips-152/24-Days-in-the-Cold/i-tfx9k8H/0/M/TRIP%20152%20006-M.jpg
Drying store bought burritos.

https://tipiwalter.smugmug.com/Backpack-2015-Trips-161/20-Days-on-Medicare/i-Z8KkCLL/0/M/TRIP%20166%20006-M.jpg
Drying mushrooms without the silicone sheet.

https://tipiwalter.smugmug.com/Backpacking2012/TRIP-137/i-QcNcLzh/0/M/TRIP%20137%20014-M.jpg
Another neat idea: Use a box of spaghetti and cook and then add a couple jars of sauce and dry the whole wad at home and put in gallon ziploc. Voila, enough cooked food for around 9 days.

[Scotch65]

I do all my own food for hiking. I have used recipes most found here http://www.hungryhammockhanger.com (http://www.hungryhammockhanger.com/)

I like the beef stroganoff but the best is the jambalaya. You have to buy powdered sour cream for the stroganoff but you can find that at amazon (never found it in the stores).

The best part is that you can control your portion sizes to fit you, and you can season the food to your tastes. One thing on the jambalaya, it uses turkey kielbasa and i do not cook it when i make the food, i add it later before dehydrating. If you cook it the extra time - it gets a little too chewy.

The best thing i make is beef jerky. Just buy some London broil, marinate it with a good jerky recipe for 24 hours, then dry it for 2-3 hours. It is so much better than store bought.

[Farr Away]

The cons I have heard for dehydrating food for a thru-hike:
1. postage can offset any money you might save over just buying along the way.
2. you may get sick of whatever you packed in your drop boxes and/or your tastes may change.
3. making sure your drop boxes get where you need them to be exactly when you need them can be an issue. Hard to do without someone at home. You may also have to speed up to get to a post office before it closes, or you may have to take an extra zero (or two) if you get to the post office just after it closes.
4. sometimes boxes get lost.
5. if you end up not finishing the thru-hike, you could end up with a lot of hiking food left over.

The pros I have heard:
1. simplifies re-supply - unpack box and put the stuff in your pack.
2. can be healthier than depending on a gas station/convenience store resupply.
3. gives you something hike-related to do now.
4. it's a way for a partner left at home to be involved in your hike.

Beyond that, I would suggest trying all meals/food at home. If you don't like something or need to make changes, that's the place to find out.

Again, I have not thru-hiked; this is info I've seen over the last several years on the site. Take it for what it's worth.

-FA

[fudgefoot]

One of my favorites is to take a jar of store-bought spaghetti sauce, add sliced green and black olives then dehydrate. I cook the noodles on the trail, add the rehydrated sauce and it makes a very tasty pasta puttanesca dinner.

[FarmerChef]

I began my section hike (now completed the AT) by dehydrating everything except the granola bars or already dried foods. I made all of my meals from scratch on the trail using those components and the food was quite good. But, I like to think in many ways like a thru-hike, I began to tire of the level of effort it took to prepare the food both in packaging and then later in cooking. However, I did not want to give up the health aspect of the food as I was able to beef it up a bit to come closer to the level of effort my family and I were expending every day. The compromise? I started to just purchase pasta and rice sides in town along with pouch chicken and tuna. I dehydrated beef, chicken and pork as well as some vegetables and forwarded those ahead along with other goodies that are just too expensive to not buy in bulk (I was hiking with 4 other people for almost the whole trail). That way, we could figure out what we wanted to eat when we got to a store and then add whatever protein we wanted in combination with it.

So yes you can dehydrate everything. It works but the cost savings to ship it all out may negate the advantages of doing it yourself. But you can also dehydrate some of your food and use it to supplement what you find along the way. It's cheaper and you can evolve your tastes as you get sick of the same meals you once thought you'd love forever. Happy hiking.

[FarmerChef]

I should also add that if you do go down the dehydrator route that there are many Nesco type dehydrators available used via ebay or Craigslist. I started with a little 4 tray model that came with a couple fruit rollup trays and 4 fine mesh pads. Then I found someone selling a batch of 4 extra trays all with fruit rollup trays and mesh pads. I got all of this for around $60. I can do a mountain of food with it and it takes up minimal space while it's working. I do also have an Excalibur style model but use it less due to the space concerns in my case.