Dehydrating/rehydrating vegatables

[Buffalo Skipper]

I have a question about making/cooking dried carrots. I am putting together some freezer bag meals for an upcoming trek, and I want to dehydrate some carrots. Should I cook the carrots before I dehydrate them? With the feezer bag meal, I will only be rehydrating the veggies for 15 minutes. Is this enough time to cook through. I was thinking of using a very thin cut to speed dehydrating and cooking times.

Are there any other suggestions anyone can offer me on this?

[Wise Old Owl]

Yes the smaller they are shreaded drops both rehydration and dehydration times, carrots are added for sweetness and vitamins to meals - after a thin peeling I would food process them and blanch in boilng water for five minutes then transfer or screen the carrots to the dryer.

[sarbar]

+1 to Wise's post.

Also keep the carrots very, very small when cutting - dices work well.

[Buffalo Skipper]

I was thinking of just buying the salad "straws" precut. Is that small enough? Should I cook in advance or will dehydrating then reconstituting with boiling water in freezer bag be sufficient?

[Tilly]

I slice extremely thin. When I cook veggie dishes to dehydrate I only add 1/2 the amount of water I would normally use, add spices/coconut/whatever and then dehydrate.

I think that using fresh carrots and slicing them yourself would be better than using already shredded ones.

[Rocket Jones]

For maximum convenience, I just use frozen vegetables in my dehydrator. Corn or peas work great, and I also like the mixed veggies. Already diced uniformly.

[Wise Old Owl]

Deanna and I think frozen veggies are pre-blanched - so you can skip the step.

Broccoli - fresh or frozen must have more of the stalk removed.

[Pedaling Fool]

I dehydrate fresh broccoli and I always include the stalk -- it reconstitutes well and is really good in my stew.

I cut it into ~1/4 - 1/2 inch-thick slices. (The whole stalk, not just the part near the flower heads)

[sarbar]

Deanna and I think frozen veggies are pre-blanched - so you can skip the step.

Broccoli - fresh or frozen must have more of the stalk removed.


Yes, frozen veggies are pre-cooked. Makes life a lot easier!

Btw you can sometimes find really small cut broccoli frozen. Worth getting.

Another mentioned the bags of fresh carrots in the salad section? Yes, that would work but I would chop them a bit more.

[Buffalo Skipper]

I did dehydrate carrots (the small sticks for salads) and also some ground sirlion. I blanched the carrots first and mixed the sirloin with bread crumbs which worked very well.

End result this became a Freezer Bag Meal. Ended up making a Ramen Shepherd Pie:

— 1 Quart freezer bag and cooking coozy
— 3-oz beef ramen
— 2-3 tablespoons dehydrated ground beef
— 2 tablespoons dry milk powder
— 2 package of individual Idahoan packages (or ½ regular package)
— 1 teaspoon parsley
— 1 teaspoon dehydrated onions
— 1 tablespoon dried mushrooms
— ¼ teaspoon powdered butter (or to taste)
— ½ teaspoon powdered cheddar (or to taste)
— 3 tablespoons dehydrated peas and carrots

— 2 cups of water

Advanced preparation
Place dry ingredients including ramen beef packet, but not ramen noodles, in a quart freezer bag. Add additional seasonings to taste. Crush ramen noodles and put in separate bag.

Cooking
Boil water. Add the water to the dry ingredients. Stir well (especially the potatoes which will settle on the bottom), add crushed ramen noodles and stir again. Seal and put in cozy for 15 minutes. Stir and eat.

Very tasty and very filling! One of the best and tastiest meals on the trail I have ever had, and it weights in at 4 oz without water!