Would any home dehydrators want to sell me some meals?

[darcytribe]

I realize this may be a long shot but never hurts to ask... I'm very unimpressed with Mountain House and some other freeze dried meals I've had commercially. I don't have the time to dehydrate my own right now. I was wondering if there might be some DIY dehydrators out there that might want to sell me some dehydrated home-cooked meals? PM me if you would be interested and lets correspond. Thanks!

 

[standard_lengthy]

No offense to anyone but I sure as hell would not eat anything you guys made me! Generally speaking you are just asking for it when you eat a strangers food. Did the health department inspect the kitchen and refrigeration of the food? Did you? Best to shell out the cash for Heathers choice or diy.

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[Brendan]

Heather's Choice

 

[mtnrunner260]

You could by a dehydrator and just dehydrate stuff you are already eating.
Also heard of folks making their own by purchasing dehydrated stuff from amazon aND putting it in your own bag.

 

[jmz82]

Big difference between dehydrated and freeze dried. Mountain house is freeze dried which not many people do at home. My personal experience is that most dehydrated food is going to be fruits, some veggies, and jerky.

 

[COlineman78]

Big difference between dehydrated and freeze dried. Mountain house is freeze dried which not many people do at home. My personal experience is that most dehydrated food is going to be fruits, some veggies, and jerky.

From my research the only major difference is how long it's good for and how the fats store. If you dehydrate fatty foods they can go bad in a much shorter time. I keep dehydrated meats in the freezer. Not sure if it's necessary, but I have read that it is. I have started dehydrating canned chicken and adding it to Ramen. If you don't like the sodium, don't add the chicken packet and maybe carry a bouillon cube and put some in for flavor.

 

[pods8 (Rugged Stitching)]

Big difference between dehydrated and freeze dried. Mountain house is freeze dried which not many people do at home. My personal experience is that most dehydrated food is going to be fruits, some veggies, and jerky.

For my hunts this year I dehydrated chili, baked sweet potatoes, cooked ground beef (actually it was ground elk w/o any fat added), black beans, red peppers, onions, pasta sauce. In the past I've also done taco meat, canned chicken, etc.

Now dehydrated cooked ground beef isn't going to have the room temperature shelf life that freeze dried has but for the duration of a hunt its fine. I store all the dehydrated stuff in the freezer leading up to the hunt.

 

[406]

Check out backpackingchef.com

Lots of recipes and general how to.

When I was guiding (rec therapy, not hunting) I got tired of the same 5 meals and started experimenting. Taco meat works great, btw.

Be prepared for slower cook times. Much slower. The allure of Mtn House type meals is fast, easy, almost no clean up. That makes them more, umm, palatable. One thing we'd do is put the dried meal for the night in a nalgene that morning with the right amt of water. Sloshing around all day in the pack rehydrated them well but I wouldn't want the weight or noise hunting.

Get a dehydrator and experiment, they're cheap enough. Had mine for 20 years, and old ronco bought at a yard sale. Store in freezer til used, never had a problem with things goin bad in desert heat over 7 days.

For river trips or truck camping we just put meals in a vac seal bag and freeze them. Boil in the bag, doesn't get any easier if weight isn't an issue.

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[Tsnider]

i think im gonna do a mix this year. ive read a lot about the meats being a pain in the ass. you can buy mountain house freeze dried beef in a can. the rest ill dehydrate myself and go to town with different stuff. i actually plan on starting to fiddle with recipes and what works starting this weekend. i plan on doing top ramen and rice with mixes of veggies and meats. will likely make my own seasonings for it all.

 

[COlineman78]

I've been trying dehydrating some simple canned things that you find at the grocery store for mixing with ramen next year. I have done canned pork, chicken and corned beef hash that I plan to have with ramen noodles and either leave out or use half of the seasoning.

Also, as an experiment I tried dehydrating some chef boyardee mini ravioli and noodles in meat sauce. I don't have high hopes for the ravioli. This took forever to dehydrate. I also have a can of Hormel chili that I haven't done yet. I plan to start expanding beyond simply dehydrating canned goods, but it's fairly easy and cheap for right now. I suspect all the preservatives in canned goods will also help them not go bad, but I still keep everything in the freezer.

This tray was full to the edge before starting. Contains 2 cans of Chef Boyardee:

 

[pods8 (Rugged Stitching)]

The dehydrated chili I made was tasty on the trail. Just don't make it overly fatty and dry it out. I poured boiling water 1:1 by volume onto it in a foodsaver bag and in 10-20min it was good to go.

 

[406]

How do you rewarm? When I used to do this we cooked in pots, and then had dirty pots to deal with. A hassle when backpacking but manageable. But when hunting i just don't want to deal with it. Just want to eat, secure my trash, and crawl into my bag.

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[COlineman78]

How do you rewarm? When I used to do this we cooked in pots, and then had dirty pots to deal with. A hassle when backpacking but manageable. But when hunting i just don't want to deal with it. Just want to eat, secure my trash, and crawl into my bag

Ziploc Freezer Bags. It's a little disconcerting the first time you do it, but once you realize it will hold up to boiling water it makes life so much easier. I hate cleaning my pots, so this is a life saver. Just wear your gloves because they aren't as thick as mountain house bags.

 

[Northernpiker]

I've been trying dehydrating some simple canned things that you find at the grocery store for mixing with ramen next year. I have done canned pork, chicken and corned beef hash that I plan to have with ramen noodles and either leave out or use half of the seasoning.

Also, as an experiment I tried dehydrating some chef boyardee mini ravioli and noodles in meat sauce. I don't have high hopes for the ravioli. This took forever to dehydrate. I also have a can of Hormel chili that I haven't done yet. I plan to start expanding beyond simply dehydrating canned goods, but it's fairly easy and cheap for right now. I suspect all the preservatives in canned goods will also help them not go bad, but I still keep everything in the freezer.

This tray was full to the edge before starting. Contains 2 cans of Chef Boyardee:

Looking at that does not perk my appetite. But then I do like Mountain House meals.

 

[Gr8bawana]

Looking at that does not perk my appetite.

I must agree. Looks like chopped up nite crawlers.