Practicing a bit for my Fall Quetico trip. Dehydrating hamburger only (small test) to add to meals for an upcoming backpack trip. Assuming this works out I'll get a bit more complicated.

Check out the camping recipe section. A lot dehydration info / recipes there. Be sure to remove as much grease as you can from the hamburger.
After packaging, I freeze it until I leave on a trip.
Rehydrating time is usually longer than than you want it to be.
Good luck!

Dehydrating hamburger works great. Make it up and put it sealed up good in the freezer until you are ready for trip time. Give it sometime at camp to rehydrate at camp but in hot water or whatever it takes little time. I have dehydrate spaghetti sauce on those fruit roll up sheets I think they are called.... that isn't too tough ether.

dr bob

I am getting my dehydrater ready today. Definitely check out the camping food section. I just made a big pot of stuffed pepper soup (it is listed in the entree section) & I am going to dehydrate a bunch of it for meals in the future. I had tested it out & it rehydrated well & was well received in camp. I like to test a recipe at home beginning to end-rehydrate & eat. Helps give you a better idea of timing & taste & what you need. Camping everything tastes better, especially if it is homemade. Good luck.

When I dehydrate hamburger meat, depending on the use/recipe I add a half cup of Italian style bread crumbs or regular bread crumbs per lb. The bread crumb sticks to the meat & soaks up the water fast to rehydrate quicker. I've even used flavored breadcrumbs (like chipotle) for some recipes. If you want just the meat without the crumbs, that's fine too. Vacuum seal, write the date, goes in the freezer till trip time.

I started dehydrating a few years ago and love it. I usually set the dehdrator in my garage so I don't stink up the house while it's on. For Hamburger I get a good quality ground burger very lean. Something over 90% lean will have much less fat. It takes some time to blot off the fat with paper towels but it's worth the effort.

This year I tried doing ham. This worked great for mixing in with mac and cheese. I went to the deli and got a lean ham sliced to about 1/16th of an inch. I then cut it up in half inch squares to dehydrate. To rehydrate I let it sit covered in a pot of just enough water for a long time. I did it on a layover day so I had plenty of time - maybe 5 hours. It was fantastic! Have fun experimenting.

Rehydrated hamburger is one of the foods that comes back exactly as it was before it was dried. At least in my experience. It's so easy even a cave man can do it.

I use extra lean ground beef (less fat) and rinse the cooked meat in a strainer with hot water to remove all grease. Dry well in a paper towel.
As mentioned, use warm water and some time in a zip lock to get it back again. Yummy!
Tom

Done, and used once on an overnight. I did what people and the rest of the internet said, to use lean beef. It dehydrated as it was supposed to.

I bought a cheeseburger helper mix and some dehydrated taters. I put the hamburger and macaroni in one pouch, the cheeseburger helper mix in another, and the dehydrated taters in another. When I got to camp I covered the hamburger and macaroni to let them cold soak. Later I added more water, heated it up and then mixed in the cheeseburger helper mix. Then I put the dehydrated taters on top (plenty of water still) and lightly stirred it up. I then let it sit for a while in the insulation and when I was ready I had a nice layer of taters then cheeseburger helper.

It was a very nice camp meal.

4keys: "Check out the camping recipe section. A lot dehydration info / recipes there. Be sure to remove as much grease as you can from the hamburger.
After packaging, I freeze it until I leave on a trip.
Rehydrating time is usually longer than than you want it to be.
Good luck!
"

I'll go read that forum. I plan on cold-soaking, meaning add just cover it with water way before I need to.

Try your hand at dehydrating a few fresh country eggs. Big difference in taste. Beat to mix. Spread evenly and thinly on the silicone 'doughnut' inlays. You won't get the finely-granulated egg powder as marketed products but you'll get good-enough flakes.

I would add that dehydrating vegetables is easy as well. I usually do a big batch of broccoli and red peppers which can be added to most meals. In my experience it does take longer to rehydrate the veggies than hamburger.

mjmkjun: "Try your hand at dehydrating a few fresh country eggs. Big difference in taste. Beat to mix. Spread evenly and thinly on the silicone 'doughnut' inlays. You won't get the finely-granulated egg powder as marketed products but you'll get good-enough flakes."

I'm gonna try this at home first. I'm also thinking about putting them in the coffee grinder after dehydrating.

mjmkjun: "Try your hand at dehydrating a few fresh country eggs. Big difference in taste. Beat to mix. Spread evenly and thinly on the silicone 'doughnut' inlays. You won't get the finely-granulated egg powder as marketed products but you'll get good-enough flakes."

I'm going to branch out and try dehydrating something new here and there. I did not know you could dehydrate eggs like this but I'll certainly give it a go. Thanks for the suggestion!

flopnfolds: "I would add that dehydrating vegetables is easy as well. I usually do a big batch of broccoli and red peppers which can be added to most meals. In my experience it does take longer to rehydrate the veggies than hamburger. "

I'm going to try this as well. I cold-soaked my last batch so letting veggies do the same is no big deal. I can have them in their own little snack-sized ziplock and put some water in there a few hours before I plan on eating.

TomT: "

mjmkjun: "Try your hand at dehydrating a few fresh country eggs. Big difference in taste. Beat to mix. Spread evenly and thinly on the silicone 'doughnut' inlays. You won't get the finely-granulated egg powder as marketed products but you'll get good-enough flakes."

I'm gonna try this at home first. I'm also thinking about putting them in the coffee grinder after dehydrating.


"

Let us know how this works. I'm interested to know how much you lose by what's left behind in the grinder. If it isn't much then it's worth it.

WonderMonkey: "
Let us know how this works. I'm interested to know how much you lose by what's left behind in the grinder. If it isn't much then it's worth it."

I don't think that would be a problem. I just turn it upside down and tap on it and everything shakes out. I don't see why it wouldn't work well. It would be a lot easier to rehydrate into scrambled eggs if they were granules.

I dehydrate lots of stuff for trips, refried beans dehydrate really well I use the fat free type.

Bushs baked beans are good too dehydrate and rehydrate really well


I'll due lots of burger, spaghetti sauce, salsa, mixed frozen veggies all dehydrate good, just experiment , I have a burger jerky recipe that I take almost every trip it's awesome

Swampturtle


When I dehydrate hamburger meat, depending on the use/recipe I add a half cup of Italian style bread crumbs or regular bread crumbs per lb. The bread crumb sticks to the meat & soaks up the water fast to rehydrate quicker. "

Just want to highlight this tactic for dehydrating hamburger. I do the same exact thing and the difference between rehydrating times with and without the bread crumbs is noticeable, as well as the hamburger being consistently softer with out a hard interior. Highly recommend this trick.

Also a lot of good info about dehydrating for camping can be found here:
Backpacking Chef Dehydrating

I am curious how your first batch turned out, wondermonkey? I don't do ground meat anymore as I didn't care for the results. A lot of the good flavoring of beef steak(s) is having fat content. Could be that I dehydrated too long but it was too 'grainy' on the tongue. The bread crumb tip might make a whole difference. Gonna try that.

I dehydrate alot of hamburger as well. Like the others have said, the more fat you are able to remove, you also remove more of the beef flavor. One solution I use now is to buy some of the Wyler's beef bouillon crystals/powder and add a teaspoon or so to each dehydrated pound of meat. Restores the flavor you lost.

Knoozer: "I dehydrate alot of hamburger as well. Like the others have said, the more fat you are able to remove, you also remove more of the beef flavor. One solution I use now is to buy some of the Wyler's beef bouillon crystals/powder and add a teaspoon or so to each dehydrated pound of meat. Restores the flavor you lost."

I do this also

I've started using ground turkey (because of it being less fatty) instead of hamburger and it works really well. But I also have found the bread crumbs make a huge difference. I also have a lot of success with dehydrating refried beans, spaghetti sauce and vegetables. Having onions and peppers in a meal sure adds a lot to a dehydrated meal.

mcsweem: "I dehydrate lots of stuff for trips, refried beans dehydrate really well I use the fat free type.

Bushs baked beans are good too dehydrate and rehydrate really well

I'll due lots of burger, spaghetti sauce, salsa, mixed frozen veggies all dehydrate good, just experiment , I have a burger jerky recipe that I take almost every trip it's awesome "

Low fat, or fat-free, seems to be the way to go.

mjmkjun: "Try your hand at dehydrating a few fresh country eggs. Big difference in taste. Beat to mix. Spread evenly and thinly on the silicone 'doughnut' inlays. You won't get the finely-granulated egg powder as marketed products but you'll get good-enough flakes."

Do you scramble several eggs and then dehydrate on those fruit roll up trays?
What temp and how long to you run the dehydrator....???

thanks

dr bob

mjmkjun: "I am curious how your first batch turned out, wondermonkey? I don't do ground meat anymore as I didn't care for the results. A lot of the good flavoring of beef steak(s) is having fat content. Could be that I dehydrated too long but it was too 'grainy' on the tongue. The bread crumb tip might make a whole difference. Gonna try that. "

It turned out very well. I dehydrated to the gravel feeling. I cold-soaked, meaning I put the hamburger and macaroni in water about two hours before I was going to eat, and then added more water when I did heat up. I did end up putting hamburger helper powder (cheese, flavorings) and rehydrated taters on top of THAT, so it all tasted great. I did not try any of the hamburger on it's own but to get some protein going it was a good thing to do. For as much camping as I do I'll end up buying my own dehydrator and do more of this.

Knoozer: "I dehydrate alot of hamburger as well. Like the others have said, the more fat you are able to remove, you also remove more of the beef flavor. One solution I use now is to buy some of the Wyler's beef bouillon crystals/powder and add a teaspoon or so to each dehydrated pound of meat. Restores the flavor you lost."

Very interesting. I'll have to try this as well. Thanks for the tip!

huntfun2: "I've started using ground turkey (because of it being less fatty) instead of hamburger and it works really well. But I also have found the bread crumbs make a huge difference. I also have a lot of success with dehydrating refried beans, spaghetti sauce and vegetables. Having onions and peppers in a meal sure adds a lot to a dehydrated meal.
"

I watched a video on the bread crumbs thing but didn't try it. I wanted to do the basics first, and then get all fancy later.

DrBobDerrig: "

mjmkjun: "Try your hand at dehydrating a few fresh country eggs. Big difference in taste. Beat to mix. Spread evenly and thinly on the silicone 'doughnut' inlays. You won't get the finely-granulated egg powder as marketed products but you'll get good-enough flakes."

Do you scramble several eggs and then dehydrate on those fruit roll up trays?
What temp and how long to you run the dehydrator....???


thanks


dr bob"

Exactly.
Whipped up 12 raw freshly collected eggs and I followed directions in manual for the settings on the particular model but can't recall exact setting specs now. I do remember that I set it up late (9 pm) and went to bed. In the morning (5 AM) it was all dried and flaky. My particular dehydrator has 5 round trays. I spread out as thin a possible on those fruit roll-up trays. Guesswork on how much to put on each tray. PITA but the only part of it all that requires a bit of finesse.

WonderMonkey: "

mjmkjun: "I am curious how your first batch turned out, wondermonkey? I don't do ground meat anymore as I didn't care for the results. A lot of the good flavoring of beef steak(s) is having fat content. Could be that I dehydrated too long but it was too 'grainy' on the tongue. The bread crumb tip might make a whole difference. Gonna try that. "

It turned out very well. I dehydrated to the gravel feeling. I cold-soaked, meaning I put the hamburger and macaroni in water about two hours before I was going to eat, and then added more water when I did heat up. I did end up putting hamburger helper powder (cheese, flavorings) and rehydrated taters on top of THAT, so it all tasted great. I did not try any of the hamburger on it's own but to get some protein going it was a good thing to do. For as much camping as I do I'll end up buying my own dehydrator and do more of this."

Yes.
And then......you'll long for a vacuum sealer. ;-)

huntfun2: "I've started using ground turkey (because of it being less fatty) instead of hamburger and it works really well. But I also have found the bread crumbs make a huge difference. I also have a lot of success with dehydrating refried beans, spaghetti sauce and vegetables. Having onions and peppers in a meal sure adds a lot to a dehydrated meal.

"

Good idea on the turkey.

mjmkjun: "

WonderMonkey: "

mjmkjun: "I am curious how your first batch turned out, wondermonkey? I don't do ground meat anymore as I didn't care for the results. A lot of the good flavoring of beef steak(s) is having fat content. Could be that I dehydrated too long but it was too 'grainy' on the tongue. The bread crumb tip might make a whole difference. Gonna try that. "

It turned out very well. I dehydrated to the gravel feeling. I cold-soaked, meaning I put the hamburger and macaroni in water about two hours before I was going to eat, and then added more water when I did heat up. I did end up putting hamburger helper powder (cheese, flavorings) and rehydrated taters on top of THAT, so it all tasted great. I did not try any of the hamburger on it's own but to get some protein going it was a good thing to do. For as much camping as I do I'll end up buying my own dehydrator and do more of this."

Yes.
And then......you'll long for a vacuum sealer. ;-)"

WRONG! Because my brother-in-law already has one!

:-O
meh

mjmkjun: ":-O
meh"

Just joking, of course. I was asking about the sealer and he said he already had one so I'll buy the dehydrator and we can share.

I thought so, wonder.

A note on sealing dehydrated hamburger:

The dehydrated hamburger has lots of tiny sharp points that will poke holes in your bag. What I do is I put the hamburger in a zip lock and leave it open. Then I place paper towel around the zip lock and put the whole thing in the vac bag for sealing. This gives me the added benefit of some paper towel during meal prep and if I don't use the entire amount of burger at once, I have a zip lock to hold the remainder.

Chicagored: "A note on sealing dehydrated hamburger:
The dehydrated hamburger has lots of tiny sharp points that will poke holes in your bag. What I do is I put the hamburger in a zip lock and leave it open. Then I place paper towel around the zip lock and put the whole thing in the vac bag for sealing. This gives me the added benefit of some paper towel during meal prep and if I don't use the entire amount of burger at once, I have a zip lock to hold the remainder."

Good tip. I watched that on someone's youtube. When they call it gravel, they aren't kidding.