I bought a couple small cartons of dehydrated hash browns for my upcoming trip. They are about the size of a small milk carton that you get with a school lunch. I don't know if they are air tight or not but I would like to repackage them into a ziplock bag so they pack easier. Does anyone know if that is ok to do or once they are opened do they have to be eaten?

I think that you would be fine. They might absorb at little moister but not enough to spoil. Maybe transfer to zip locks the day before you leave. These are really good!

It's ok to repack any store bought dry foods into zip locks. Use freezer bags--they're stronger. I cut out the cooking instruction panel from the box and stick it in the bag too.

If it is the Hungry Jack product, the "milk" carton is also used to re-hydrate the contents. The key part of this is there are instructions to "fill to this line." So unless you've previously measured how much you pour in, it would be guess work to add water in the field in a baggie. In addition, the carton is capable of holding boiling water (as per instructions). Last, the carton provides a certain amount of protection for the contents. If you are not careful, you might wind up with hash brown powder before you get a chance to use them.

All that said, you can repackage without issues (but you might want to give so though to how you protect baggie contents ... sharp edges also poke holes ... as in dehydrated chicken). BTW: A single carton does produce a surprising amount of hashbrowns.

dd

Yeah I thought of the water fill line. After I repackage it I was going to see how much water it took to get to the fill line a write it down. I will back the amount of water off a little bit to compensate for the dehydrated hash browns that aren't in the carton anymore when I measure.

Along these lines, I was watching a video on dehydrating potatoes the other day and the gal mentioned being able to easily dehydrate your own frozen potatoes. She said it was easier and much quicker than normal potatoes.

If we picked up a pack of frozen hashbrowns, do you guys think its as easy as throwing them on the dehydrator and waiting them out? Re-hydrate and fry as normal?

Interesting thread...I've never thought of dehydrating hash browns. As the last poster mentioned, would there be any problem with just doing it myself?

Why repack them? Just bring the carton in since you can use to rehydrate them anyways and it's super light (w/ handy measuring line on the side). They are great hashbrowns BTW - just don't waste a bunch of stove fuel making them. Do it over a fire. :)

Having fallen in love with these they’ve been a staple in my camping trips for the last couple of years. My two cents is they’re pretty dang good with the only drawback for me being that a single package is too large for a single camper. So I break them down either into half’s or thirds. They repack pretty good but you do have to watch the “sharp” edges when repacking. Lately I’ve taken to either double bagging or adding a paper towel for padding the edges.
When it’s time for dinner I add some warm water, now how much you add isn’t really hard as after 5 minutes you can just pour off whatever is left in the your package.
By themselves they’re great but they really shine as a blank canvas for a meal.
One of my favorites is adding some veggies (corn, green beans,) chicken and taco seasoning with a bit of good cheese at the end.

I use dehydrated hash brows all the time. It is a staple on my trips. I purchase the large "bulk" boxes of hash browns that I can find in our local store. Then repackage them for individual meals based on how many people (1/2 cup per person normally), and place in ziplocks.

BTW -- my family prefers these hashbrowns to any other we can purchase. We take enough out of the box for a meal, put in container, fill with hot water, and drain off the excess water after about 10 minutes, then fry on the stove. No need to measurer the exact amount of water. Also, we don't do anything special with the box of hashbrowns once it is open, we just put it back on the shelf. never had any issues with them absorbing moisture or spoiling.

quote Alumacraft3: "I bought a couple small cartons of dehydrated hash browns for my upcoming trip. They are about the size of a small milk carton that you get with a school lunch. I don't know if they are air tight or not but I would like to repackage them into a ziplock bag so they pack easier. Does anyone know if that is ok to do or once they are opened do they have to be eaten?"

The box needs 1 2/3 cups of hot water. You can repackage them if you want to, a ziplock might get cut to pieces from the sharp, hard potatoes...so maybe have another container to rehydrate in. They make 1 lb of hash browns, I made some last week at home. Yummo.

quote carmike: "Interesting thread...I've never thought of dehydrating hash browns. As the last poster mentioned, would there be any problem with just doing it myself? "

Nope, go right ahead...hash browns frozen-place it right onto trays to dehydrate, you can also use the o'brien style hash browns (with onions & potatoes). Bring some seasoning with you when you travel.