BWCA Simple Food Prep Q Boundary Waters BWCA Food and Recipes
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03/08/2015 02:24PM   (Thread Older Than 3 Years)
Currently I have a dehydrator and a vacuum food saver system (picked up at the thrift store yesterday) and am very comfortable drying and packaging my own meals. On a typical trip I will dry a couple meals and also make some in camp from divided Bear Creek soup mixes and adding bagged chicken etc.

As I know my way around the kitchen I ask myself, why not make great soups and stews at home, dehydrate them and package them up in small portions.

Is it just this simple? Or am I missing something?

Thanks for helping with a simple question.

Mac
 
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Grandma L
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03/08/2015 03:57PM  
yup, just that simple.
 
Savage Voyageur
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03/08/2015 04:47PM  
Look Here . I just saw about 5-6 soups from Ripple.
 
03/08/2015 05:05PM  
quote Savage Voyageur: "Look Here . I just saw about 5-6 soups from Ripple. "


Thanks , I just "consumed" them and am now quite hungry. Some good eats on this site.
 
03/08/2015 06:41PM  
I have had a vacuum sealer for years but just picked up my first dehydrator, so have had the exact same question as MacCamper on my mind - is it really just that simple? If I may just push pack on the "yes" answers a bit - do any of you who dehydrate adjust your recipes to reduce or eliminate fats compared to what you would make at home? I have read that fats do not dehydrate and increase potential for spoilage. The stews or sauces I love to make at home (and would love to dry and bring canoeing) all start with a good dose of olive oil, and sometimes end with one too! So, do you do you dehydrate the exact same foods you would make for home consumption?
 
03/10/2015 11:14AM  
quote Jaywalker: "I have had a vacuum sealer for years but just picked up my first dehydrator, so have had the exact same question as MacCamper on my mind - is it really just that simple? If I may just push pack on the "yes" answers a bit - do any of you who dehydrate adjust your recipes to reduce or eliminate fats compared to what you would make at home? I have read that fats do not dehydrate and increase potential for spoilage. The stews or sauces I love to make at home (and would love to dry and bring canoeing) all start with a good dose of olive oil, and sometimes end with one too! So, do you do you dehydrate the exact same foods you would make for home consumption?"


When I have dehydrated in the past I use bread crumbs in my hamburger and pat the end product dry of excess fat. When I make my chicken chile I will use a skin free and broken down grocery store rotisserie bird (great flavor for soups and casseroles) as an experiment. I too am interested in what others say about the "oil content" of their dehydrated menu items.
 
Swampturtle
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03/26/2015 01:30PM  
Yesterday I dehydrated 2 items at once for upcoming trip meals. Each item is a component to a larger meal. I do both types of meals, wholey homemade & dehydrated myself and additions to store bought meals. The first item was a can of cream of celery soup. I spread it onto a single fruit roll up style sheet that is wiped entirely with canola oil. After it is dry, I split this into 6 separate vacuumed sealed servings. This becomes part of my chicken stuffing & gravy meal on the trail. Been dehydrating canned cream of celery soup for years in this manner. No problems, store long term in the freezer. The second item I dehydrated is homemade tomato sauce. I made a big batch for a home meal and had a bunch left over. I decided to get a jump on my Bear Creek Chili Mac meal which needs tomato sauce as an ingredient. My tomato sauce starts with a bit of olive oil, as most do. I ladle 1 cup servings onto my sheets which are covered in a thin layer of canola oil. When dry, I vacuum seal and place into the freezer for storage. When kept in the freezer in this way, they can last a year or more. I have never had either of these items go bad on me. Both are dried on sheets covered with canola oil and or have olive oil in them.

When you are making a stew or a soup to dehydrate, you want to trim the fat off of any meat items before they go in the pot. As the meal dehydrates, the excess fat left on pieces of meat may weep grease into one spot. That is something you want to mop up or cut off. One breakfast meal I make from scratch & dehydrate has you mixing raw potato hash browns into a bit of grease left over after cooking sausage. I feel it is the same as if you started the hash browns in butter or oil. The sausage is cut up and mixed in the hash browns with eggs and parmesan cheese, then baked in the oven. Dehydrates beautifully, never had a problem with it going rancid. Again, it is vacuumed sealed and stored in the freezer until trip time

If your recipe ends with adding olive oil, perhaps it should be added after its been rehydrated on the trail. Just my thoughts. The fastest way to start getting used to the dehydrator is to grab your leftovers from the fridge and see how it goes.

I should mention I go out for a minimum of 7-10 days. I am careful with my meals when on the trail, I keep my barrel in the shade as much as I can unless I am under way. I date all my dehydrated meals.
Cream of celery soup...shards of soup...ready to go.
 
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