I know there are a ton of great recipes and food ideas on this board. I have been taking BW trips for many years, and have always brought fresh food in my BW Journal cooler pack and/or bought freeze dried meals from Mountain House, etc.

This year I've decided to dehydrate some of my own food to try to save some weight. My wife and I take our 3 kids, ages 4,8,10.....and the food is a big weight factor.

My question is what do you all recommend I dehydrate, being totally new to it? What are some easy, basic things I can dehydrate that can save me some weight? Thanks for your tips!

Well, Spaghetti is an easy one and the kids will love it. I do the sauce and noodles (I use angel hair pasta as it hydrates quicker) together and the meat separately. For fruit apple rings, strawberries and Kiwi are easy to do. Veggies are easy, just get frozen ones and throw them on the dehydrator till done. Chinese leftovers are easy too.

Sort of depends on your normal menu especially when you talk about kids. What will and what won't they eat?

Fry up hamburger with panko bread crumbs, about a 1/4 cup to a # of hamburger (found that tip here, makes it rehydrate better). After your done frying put it in a strainer, run hot water over to remove excess grease and dehydrate. I go about 6-8 hours, at 165 deg, then bag it, some use zipper style bags and some use vacuum sealers and then put it in the freezer until you're ready to go. Now back to the question of what do your kids eat. The hamburger can be rehydrated and added to store bought dinners like, red beans and rice, hamburger helpers, bear creek or knorr noodle dishes and those are just a few that come to mind now.

Jerky is another possibility, whether you like it made from a solid muscle like a roast or steak or do you prefer it made from hamburger? I do both, ones a little more chewy and the other a little softer. Season and flavor to your liking. I go about 8 hours at 165 deg.

We also do apples rings with sugar and cinnamon. My wife has one of the apple coring, peeling and slicing devices. Stick the apple on the 3 prong end and turn the handle, walla, you have an apple that is peeled, cored, and sliced into rings. Have the kids help, now they are part of the the process too, sort of like "shake and bake and we helped" (old commercial from my childhood). We use an old larger sized chili powder dispenser with sugar and cinnamon mixed inside and shake it onto one side of the rings after we have placed them on the trays (the amount is up to your tastes). Dehydrate at about 135 deg for 12-16 hours. Now comes the hard part, getting them to the BWCA before they get ate at home.

We also dehydrate spaghetti sauce and salsa to make up meals from scratch type dishes such as goulash, unstuffed stuffed peppers (we also dehydrate the peppers for this one), spaghetti, duh, that is the sauce, right? Salsa can be used for soft shell tacos, use the hamburger, add taco seasoning, dehydrated refried beans which you've rehydrated, Velveeta cheese "sauce", it comes in a squeezable pouch, then top with salsa. It can also be used on eggs and ? burritos in the morning. ? = bacon, sausage, hash browns or whatever else you think fits.

Speaking of sausage we fry up breakfast sausage and do about the same with it as the hamburger and use it for biscuits and gravy in the morning.

This is just some thoughts to help you get started. Have fun and enjoy. Oh and it doesn't hurt to do some cooking at home with these ingredients to get an idea how they work before you get there.

Chili dehydrates well. In our house we eat it with rice so for canoeing I'll dry a serving of chili on a tray and then put in 1/2 cup or more of minute rice. I've found that for a 12oz dry serving of chili and rice you need a little more than a cup of water.

Hamburger or taco meat also dries well. We've done soft tacos on day 3 or 4 in mid August with fresh romaine lettuce.

Dried fruit is easy to produce and makes a great snack. Apples, oranges, pineapple, bananas, just about any of them can be dried. Blueberries have been plentiful this year, they can turn out well too but its best if you slice them in half as the skins do a good job of retaining the moisture.

I dehydrate vegetables, cooked beans, tomato puree, spinach or spinach puree, kale, diced tomatoes, and a little bit of fruit. I do them seperately and not combined into a recipe. I follow the instructions in the nesco recipe book/manual on blanching, adding some salt or sugar sometimes as recommended. I'll mix those dried ingredients with uncooked noodles, rice, potatoes, couscous, or soup mix (not dehydrated, just as is from store). And sometimes I'll buy freeze dried chicken to add - but I never mix it in. I'll seal a meal small batches of meat and pack the meat separately from the other ingredients. Add or bring spices.

You may find it easier to cook the food all together first (meat, sauce, etc. together) and then dehydrate all at once. I think most of the dehydrator recipes on this website follow that method. I do not trust myself enough to dehydrate anything with meat, dairy, or fat in it. Although many many/most people so that successfully.

It's counter- intuitive, but I find that tomato puree and other liquid-like recipes dry faster if you add water. I think that allows your "solids" content to spread out more on the tray. The initial drying out is a bit slower, but then suddenly is way faster because your solids content is thinner.

Can't go wrong with chili mac. Too many recipes out there already to suggest one.

Soups. Soups are nutritious and easy to dehydrate and prepare. The nutrition to weight ratio makes it the all-time best especially great on cold or wet days. In order to dehydrate soups or any other liquidy substance you'll need to buy silicon type sheets or you can use parchment paper to do pretty much the same thing.

Dehydrated burger in brown gravy over mashed potatoes is always a crowd favorite. Dehydrate the burger, purchase brown gravy packets and commercially dehydrated mashed potatoes. Add water in camp.

As far as the title that drew me to this thread, I've never tried to dehydrate newbies. My guess is that they'd have too much fat. :-)

I'm currently in the process of dehydrating meals for an August trip. I recommend watching videos from the HungryHammockhangar (on Youtube). Babelfish 5 has some great recipes and gives step by step instructions on the dehydrating and reh-hydrating process. He also talks about which foods don't dehydrate well and gives alternatives. I haver also taken recipes from the book A Fork in the Trail by Laurie Ann March.

Look up Babelfish5 on the youtoobz. He has some awesome recipes, I think I have made most of them. He also gives you tips about what works and what doesn't work for dehydration. Every one of his recipes I have made is fantastic.

I can't give you any better advice than that.

quote Koz: "Look up Babelfish5 on the youtoobz. He has some awesome recipes, I think I have made most of them. He also gives you tips about what works and what doesn't work for dehydration. Every one of his recipes I have made is fantastic.


I can't give you any better advice than that. "

Thanks Koz. Bablefish5 does seem to have some good ideas.

PS: Apologies mhart - I appreciate your mention of this first. Not reading in order or doing too may things at once. Wish he had a book or downloads.

quote billconner: "

quote Koz: "Look up Babelfish5 on the youtoobz. He has some awesome recipes, I think I have made most of them. He also gives you tips about what works and what doesn't work for dehydration. Every one of his recipes I have made is fantastic.



I can't give you any better advice than that. "

Thanks Koz. Bablefish5 does seem to have some good ideas.

PS: Apologies mhart - I appreciate your mention of this first. Not reading in order or doing too may things at once. Wish he had a book or downloads."

That's funny, I didn't see it either before I posted. I would have just given it a +1. Obviously good advice.

Did anyone mention Ripples dehydrator guide?

http://www.bwca.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=forum.thread&threadId=305707&forumID=18&confID=1

All of her recipes in the main meal sticky work with dehydration and taste great. My kids love her Guinness beef stew.