Dehydrating for dummies

[Suzzz]

I finally got myself a dehydrator. Yessssss!!! But that was the easy part. I'm sure I'll find it easy once I get the hang of it but for now it seems more complicated than I thought and I hate wasting food.

So, just a quick question for those of you who have done this before... Is it a good idea to mix and match or not? What I mean is can I dehydrate for example different vegetables or fruits on different trays at the same time? I realize they probably won't all have the same time schedule but is it doable if I keep a close eye on everything? Or should I stick with one item of each at a time?

Another quick question... Any good dehydrating books out there you'd recommend? I know there are plenty online but I'd prefer a paper book if I could find a good one.

[TTT]

If you want to dehydrate books I'd recommend joining a library. Other than that I know little on the subject.

[Suzzz]

If you want to dehydrate books I'd recommend joining a library. Other than that I know little on the subject.

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!!! You crack me up TTT. You're one funny guy. And what you don't know about me is that I have a master's degree in 17th century literature and that I am a writer. So book are way to precious to me to dehydrate them but I'd sure like to find one that can show me how to dehydrate food. Maybe I should send you a sample when I figure this thing out. You could be my taster.

[atraildreamer]

Just Google dehydrating. Lots of free stuff will pop up, both from manufacturers of dehydrators and from universities, etc.

[TTT]

I too am attempting a nonfiction historical book. Almost complete. Cook books aren't my forte. BUT I like eating dehydrated, gourmet trail foods, like Peking duck polished off with a nice slice of Baked Alaska.
I promise to test out your cordon bleu skills if you promise to edit my best seller

[Maineiac64]

I wouldn't dehydrate foods of different types at the same time, like don't do jerkey and apricots at the same time. It would be ok to do different fruits at the same time though, at least to me. A good book is backpack gourmet with a lot of good recipes.

[Suzzz]

I too am attempting a nonfiction historical book. Almost complete. Cook books aren't my forte. BUT I like eating dehydrated, gourmet trail foods, like Peking duck polished off with a nice slice of Baked Alaska. I promise to test out your cordon bleu skills if you promise to edit my best seller

Very nice to hear that you have a writing project on the go. Yikes, you sure put the bar high don't you. Pecking duck polished with a nice slice of Baked Alaska. I may have to ruin a few recipes before I try something that elaborate but I'll get there... eventually.

[Suzzz]

I wouldn't dehydrate foods of different types at the same time, like don't do jerkey and apricots at the same time. It would be ok to do different fruits at the same time though, at least to me. A good book is backpack gourmet with a lot of good recipes.

Thanks Maineiac64!

[davesailer]

I don't know much of anything but you might find some useful information from one of the the links below.

• Demeters-Dish: http://demeters-dish.blogspot.com/se...abel/trailfood
• The Hungry Hiker's Book of Good Cooking: https://www.createspace.com/3861050
• Must Hike Must Eat: http://www.musthikemusteat.com/
• BackpackingChef: http://www.backpackingchef.com/
• The Blog of Trail Cooking: http://blog.trailcooking.com/
• Trail Recipes: https://www.trail.recipes/
• Wilderness Cooking: http://www.wildernesscooking.com/index.html

[Hikes in Rain]

I'm also rather fond of this one, especially since I was lucky enough to get it free. If you're familiar with Hawk Vittles, you'll recognize a lot in this.

[jjozgrunt]

Some of my hard earned knowledge on the subject. I have an excalibur 9 tray.
1. Best to use lean minced meats for best results, cook separately and remove all oil. Oil can make your meal go rancid.
2. Either dice or I grate all veggies being used in a recipe. Makes them rehydrate better.
3. Pasta I use risoni, cooked then dehydrated, again I found it was best for rehydrating.
4. Never had to much success with cooking and rehydrating rice, I find you just about have to recook it. I buy freeze dried rice and add it to the finished meal.
5. When I cook a big batch of say spag bol, I serve up the portion size in one dish and spread that on one tray, this is to get the right finished portion weight. The rest you put as much on a tray as you can.
6. Don't dry meat dishes with fruit.
7. Don't use flavour bases that are in a jar/foil packet, as they usually have a lot of oil.
8. Coconut milk powder is great for those curry dishes.
9. Experiment - I had some of those smoothies from Pack It Gourmet this year, so I'm playing at making my own at the moment.

[Tipi Walter]

I have a big 10 tray dehydrator and of course I mix and match everything until I have all the meals and/or foods I will need for my next backpacking trip.

Go here to see examples of my backpacking foods and dehydration experiements---

https://tipiwalter.smugmug.com/keyword/kitchen/

[Maineiac64]

Another tip is if you are dehydrating a meal with a sauce, like say shepherd's pie, I put in (after dehydrated) or bring some instant gravy mix. Also for shepherd's pie, I just do to the filling and bring instant potato mix.

[Hosh]

Search youtube for "bablefish5", he has some excellent recipes and good advice for what and what not to dehydrate. If you do chicken dishes, use canned chicken or pressure cook your own. Boiled or baked chicken is very hard to re-hydrate. I usually process chicken and tuna in a food processor before dehydrating, again it makes re-hydrating easier. I cook complete meals prior to dedydrating, ie spaghetti with sauce, beef stroganoff with noodles, and add a little extra seasoning. I think the flavors are better and you don't have to worry about mixing the correct portions when preparing for a trip.

I've stored finished product in Ball Mason jars that have been vacuum sealed using the canister attachment on a FoodSaver. This combined with storage in a freezer will keep everything fresh for many months.