Dehydrating Pasta sauce

[Grinder]

I'm just finishing a batch of tomato sauce.

This Time I lined a 12x9 in cake pan with parchment paper and poured a 1lb 10 oz of Ragu garden style sauce in it . I spread the sauce evenly. It was between 1/4 and 1/2 in deep.

I placed in the oven (with an iron griddle under it as a buffer, heat sink) and set the oven temp midway between off and W.

It took forever . I started at around lunch time and removed it to the fridge at 10 pm. In the morning I put it back in the oven and by noon it was leathery.

I have it in the freezer now and will food processor it this afternoon. ( thanks for that tip SARBAR! I never would have thought of it.)

I'll let you know how the chop turns out.

[Grinder]

Darn!!

It wasn't dry enough.

After I ground it up it tended to clump up , like a snowball.

I put it back in the oven for additional drying..

Next time I'll try running the temperature on warm instead of below. I was afraid of burning the sauce.

[Farr Away]

When you put it in the refrigerator, did you put it in air tight packaging? I think refrigerators tend to be humid.

[Grinder]

farraway,
No I didn't. Never even thought about it.
By noon it was drier feeling and I couldn't get it to clump anymore, so I declared it dry and got on with my life.

Next batch I will run the oven on Warm until it books "near dry" and then finish at half way between Warm and Off.

[russb]

Ii just finished drying some sliced up meatballs! Now to go add them to my already dried macaroni and sauce. mmmm

[skinewmexico]

Then once dry I let cool, break up the leather, freeze for an hour or so, then whirl in my blender to get a powder.

That could revolutionize my food prep. Bless you! I'm ging to have to try slicing meatballs too, since I got a new dehydrator for Christmas. With a thermostat, so hopefully my veggies work now!

[singingpilgrim]

I love this site. I was just thinking earlier this evening "hmm.. I wonder if I could dehydrate spaghetti sauce.."

[Jim Adams]

I use the spaghetti sauce packets of dry powder but instead of adding a can of tomato paste per directions, I add dehydrated tomato quarters, dehydrated mushrooms and dehydrated cooked ground beef...good sauce.

geek

[veteran]

I use the spaghetti sauce packets of dry powder but instead of adding a can of tomato paste per directions, I add dehydrated tomato quarters, dehydrated mushrooms and dehydrated cooked ground beef...good sauce.

geek

You can also use tomato powder:

http://www.americanspice.com/catalog...ce5d687fc3fa33

and freeze dried ground beef:

http://www.packitgourmet.com/Freeze-...Beef-p252.html

[tothetrail]

I use the spaghetti sauce packets of dry powder but instead of adding a can of tomato paste per directions, I add dehydrated tomato quarters, dehydrated mushrooms and dehydrated cooked ground beef...good sauce.

geek

Hmmm, that sounds great, thanks!

[Grinder]

I'm in mid hike now and thought I'd report back on the spaghetti.

I ate a batch a few days ago and it was "to die for".

details
precooked and dried whole wheat spaghetti, broken into 1 1/2 in. pieces.
1/2 jar of prego veggy sauce, dried and ground to small chunks
1/2 cup of gravel (dehydrated ground beef)

Rehydrated with 2 cups of water

Try it, you'll like it.

[manta]

sounds great I must try this

[Grinder]

I'm drying food for this years hike (one month, start Hot Springs, NOBO)

Doing spaghetti now.I thought I'd report the details:

1. I use the oven on less than warm setting with a spoon propping the door
(while I'm sure a "real dehydrator" is nice and easier to use, you don't need to spend $60 to 100 to find out if it's for you)


2. This time I did a jar of RAGU chunky sauce. It fit on a large cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Took about 12 hours to get to a good dry leather. I will grind the leather in a food processor. ( I'd appreciate advice on the grinding up part. My memory is foggy on the details. Normal blade or grater?? How much do you have to cut it up before loading into the processor?)


3. I break spaghetti into fourths. (My first attempt was full length spaghetti. It dried into odd shapes that threatened to pierce the freezer bag the meal was stored in. Shorter lengths don't do that)

I will make four meals out of the jar of sauce and pound of pasta, adding 1/4 cup of gravel (deh. hamburger)

TTFN

[Farr Away]

If you freeze the leather before you try to powder it, it works better. YMMV.

-FA

[WingedMonkey]

3. I break spaghetti into fourths. (My first attempt was full length spaghetti. It dried into odd shapes that threatened to pierce the freezer bag the meal was stored in. Shorter lengths don't do that)

Instead of cooking and drying spaghetti I use Korean wheat noodles, they cook in one minute. Like Ramen but better flavor and texture with tomatoe sauce.

[WingedMonkey]

Oops forgot pic

[rustmd]

An option I just made is "Pasta Bark". I used the flip method when dehydrating. You can google "pasta bark" for the recipe/dehydrating directions. Rehydration was very quick.

dottie

[sarbar]

This is a page I did many years ago to show how easy it is to DIY
http://www.trailcooking.com/dehydrat...eze-dried-meal

[Bonjour]

What works well for me is to cook the pasta and then mix in pasta sauce of choice (Ragu). It seems to help to let sit in the frig overnight and absorb the sauce. Next put in dehydrator and dry it all together. I add other dry ingredients to make it more interesting. Add water and you are ready to go.
It also works great to make and bake a meatloaf as usual with your favorite recipe. Then slice it up and dehydrate the slices. Very versatile.

[Grinder]

Just for giggles, I did a quick cost summary to compare with the $5.00 dry meals from Walmart.

sauce $2.00
whole wheat pasta $1.25
Ground chuck 1 1/3 lbs $3.20
Total $6.45
Per meal (1/4) $1.82

Not bad. I guess throw in a bit for parmesan