Dehydrated Food and Recipes

I am new to dehdrating food and am looking for recipes for snacks and main dishes. Anybody out there who will share their favories?

Barbara

stew
Take about 1/2 lb each of carrots and potatoes, boil for 5 minutes. Cool and slice (I prefer the carrots sliced lengthwise into 2 inch strips, your choice) keep the slices about 1/4 inch thick.



Dehydrate until very dry.



Dehyrdrate onions (you do not need to partially cook them). Also make beef jerky, whatever recipe you like.



Mix these 4 ingedients with lots of hot water over the cookstove and in about an hour you have a nice stew.



I store all my dehydrated stuff in the freezer in seperate sealed ziplock freezer bags, and then again inside plastic tubs to keep them sorted.



When going on a trip, pre-mix and measure what you are going to need for meals each trip. For example, I’ll have one larger bag containing 4 1-cup bags of rice. Less measuring needed, the better.



Apple chips are a huge hit with the kids. We make a lot of them now since apple season is in full swing - basically crank the apples through the slicer peeler, quick dip in 10% lemon juice/90% water solution to prevent browning. Degydrate until crispy. No fat, no preservatives.

Fruit Leather and dehydrated meats
Take some good apple sauce, spread it thinly (1/8" or so) on a plastic tray or cover your regular dehydrator tray wtih plastic wrap. I prefer mine sprinkled with cinnamon, but that’s your call. Dehydrate until is is the texture of commercial fruit leather. Peel off the trays while still somewhat warm. Roll up and store. It gets sticky with humidity, but is still wonderful.



As to main dishes, I dehydrate shredded canned chicken and pre-cooked, rinsed, hamburger. Be a little careful with the chicken; it can be dehydrated too far so that it won’t rehydrate. The hamburger looks like little gravel pebbles when it’s done. Add to any packaged mix you want.



Like the previous poster, I store all my dehydrated foods in the freezer. We package them in vacuum bags until a trip, and I’ve never had one go bad within 6 months (that’s about all I store them for - they get used up by then).



Pam

bland but light
I like premixed sandwich bags of bisquick and a little instant potatoe with a little dried milk powder. I add some water to the bag and mix it up. Then just cut/bite the bottom of the bag and squeeze the dough into a pan … add dried cranberries or blueberries to the mix. The mix is light and takes up little space. Two of these “pancakes” per meal are nutrient dense and satisfy carb cravings from long days of protaging and paddling. I add spray butter and honey to top it off, and finish with a cup or two of coffee. It really is pretty tastey and provides a lot of energy in a very small package … and does not spoil.



Brammy

Check out this site
Lots of good idea’s and tips.



http://www1.freezerbagcooking.com/



Mark

Thanks
I appreciate the tips and site link. Yall gave me some good ideas for meals while we are on the Ozark Rendezvous trip.

Barbara

Recipe/menu books
"Simple Foods for the Pack" by Axcell & Kinmont and “Dry It, You’ll Like It” by Macmaniman are worthy additions to your library and can be found used for little $$$.

another apple hint
You can dip the apple slices in orange juice instead of lemon to keep them from oxidizing. Yummy.

look here for hundreds
Check out the huge food and cooking section forum in the canadian canoe routes website…there are several hundreds of ideas

http://www.myccr.com