I’m learning to dehydrate food for trips. However, I’m not clear on storage. Some recommend (expensive) mylar bag and oxygen reducers. Some vaccum seal. Some books talk about double bagging in ziplock bags. I don’t want to undermine the economy of DIY meals, but I also want it to store up to and through my trips with no surprises. Any experience to draw upon in this area?
whatever keeps air and humidity out
Some stuff that is prone to spoilage… ie meat and shrimp I vacuum bag after dehydrating
Veggies I usually just zip loc. Fruit the same.
If you are storing long term in the freezer vacuum bags work better at reducing freezer burn than ziploc.
Camp meals?
I don’t take much meat or shrimp camping, but a nice lasagna might have meat. I guess I’ll spring for the sealer. It would be terrible to dry a bunch of stuff and then have it spoil before the trip. Is an anti oxidant packet necessary in vaccum sealed bags?
Freeze it
I toss it in a ziplock freezer bag and then put much of what I dry in the freezer until trip time just to be safe. I’m a vegetarian now but used to do the same with beef and chicken. Never a problem dehydrating months in advance or on month long trips.
Freezer burn is foods drying out in the freezer, not spoiling. Your food is already dry. I think you’ll be fine without a vacuum dealy.
Alan
I agree here
I have a Nesco dehydrator from an estate sale because you can adjust the temp for different things. I will add an in-line on/off switch though.
I also got a vacuum sealer from a recently married couple who was given two. You don’t need to spend a fortune on these things.
When I dehydrate veggies or eggs or pizza sauce, I use a zip-lock bag and the fridge.
When I dehydrate meat, I break it into smaller portions and use vacuum seal in small bags and store in the freezer.
Most of the time, it doesn’t matter but if there is a chance of rot (meat), I like to be certain and that means a vac-seal bag. I’m not afraid of mold opr bacteria in my dehydrated peas so a zip-lock is fine.
ziplocs
We just dehydrate, then freeze in ziplocs too.
Ziplocs are fine
I have a food sealer but rarely use it. I find that a freezer weight Ziploc usually does the job.
If it is something that absolutely can not get wet then I toss the Ziplocs in a small dry bag. They aren’t that expensive. I bought a 3 pack of Sealline dry bags at Home Depot a few years ago for about $15. They have worked quite well.
Vac sealers are spendy for sure
but mine is handy for way more than dehydrated food . Its tough to buy meat in packages sized for two. Even a pound of ground beef has to be subdivided for home use.
Big cuts for the smoker we get from the butcher cut and vac sealed to order but to get things like chicken on sale from the grocery store usually requires insane for two old people amounts. I dont like freezer burn on fresh meat.
So think if a vac sealer could come in handy for other parts of your life. A downside of course is that you need to vac seal one meal portions as you cant reseal in the field.