Canning & Food Preservation

665 readers

1 users here now

Canning and preserving food. Includes dehydrating, freeze-drying, etc.

founded 2 years ago

MODERATORS

jimrob4@midwest.social

Does dehydrating count as preservation? Looking for options to dehydrate food for home use and hiking. (quokk.au)

submitted 3 days ago by AloneDownUnder@quokk.au to c/canning@midwest.social

13 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Hi all, I recently did a 7-day hike and realised how expensive it is to buy freeze-dried food.
So i'm thinking to buy/acquire a dehydrator somehow.

Anybody have experience with what brands to look for, and what kind of food to try first?

I'm planning to use it for making food that we can prepare on a hike, preferably just by adding hot water. I also want to have some stored at home as 'emergency' meals for when we are too tired to cook!

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] Arcanepotato@crazypeople.online 6 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (1 children)

Be sure to check resale sites, community groups etc for second hand dehydrator. They can be pricey, but you may be able to get a good one second hand. I have an Excalibur 4 tray which has been excellent for our household of two people.

Unfortunately there is a big gap in what you can dehydrate vs what you can get freeze dried. Dehydration works best in inherently low fat foods, and you can't safely dehydrate a meal that has had fat added. It's important to store the food in an air tight container to protect it from moisture and (additional) oxygen.

The shelf life of dehydrated food is also much shorter. I rotate through my food each year and even that might be pushing it. You can find guidelines online, try to stick to scientific resources like agricultural programs.

My go-to (both for camping and having emergency food at home) is chilli made in the electric pressure cooker. The chili is just beans, homemade tomato sauce (no oil), spices, veggies and textured vegetable protein. I also dehydrate rice to go with it. I've also had good luck with misir wot. Basically anything with legumes cooked in a sauce, where things are cooked until they are soft and even on the mushy side will generally rehydrate pretty okay.

I also use my dehydrator to dry out tomatoes for paste instead of trying to cook out all the water on the stove. I wish I had a larger one for this task, but that's a rather infrequent use so it's not worth getting a bigger one. We also dehydrate what comes out of the tomato mill (skin, seeds, pulp) to make tomato powder.

I haven't done a 7 day trip in a while, but on my last 4 day back country trip I brought the chilli, misir wot, oats and a variety of trail mix type snacks and we weren't hurting for lack of variety.

[–] AloneDownUnder@quokk.au 2 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Thanks for your suggestions!

Do you think Devanti dehydrators are also ok? I found a deal on one with stainless steel racks 10-trays.

Storing food for 1 year sounds great already, even a few months would be ok. We would probably just eat the things at home if we can't finish it on a camping trip soon enough.

Chili and that misir wot sound pretty good. I'll have a try!
Do you have a recipe for the tomato sauce you make yourself?

For oily meals, is it actually possible to just take oil/butter/fat separately and add it to the meal when you prepare it? It's kinda interesting that lots of camping meals are low on fat because it doesn't dehydrate well, but at the same time fat can actually keep long by itself and is calorie dense, so you would think it would be good for hiking.

[–] Arcanepotato@crazypeople.online 3 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Do you think Devanti dehydrators are also ok? I found a deal on one with stainless steel racks 10-trays.

I'm not familiar with the brand but I took a quick look and it seems like it has two of the features which were most important to me: trays you could pull out and that didn't have a hole in the centre (i.e. circular dehydrators) and temperature control.

Do you have a recipe for the tomato sauce you make yourself?

We only make it to preserve it, so it's not seasoned at all: https://nchfp.uga.edu/how/can/how-do-i-can-tomatoes/standard-tomato-sauce/

For oily meals, is it actually possible to just take oil/butter/fat separately and add it to the meal when you prepare it? It's kinda interesting that lots of camping meals are low on fat because it doesn't dehydrate well, but at the same time fat can actually keep long by itself and is calorie dense, so you would think it would be good for hiking.

Yes, you can bring oil with you to add to meals. My brother actually cooks in the back country and he brings oil to cook with. I agree fat is good for hiking - I eat plenty of nuts.

[–] AloneDownUnder@quokk.au 2 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I ordered a devanti to try, seems like it's considered an ok brand.

Thanks for sharing the sauce recipe, do you add herbs/spices/salt afterwards? What things do you like to add?

How does your brother carry oil? Some kind of lightweight, sealed container?

[–] Arcanepotato@crazypeople.online 3 points 2 days ago

I ordered a devanti to try, seems like it's considered an ok brand.

I hope it works well for you! Have fun!

Thanks for sharing the sauce recipe, do you add herbs/spices/salt afterwards? What things do you like to add?

Maybe the word sauce is misleading - I preserve tomatoes this way. So instead of buying cans of tomato sauce like the one below, I just use the ones we made.

It's an very basic ingredient, not something that gets used on its own if that makes sense? It is used in both the dishes I mentioned, and I use it as a base for most bean dishes. The world is your oyster for spices - the tomato sauce is just another ingredient not something that dictates what flavors should be used.

How does your brother carry oil? Some kind of lightweight, sealed container?

I think he uses those small nalgene bottles sold at outdoor supply stores.