Canning & Food Preservation

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

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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

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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!

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[–] 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.