Does anybody use a dehydrator?

[Scarne]

I hate to deal with perishable foods and cooking when I'm out in the field.  The added weight on a pack trip is ne benefit either.  I want to boil water, add it to a pouch and be done.  I've eaten the MRE's, and commercial dehydrated foods.  I'm still alive but as anybody here who has eaten this for any time in the field will tell you.  After awhile it all begins to taste the same, and it does get expensive.

I like my own cooking...and I'd like to dehydrate my own stews, chile, eggs, etc.  But I get the impression (mostly because nobody talks about it much) that most peeps just use the dehydrator for fuit & jerky.  Certainly there has to be more benefit that just this!

So what of it?  Is it as simple as cook your own food then dry it out?

[Bill Turner]

Sorry I can't help you my man but I'm very interested in this post. Commercial dehydrated foods are fine for a day or two, but sooner or later you've got to have something else. Hope we have someone on this site that can chime in with comments and advice.  

[Scarne]

Bill I found this link...

http://www.backpackingchef.com/index.html

I think it will be good for some front end research...hopefully a trad-gang member or two has some first hand experience.

[SKITCH]

YES. We have used our dehydrator on many a backpacking trip. We have dehydrated everything from soups and pasta sauce without any problem. Not to mention fruits and vege's. We also got a little tired of the standard camping food offerings. Depending on the thickness, soup and sauces come out with the consistency of a fruit roll up. Just fugue out about how much water you need to add, get it boiling and throw them in. Pretty easy and tastes a lot better.  I wouldn't want to keep them for extremely long periods of time, but we were backpacking in Hawaii for about 10 days with no problems.  One note though. DON'T dehydrate peppers, even bell peppers unless you want everything to taste and smell like ....peppers!!!  
Thick Beef jerky and hard rolls go a long way to add to the soups and sauces.

Hope this helps.

Skitch

[Scarne]

Thanks Skitch!  Every little bit helps!!

[JockC]

Our hippie health food store kind of took the wind out of my sails on this subject with all kinds of pretty decent and decently priced dehydrated bulk food, but when I bought my dehydrator for mushrooms, jerky, and berries I looked around online and found some good books:

"Lipsmackin' Backpackin'"
"Mary Bell's Complete Dehydrator Cookbook"
"Trail Food"--Kesselheim
"Backpack Gourmet"

There is a little less overlap than you would think.  Read the reviews on Amazon or go to your library to check them out.  Each of these four has good reviews and real fans.  I would probably start through them last first, with the thought that Mary Bell's book is a terrfic reference.

[Scarne]

Thank you Jock...

[Biathlonman]

I love my dehydrator.  Google Pateick Smith's wild casserole.  Ive also had excellent luck with venison burger and canned chicken for adding to knorr noodle packs.  Just recently dehydrated some chili with macaroni and it sure beat mountain house.  I also use ut for jerkey, dehydrating vegtables/herbs, etc.

[RedStag5728]

I have the Open Country 500 watt dehydrator. It's real cheap and works awesomely! I make everything with it, Jerky, dehydrate my herbs and for my nieces and nephews fruit roll-ups.

It comes with 4 trays but with the unit you can buy additional trays to expand the capacity!