Dehydrating Foods and MREs

[Fletching]

Hi Guys,

Instead of the usual banana chips, fruit rolls and jerky dehydrator recipes that seem to dominate the interweb, I'm going to start experimenting with making MREs (adding vitamins where needed).

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5249/5373107755_f130f0c085_b.jpg

I'm pretty confident in the kitchen and have some ideas of where to start, so watch this space...

In the meantime, if any of you have had any success with making MREs with this method, let us know.

Steve

[paul standley]

Hey Steve, I'm interested in this one buddy...

Never made any but often thought about it so I'l lbe following your progress.

What's the electric gizmo in the picture ?

Paul.

[Fletching]

What's the electric gizmo in the picture ?

Paul.

That's a dehydrator. This one's quite a cheap one (http://www.lakeland.co.uk/F/keyword/dehydrator/product/14210) but it's already paid for itself in saving food that would've otherwise been wasted.

I'm starting with a breakfast recipe to be rehydrated. The trick's in getting all the ingredients in the right consistency so it doesn't all turn into a gooey mush when rehyrdated, but I've found some good tips for scrambled eggs. Just working on the sausage and beans now. :)

I've a vacuum packer as well, so will experiment with having the ingredients separate and combined.

Steve

[Shewie]

I've been meaning to have a go at this stuff for ages, hopefully this thread will spur me on a bit.

Apparently these Westfalia dehydrators are very good value ...
http://www2.westfalia.net/shops/household/preserving_food_and_jam_making/preserving_food/dehydrating_/193811-food_dehydrator.htm

I'm hoping to do a few of the long distance trails and the TGO over the next couple of years, getting my own lightweight meals sorted could be a real bonus.

[paul standley]

OK, I've never seen one before... It seems I'm on bit of a learning curve tonight one way or another...!

So, do you also have a vaccum sealer ?

[Shewie]

I remember seeing DIY stuff on Youtube a few years ago involving a cardboard box and a lightbulb.

[Fletching]

do you also have a vaccum sealer ?

I do, and I think a separate thread for that one (also in Wild Food & Cooking) will be a good idea as I've had mine for a couple of years now and there's a lot of tips I can give for that.

Steve

[Fletching]

I remember seeing DIY stuff on Youtube a few years ago involving a cardboard box and a lightbulb.

Like this?

http://www.alpharubicon.com/prepinfo/dehydratorstryder.htm

Good idea. I used to sun dry a lot of tomatoes and herbs etc. but when a mate showed me his (commercial) rehydrator, i was sold. They're quite energy efficient and the smell round the house is divine!

[Fletching]

Realbark, personally, I've gone for the 50% option as I don't have a sealed environment and don't use the preservatives (apart from citric acid and sodium), but it's been rare that I've thrown something away.

I'm erring on the side of safety really but if we're talking about prepping stuff for a one week-type trip - as long as it's not raw meat - I find that everything will be perfectly fine.

*Don't use my estimates as a safe guide though. The most important consideration is the quality, ripeness and cleanliness of the food to be packed. If you've bacteria in the air in your kitchen when packing, it will get on the food!

I'll start the vacuum packing thread soon...back onto the dehydrating now. Mod - can we move the vacuum specific posts to the new thread when I start it? xx

Hope this helps

Steve

[Realbark]

Thanks for that - you have whetted my appetite so to speak and i am going to look further into this. Very interesting.

[klause]

Hi Fletching,
I was wandering if when you sealed your dehydrated food stuff, if you sealed them in a bag you could then use to add the water to? (boil in the bag/pour hot water into).
i.e to transport/carry the food- to cook the food - to eat the food from, the dispose...

I like your style, i love to make my own food packs to save money (expedition food/ration packs are so expensive), the next progression is to start to do what your doing and making it all from scratch...

[Fletching]

Hi klause,

So far, I've been rehydrating in a Billy can, but when I've got the first batch of MRE's, I'll experiment with rehydrating in the vacuum pack. By necessity, they're quite thick plastic - and of recyclable grade of course! - so some scalding tests are in order! ;)

Steve

[klause]

Quick one Steve..
Dehydrate u-tube style or purchase an electrical dehydrator ? And any recomendations for reliable stockists?

Thanks again..

[Paul Webster]

Can you seriously dehydrate scrambled egg etc and rehydrate them ok? If so, that's awesome!! I looked at a dehydrator a little while ago for fruit, jerky etc but this opens up loads of stuff

[Fletching]

Can you seriously dehydrate scrambled egg etc and rehydrate them ok? If so, that's awesome!! I looked at a dehydrator a little while ago for fruit, jerky etc but this opens up loads of stuff

Apparently so:

http://www.ehow.com/how_5846066_dehydrate-cooked-scrambled-eggs.html

I haven't got round to trying it yet, but watch this space soon.

Steve

[Fletching]

Quick one Steve..
Dehydrate u-tube style or purchase an electrical dehydrator ? And any recomendations for reliable stockists?

Thanks again..

I'm going down the electrical route (means I don't have to keep 'eyes on' all the time, and there's plenty of rack space). This is the cheapest around (unless you find cheaper):

http://www.lakeland.co.uk/F/keyword/dehydrator/product/14210

Steve

[Fletching]

Right, while I'm waiting for my latest batch of veggies to dry, I've done a bit of research into dehydrating cooked foods. When making a sauce base, I usually fry onions and garlic in a little olive oil to sweat, add herbs/spices/seasoning, add meat and/or veg then stock or water and reduce until cooked/ready.

The problem with trying to dehydrate oily foods is that it's very hard to dry the oil properly thus leaving the foods open to bacterial contamination and spoiling in the pack.

The methods I've looked into will involve (to try and replicate the above method) softening the onion and garlic by steaming before dehydrating and using hydrogenated vegetable oil, hydrolised vegetable protein (soya) and emulsifier (in my case, I'll use corn starch) - all in powder form - to get the right consistency when rehydrated. I'll have no problem dehydrating things like tomato puree and other non-oily sauce bases. You need a fine mesh for this (I just bought 3x 'splatter guards' down the pound shop, which will fit the dehydrator with the handles sawn off).

With regards to (e.g.) sausage, I'll start with veggie sausage first and test the dish by rehydrating. If I think the MRE is successful, I'll try with cooked sausage (I'll try to find one with a high rusk/low fat ratio).

Cooked potatoes are easy to dehydrate, so you can see the making of a 'sausage casserole with potatoes' MRE in the making.

Steve

[Martin]

OK, how about this for a suggestion? If you are going to vacuum pack your meals this means that nothing can get out of the pack and, therefore, nothing can get in. Consequently, we only have to deal with the bacteria inside the pack. Why not prepare the vacuum sealed meals, paying attention to good food hygiene, and then boil the resulting vacuum packed meals inside the bags to kill off any residual bacteria? I believe this is how the canning industry deal with food bacteria anyway. The biggest challenge would be finding the correct material to make the pouches out of.

Martin

[KERNOW KELT]

Thats a serious psychopath kit (very shiny:D ) hanging behind the dehydrator...
( like Paul I did not know the things existed ).
I see the SKS has not improved !!

[Fletching]

Good idea Martin. I'll do a batch test and see if there's a difference after, say, three weeks.

Steve

[Fletching]

Thats a serious psychopath kit (very shiny:D ) hanging behind the dehydrator...
( like Paul I did not know the things existed ).
I see the SKS has not improved !!

Ha! You can only see half the Sabatiers in the pic, next to the Japanese knives, and, yes - I definitely have SKS in the kitchen - got a gadget for every task (hence the vacuum sealer and dehydrator)!

[jbrown14]

I've dehydrated various thick stews and chili very successfully in my dehydrator. I've made all different kinds of fruit "leathers" and even tried yogurt leathers. Strawberry banana yogurt dried in this fashion is almost like a melty chocolate when eaten. BAsically, if the food is not too fatty, it should be able to be dehydrated if done at a sufficiently high temperature to prevent contamination and a low enough temperature to prevent over-cooking.

[Fletching]

Thanks jbrown14. Have you had any luck rehydrating in a vacuum pack bag?

I think my vac-bags should be able to handle the boiling water. The key may be in having a reflective pouch for the bags for support and heat when rehydrating.

Steve

[jbrown14]

Hi Steve, I don't have a vacuum sealer, and haven't used the bags for them. I usually use zipper-lock freezer bags (Among others, we have Ziploc brand here in the US, not sure what's available over there in the Motherland) and pour almost-boiling water in those bags. They tend to be heavier gauge plastic than normal sandwich or storage bags.

In the field, I'll have all my meals individually packaged. I pour in some how water, wrap the bag in my fleece and set aside out of the way while I do some other chores. In about 10-15 minutes, I'll smoosh the bag around to make sure everything is getting hydrated, give it another 5, then open and enjoy.

Sometimes to eat them, I'll put the bag in a mug or my kettle, and pull the edges of the bag around the top of the container like a bin bag. I don't like washing dishes if I don't have to.

Hope that answers your question.

Josh

[paul standley]

Thanks jbrown14. Have you had any luck rehydrating in a vacuum pack bag?

I think my vac-bags should be able to handle the boiling water. The key may be in having a reflective pouch for the bags for support and heat when rehydrating.

Steve

Just a couple of ideas to chuck into the pot...

Make envelopes/pouches out of cooking foil to provide heat reflection and support

Use toasted sandwich toaster pockets to provide heat transfer and support

[Fletching]

***Update***

I'm almost back on my feet and ready to continue with these. I've got some cherry tomatoes, meatballs and sausages in the dehydrator at the moment, and I'll carry on with MRE experiments a.s.a.p.

Steve

[Paul Webster]

Good to hear your on the mend

[Fletching]

Well, after much experimenting over the past few weeks, here's my conclusions on trying to make MREs using a food dehydrator...

I've tried dehydrating lots of foodstuffs including vegetables, sausages (both veggie and meat), baked beans, cheeses and also cooked dishes like pasta and sauces, sausage and potato stew etc, etc...

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5018/5474171116_9df42aace7_m.jpg
http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5298/5473571417_b1ef346103_m.jpg
http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5019/5474169556_02b39ab52d_m.jpg
http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5016/5473569861_966f25cb53_m.jpg
http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5099/5474168204_9edcaa78f8_m.jpg

Some of it turned out a right mess!

My conclusions are that dehydrating Is usefull for making dried fruit snacks, breakfast snacks (e.g. fine porridge with fruit pieces and milk powder), jerky and dried foods that should be rehydrated (soaked) first, before being then cooked. It's not really a good method of creating MREs that you can just add water to - unless you make fine powdery mixes like soup and such (which you can buy cheaper) - as dehydrated foods need the re-soaking period and are not really good for 'instant' meals.

This is because dehydrating differs quite a lot from freeze drying (how most commercial MREs are made). The freeze drying process means that only a short rehydrating period is needed.

More info on the differences here (http://www.wildbackpacker.com/food/articles/freezedryingdehydration.html).

Don't write-off dehydrating as you can make some useful snacks AND full meals IF you don't mind soaking for (e.g.) 20 mins before then cooking. Obviously, your dehydrated foods will last for a long time.

My uses will be for instant breakfasts, dried fruit snacks, jerky (and sausage 'jerky') and also, and more importantly, packets of dried veg that can be added to soups or stews etc.

So, I'll move on over to the thread about vacuum packing again so I can go into making 'boil in the bag' foods that have been vacuum packed.

Steve

[Fletching]

...Just in case anyone missed this conclusion as the thread went 'off current' quite quickly:

[Fletching]

Hi Guys,

Just thought I'd give you another update on the 'banging about in the kitchen with dried foods' experiment.

Not really for a MRE as such, but I've dehydrated loads of veg and come up with a selection that can be combined for easy meals that are very light and compact (when vac packed).

Shown here, are (pre-steamed) dried onions, cabbage and a veg mix of peppers, carrots, mushrooms and courgettes:

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5174/5496976867_a317405226_b.jpg

I've used dried soya chunks and mince as a meat substitute (trying jerky too) and made sauces such as Oxo, chicken stock, curry and cheese sauce combined with a little cornflour for thickener. Rehydration time for the dried ingredients is +/- 30 mins to 1 hour (all the veg is steamed before being dried, so is cooked already!) and boil time approx 10-15mins before adding the sauce mix, stirring well and then letting the mix reduce a little bit. If you try out something like this, just remember to add cold water to your meal mix in your billy and get on with the rest of your bushcrafty shenanigans. :)

Here's a curry on the stove:

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5013/5497571088_dcd62db822_b.jpg

It was actually very tasty once I'd got the seasoning mix right and worked well with some cous cous (just add boiling water and stand for five minutes!). Next step is to vac pack into separate meals complete with sauce and seasonings. Each packet should last for easy six months.

Steve

[Adam Savage]

very interesting, got plenty of ideas to be working with and a heck of a lot of useful tips. top thread

[Fletching]

Since I last posted on this thread, I've been buying all the 'reduced' veg in my local shops and dehydrating it (also, all the veg leftovers from the fridge). I then give it a spin in a grinder until the pieces are about 2 to 5mm in size and make sure there's a good variety of veg mixed together with a little cornflour added. This gets put into a PET container and kept in the freezer (even though it's dehydrated). When needed, I either take some in a smaller PET container or vac-pac into small packets. This veg mix is really tasty as a soup, stew mix or added to leftovers such as baked beans shared with Ben and Ken on a meet last year. All depends on how much water you add as to the thickness of the soup/stew addition.

Because the pieces are so small, there's no rehydration time needed. Simply add water or to your stew and cook.

You could add curry sauce or chicken stock etc, etc, but the mix (if done right), tastes good by itself.

My mix usually contains dehydrated:

tomatoes
tomato puree
garlic
mixed dried herbs
green cabbage (gives good texture)
peppers
onions
courgettes
mushrooms
Vegeta (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vegeta_(food))(vegetable stock powder - which you can get from most deli's/polish shops)
cornflour

Steve :)

[Adam Savage]

Sounds useful, and yummy :)

[Ben Casey]

It was :D