Hello, I am thinking about making my own dried food for hiking.

Hello, I am thinking about making my own dried food for hiking.
I mean whole meal like some instant rice with beans and dried meat, where I will just pour water and stir it and let it rest for a couple of minutes. Like pic related.
Does anyone here have experience with this kind of food making?
Thx.

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  1. 11 months ago
    Anonymous

    If you want to do literally that, you'll need a food dehydrator

    • 11 months ago
      Anonymous

      No, he needs a freeze dryer, food dehydrator can leave up to 20% moisture, while freeze dried will get down to like 1-3%, toss it into a vacuum sealer bag, seal it and now you got food that can last 30 plus years if all done right.
      Food dehydrators are nice for shorter term stuff, I'll use it to make a bunch of meals for week long trips.

  2. 11 months ago
    Anonymous

    the equipment needed for freeze-drying and similar stuff starts at 10K minimum. at least here in goymany. a simple food dehydrater wont do if you are planning on making anything but dreid herbs and jerkey

    • 11 months ago
      Anonymous

      What the frick are you talking about? You can dehydrate sauces and other meal components in a food dehydrator. You've clearly never used one.

    • 11 months ago
      Anonymous

      Harvest rights are only a couple grand. I have one. It's pretty neat. I just got a chamber vacuum sealer and started soft canning. On my previous phone I had picks of the food I prepared and freeze dried for a buddy's 10 day through hike. He really liked it. It was neat learning to cook Dominican stuff.

      Anything soup or casserole cut into small enough pieces works really well. I make most things that I freeze dry in my insta pot and then transfer it directly into the treys. I recently got a bunch of those silicone meal prep freezer portion containers and I started pre-freezing everything. It cuts run time down a lot.

      • 11 months ago
        Anonymous

        https://i.imgur.com/Z5y9Rvq.jpg

        Pretty sure Harvest right ships internationally. Their small unit is just over 2K

        My sister has a harvest right but she moved to the other side of the country. I wonder if shipping freeze dried food from her to me is cheaper than buying from a supplier. How much power do these machines use?

        • 11 months ago
          Anonymous

          Retired at 40 measured it to about 3.50 a run. A standard unit can process about 2 number 10 cans worth of food per run. But you also have to consider the cost of the mylar bags and o2 absorbers if you are planning on keeping them long term.

          • 11 months ago
            Anonymous

            I've heard that they require a lot of compressor oil as well, I'm not sure why / how that works, or where compressor oil is getting released / leaked / wasted, but I've read that it is an issue and it can get expensive.

            • 11 months ago
              Anonymous

              If you use the less expensive (and louder pump) You are supposed to filter it after every run and replace it every couple of times. The oiless pump is another two grand, but quiet and zero maintenance.

      • 11 months ago
        Anonymous

        Op here.

        That Harvest right thing isn't so expensive.
        All I found in my country were big mass-production machines. But this one looks just fine for home production and the price is fine as well.

        Is that machine easy to use? Like You turn it on with a button and it does all the work and then just come to completly dried food in a couple of hours?

        If You've got access to some cheap seasonal fruits maybe You could start some small business with this. Freeze dried food is quite popular nowadays.

        I have a food dehydrator and a Vacuum Sealer with some food saver bags.

        You can't do "everything" that a major manufacturer can, but you can do a lot. Especially if you buy odd things like powdered sour cream / powdered eggs / milk/ whatever is pre-powdered or pre-dried already.

        If you just have a vacuum sealer there are lots of things you can make without a dehydrator even

        easy mode is just some quick-oats, brown sugar, some dried raisins, cinnamon. Just need the vacuum sealer for that one - quick breakfast.

        "Minute rice" is basically dehydrated rice already. Use that and add any combination of powdered spices and such. If you food dehydrated some beef or anything, you can use spices, minute rice, meat and make a jambalaya type thing. Vacuum seal it all together.

        For 1-meal preps its doable for self-serving. But they will not keep as long as the store bought shit because they probably use preservatives or the dehydrators they use are waaaay better at getting out all moisture. But if you do your own meals in advance, they should last 5-10 days easy. just don't make a whole years worth in 1 day.

        Do You think, that it is possible to vacuum some fruits, then freeze it around -20°C (like normal freezer can do) and dry it this way? I mean, do smth simillar to lyofilization?

        • 11 months ago
          Anonymous

          Literally push button simple. It's no harder than using a dishwasher. It does need to be cleaned afterwards though.

        • 11 months ago
          Anonymous

          OP, freezedrying is actually very simple. The principle of it is freezing some food and then sublimating the water inside of it. A vacuum chamber should be effective enough for this.

        • 11 months ago
          Anonymous

          >Do You think, that it is possible to vacuum some fruits, then freeze it around -20°C (like normal freezer can do) and dry it this way? I mean, do smth simillar to lyofilization?

          Probably not in a satisfactory way no. Freeze dried fruit and dehydrated fruit have a completely different texture and when freeze drying doesn't go right it isn't very good. Apples for instance turn into fresh apple flavored marshmallows when you do it right instead of apple leather. Thins like certain melon's turn into a kinda fresh fruit Styrofoam. It was off putting to me. Watermelon has been a mixed bag. If it's over ripe it turns to mush and if its crisp it turns out really good. Mango is my favorite.

          • 11 months ago
            Anonymous

            Picrel

    • 11 months ago
      Anonymous

      Pretty sure Harvest right ships internationally. Their small unit is just over 2K

    • 11 months ago
      Anonymous

      lmao you can buy vacuum chamber for 50 bucks.
      Freeze drying, you either flash freeze or can freeze normally. Flash freeze with liquid nitrogen is probably better. Then you suck all the air out with a vacuum.

    • 11 months ago
      Anonymous

      >food preservation costs 10k
      Black person what?
      My NODS cost less than that. My PC, upgraded throughout the years is a tenth of the cost in total. 10k is more than I've spent on food in my lifetime.
      How do you even come to that price point?

  3. 11 months ago
    Anonymous

    if you can afford it tho id be super-jelly.

  4. 11 months ago
    Anonymous

    I too have been wanting to do this, those freeze dried meal packets they sell at Runnings and the like are pretty convenient and lightweight

  5. 11 months ago
    Anonymous

    I have a food dehydrator and a Vacuum Sealer with some food saver bags.

    You can't do "everything" that a major manufacturer can, but you can do a lot. Especially if you buy odd things like powdered sour cream / powdered eggs / milk/ whatever is pre-powdered or pre-dried already.

    If you just have a vacuum sealer there are lots of things you can make without a dehydrator even

    easy mode is just some quick-oats, brown sugar, some dried raisins, cinnamon. Just need the vacuum sealer for that one - quick breakfast.

    "Minute rice" is basically dehydrated rice already. Use that and add any combination of powdered spices and such. If you food dehydrated some beef or anything, you can use spices, minute rice, meat and make a jambalaya type thing. Vacuum seal it all together.

    For 1-meal preps its doable for self-serving. But they will not keep as long as the store bought shit because they probably use preservatives or the dehydrators they use are waaaay better at getting out all moisture. But if you do your own meals in advance, they should last 5-10 days easy. just don't make a whole years worth in 1 day.

  6. 11 months ago
    Anonymous

    If you are camping for multiple days, consider laying out a simple or even bushcraft fish trap, even easier than fishing or hunting. Even a wooden basket trap can secure your protein, and you can bring things like veggies and tortillas to make tacos or whatever. Even dry foods like rice with seasonings and dry veggies as mentioned, would go well with freshly grilled fish. Meat/fish, caught with tools, cooked on a fire, is what allows for efficient survival completely from the wilderness. If you want to bring dry protein, consider dry beans or dried meats.

    • 11 months ago
      Anonymous

      >Meat/fish, caught with tools, cooked on a fire, is what allows for efficient survival completely from the wilderness.
      If you can lay out a line and catch five or six fish, or even more, just overnight, than you can fill your own freezer at home let alone secure food for camping.

  7. 11 months ago
    Anonymous

    Dried beans/peas dont do well over time. They get harder to soften the older they get, so don't buy them until you're going to be going out. Old peas can take hours of soaking and still be hard. There's shredded dried beef out there too, it's a mexican food ingredient. Easier than dealing with whole jerky if you want to make something to eat with a spoon out of a bag. Otherwise just go jerky and make some hardtack if you wanna go super simple.

  8. 11 months ago
    Anonymous

    Freeze Dryers are expensive, dehydrators are not. Freeze drying is the shit that makes space ice cream and preserves dead pets for all of eternity. It has to create a true vacuum without leaking, burning up the pump, or imploding so it ain't cheap.

  9. 11 months ago
    Anonymous

    Yeah Ive done it. You'll need a dehydrator (they run 50-250 bucks depending on size and quality) I recommend the Excelsior brand, I'd also recommend getting a cookbook about dehydration. Most vegetables will dehydrate fine, same with fruit and cooked carbs, meat will dehydrate but goes bad in a couple months. I recommend buying freeze dried meat and adding it to your meal. For example for my spaghetti I cook angel hair pasta and a vegetarian version of my regular sauce, dehydrate both separately. Powder the dried sauce in a blender and then ad freeze dried ground beef or sausage before packaging. The whole thing rehydrates in 5 minutes and tastes way better than mountain house and is a lot cheaper per serving.

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