Home made dehydrated food

[rik_uk3]

We talk a lot here about food in general, trail food, rat packs etc. There is also talk about using a home dehydrator, but given the amount of new members here perhaps we can open up this topic again.

You can pick up a dehydrator for about £30, so armed with this what do you dry? Give us a recipe or two as well

Easy very basic favorites for me are

Mushrooms
Carrots
Peas
Sweet Corn
Minced Beef

So whats yours and how do you pack them?

 

[Humpback]

What's the advantage of dehydrating food? Weight saving and/or keeping without refridgeration? Any other benefits?
Alan

 

[mace242]

I do loads of dried fruit. Handy snacks for when out and my partner and her parent love them so it's an easy way to get everybody eating loads of fruit. I also make fruit leathers using cheap tinned fruit. Easy to do - you chuck several tins of fruit in the food processor (after draining off the juice - ones in syrup don;t work so well) wizz them to a pulp and then smooth the pulp out on to baking sheets in the drier. Easy peasy. You can smear a couple of drops of olive oil onto the sheets before you smooth the pulp out if you want - it helps make it stick less.

I also make jerky - but I'll not go into that as it's well covered ground.

I have - though it's a bit late in the season (at least down here in the south) - dried a load of wild garlic too and later will be doing clover for teas.

 

[JonnyP]

I have one of these from westfalia http://www2.westfalia.net/shops/hou...ccating_appliances/289502-food_dehydrator.htm

Its very good and was handy last year when we went to Sweden.
I like drying pinapple best, but its fun experimenting. I remember someone on here who said they dried beef mince that had been cooked. I thought that sounded a good idea, but have not yet tried it..
Making jerky is good but I find I need lots of spice added...
One thing you do need to bear in mind, is that running 250 watts all night long will cost a bit... Not sure how much though...

 

[mace242]

What's the advantage of dehydrating food? Weight saving and/or keeping without refridgeration? Any other benefits?
Alan

Both. It will save weight and preserve. As I said in my post I use dried fruit as a way of making people in my house eat more fruit.

I forgot in that post but I make my own ground ginger by drying it and crushing it in a pestle and mortar - far nicer than shop bought ground ginger.

 

[rik_uk3]

I have one of these from westfalia http://www2.westfalia.net/shops/hou...ccating_appliances/289502-food_dehydrator.htm

Its very good and was handy last year when we went to Sweden.
I like drying pinapple best, but its fun experimenting. I remember someone on here who said they dried beef mince that had been cooked. I thought that sounded a good idea, but have not yet tried it..
Making jerky is good but I find I need lots of spice added...
One thing you do need to bear in mind, is that running 250 watts all night long will cost a bit... Not sure how much though...

I use one of those myself Jonny, as to running costs, 250w = 2 units of electricity over eight hours so about 30p, still very cheap.

I posted about the minced beef, its very easy to do, dry fry your mince in a frying pan until cooked, transfer to a colander, rinse under boiling water to remove excess fat and dry, a few hours later you have 'Hamburger Rocks' as some Americans call it. Ideal for spag bol, curry etc

Come on people, lets have some recipes

 

[JonnyP]

I use one of those myself Jonny, as to running costs, 250w = 2 units of electricity over eight hours so about 30p, still very cheap.

I posted about the minced beef, its very easy to do, dry fry your mince in a frying pan until cooked, transfer to a colander, rinse under boiling water to remove excess fat and dry, a few hours later you have 'Hamburger Rocks' as some Americans call it. Ideal for spag bol, curry etc

Come on people, lets have some recipes

Ahhh, didn't realise it was that cheap to run, cheers for that Rik... Will try the minced beef somewhen. We normally store mince in the freezer, I bet in the long run its cheaper to dry it..

 

[fishy1]

I use one of those myself Jonny, as to running costs, 250w = 2 units of electricity over eight hours so about 30p, still very cheap.

I posted about the minced beef, its very easy to do, dry fry your mince in a frying pan until cooked, transfer to a colander, rinse under boiling water to remove excess fat and dry, a few hours later you have 'Hamburger Rocks' as some Americans call it. Ideal for spag bol, curry etc

Come on people, lets have some recipes

What's the dried mince like on it's own when you don't have a strong sauce with it, e.g with mince and tatties?

 

[Globetrotter.uk]

How do you do mince? how long for etc

 

[rik_uk3]

How do you do mince? how long for etc

Until its dry, it does shrink down very well.

That said, drying minced beef is the same as making jerky, you are removing as much fat as possible to help it keep longer. Removing the fat from both leaves you with just the meat/protein, very nice and good for you, but you need fat in your diet, especially in colder months, so add some butter/marg/oil when you cook it.

Its very good when you dry a tomato based sauce into a 'leather' makes a good spag bol.

 

[JohnC]

We dry a lot of apples, some herbs and carrots. Still practicing with the dehydrator for fruit leathers etc.

 

[elevenses]

roughly how long will the "hamburger rocks" keep for un-refrigerated ?

 

[spamel]

Good question, I will try the mince I dried about three or four months back this weekend! It still looks OK!

Not sure about recipes, what I tend to do is just dry seperate ingredients that I may use and can rehydrate whilst cooking. Onions, mushrooms and carrots seem to be the main things I do, I did try potato very thinly sliced and then crushed as a thickening agent for soups and the like but I haven't tried it out yet! So, I have a potential meal to try this weekend, I'll post my findings!

 

[chickenofthewoods]

Some garlic, spice mix and worcestershire sauce stirred in during cooking would give added flavour to your mince before you dehydrated it.

 

[rik_uk3]

I don't bother with dried fruit, to be honest, its so cheap in the health food shops I don't see the point unless you have a surplus or good windfall of fruit; I tend to stick to veg. Mushrooms give such an intense flavour in soups and stews that its a must for me at least.

My next (delayed) project is to 'can' food,,,,,,,, need to speak to British Red again

 

[Staghound]

How does drying compare to smoking regarding meat? I prefer the taste of smoked, does dried keep for longer. I guess a drier is quicker and needs less space than a smokery (made up word ?)

Steve

 

[elevenses]

Cool would be intersted to find out how you get on with it

Good question, I will try the mince I dried about three or four months back this weekend! It still looks OK!

Not sure about recipes, what I tend to do is just dry seperate ingredients that I may use and can rehydrate whilst cooking. Onions, mushrooms and carrots seem to be the main things I do, I did try potato very thinly sliced and then crushed as a thickening agent for soups and the like but I haven't tried it out yet! So, I have a potential meal to try this weekend, I'll post my findings!

 

[Random Roadkill]

I've heard that you can make a whole meal then dehydrate it. is this true? or is it just used for smaller stuff like fruit an veg?

Also how do you rehydrate things such as sauces, is it quick?

 

[British Red]

It works fine. I tend to dry elements - spaghetti sauce, veg, fruit, meat etc.

My dried jerky is fine for at least a year - never had it last longer than that.

I don't like shop bought food but I can do a full chilli and rice and fresh cooked tortillas with dried ingredients no problem so its no hardship

Red