Thread: Homemade dehydrated meals

I saw this video quite a while ago but couldn't find it again until today. In it he makes up homemade dehydrated meal packs for the hills. I thought it might interest a few here

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sBlT08y3wuQ

I used to get a version of those if I got in real late from either work or the famous "I'm just going for a quick look around won't be late".
Now on those occasions dinner hasn't been waiting up for me in a hot oven for several hours. Crunchy gravy is an experience.

Good wee video. Ive wanted a dehydrator for a while even just to make jerky or fruit/vegetable chips. Seems like they are getting a bit cheaper now too, though a good one will still cost as much as a nice new gun part.

@JessicaChen I thought it was interesting too. Especially when so many on here say the dehy meals can taste crappy and are a bit spendy! Seems a cheap way of making them when you look at the price of the commercial meals

Originally Posted by bumblefoot

@JessicaChen I thought it was interesting too. Especially when so many on here say the dehy meals can taste crappy and are a bit spendy! Seems a cheap way of making them when you look at the price of the commercial meals

Those dehydrated meals taste like royal feasts to me after hours upon hours of bush bashing, but yeah the price of those things really adds up. Homemade dehydrated meals will definitely cut costs down long term even with the high upfront cost of the dehydrator. Will look into getting one after paying off those dentist bills...

I have a dehydrator, got it as a gift but have yet to use it.

One question, once all those components once dehyed do they need freezing? What about the dehydrated meat?

They will need to be air tight Happy Jack so they don't reabsorb moisture out of the atmosphere.
I run a freeze dryer but you wouldn't want to eat what comes out of there

Originally Posted by Happy Jack

I have a dehydrator, got it as a gift but have yet to use it.

One question, once all those components once dehyed do they need freezing? What about the dehydrated meat?

I believe they can be kept unrefrigerated for a couple of weeks, it keeps much longer if frozen. Vacuum sealers are probably a good choice for storage (guy in the video does this at one point).

Dehydrated banana slices make a great snack on the hill.

My step mother preps a large range of dehy home made meals. They seem pretty good. In fact I tried her hummus dip on day as I thought she'd gone mad. It was tasty as. There's loads of how tos on you tube. She has a book too that's quite good. I keep wanting to do it as back country is revolting and I'm almost finished my stock of absolutes.

If any one does it site is your technique

@Cowboy dehy hummus? Mate you’re speaking my language now! I’ve typically always avoided dehy meals cos my experience with them hasn’t been stellar. But I also don’t like eating rubbish. My school of thought has always been carry in decent food, & at least it’s less weight to carry back out...

There was good thread on here a few months ago about vacuum packing meals which gave me a lot of great ideas. But I’d certainly be open to dehy if the end result was gonna be decent.

Without a dehydrator i used to make meals like this.....

Buy a bag of dehyd mince form which ever retailer you prefer, add to it

Dehyd spud
Dehyd peas
soup powder
herbs
Go to the local Indian wholesale shop and buy
Dehyd onions
dehyd garlic
dehyd mushrooms
Any other promising looking vegetables that have been dehyded.

Go home and experiment a bit with volumes / water amounts and taste

Also in the supermarket bulk bins you can get a huge range of dehyd fruits that make for a great dessert after a day on the hill....just fill a mug with hot water to soak in for the day while you are away hunting.

I would have the peas / potatoes in a seprate weighed out bag and the volume of liquid needed to top it up with, same for the meat / onion etc mix.
Sometimes i would use pasta instead hence keeping the potatoe seperate





After 1 hr soaking then heat in billy in bags in hot water or pour into billy ( more to clean up )

That is looking awesome

A question from an old fellah. What is TVP?

Originally Posted by Rushy

A question from an old fellah. What is TVP?

Textured vegetable protein; soy. It's often used to bulk out el-cheapo sausages etc

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Textur...etable_protein