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Has anyone ever tried creating their own MRE’s (Meals Ready to Eat) via dehydrating whole foods? How did that work out for you? I’m about to embark on a several-months-long camping adventure/lifestyle. I’m trying to think of ways to conserve space in general, but also conserve refrigeration space (I will have a 12 volt electric cooler, and a pretty hefty solar electric system). I figured I could prep and dehydrate the bulk of my fresh groceries before I leave, perhaps even on the campfire, and when I visit family members during days off from my work. I’m gluten intolerant, so I really do need to find a way to preserve as much whole (healthy) food as I can, and not so much processed “junk.” And boxed/canned foods take up a lot of space and add a lot of weight to the vehicle too.
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Not MRE’s but meals n a jar. This (REDACTED By Auto-Moderator Robot)/ is a good place to start:
PMR
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I have freeze dried meals for myself and stored them in vacuum sealed Mylar bags. I believe Home Depot sells freeze driers. You might ask them to see if any of their customers would freeze dry meals for you. The price should be better than the MREs sold for hunters and campers. Those average around $15 per meal. They are light weight and do not require refrigeration. You will need to rehydrate them however. If you can boil water, you can eat. Try some commercial MREs first to learn which ingredients you prefer. I made both canned and dehydrated chicken and beef chili this fall. Got me through a round of Covid.
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<span style=”font-family: ‘trebuchet ms’, geneva, sans-serif;”>I’ve done this with both a freeze dryer and with a dehydrator. I’ve also written a book about dehydrator meals published in 2022, “Dehydrator Cookbook for Beginners“. The freeze dryer is a large piece of equipment that has a learning curve and needs a stable place to do its job correctly. A food dehydrator can easily be used for what you need. My family is also gluten free (family member with a severe wheat allergy) and that’s the main reason I got my freeze dryer. </span>
Anything that you want to freeze dry or dehydrate should be low in fat. Meat can be flushed with hot water to remove excess fat. Fat will prevent proper drying and can cause rancidity in storage.
Prepare the meat separately from your starches (if using). Then combine it in the packaging. For instance, I cook a tomato sauce with ground beef and cook the rice or pasta separately. Dry these separately (*They dry at different rates) and then combine them in one package. You’ll only need boiling water to rehydrate.
Ground meat can be easier to rehydrate if you add some starch to it (gluten-free bread crumbs or rice flour, for instance) when you cook it. After dehydrating, the starch absorbs the water and helps the meat rehydrate.
Cooked meat should be dehydrated at 145F to prevent it from spoiling while it is drying. Raw meat (such as jerky) needs 165F to prevent spoilage organisms from proliferating in the food before it is fully dry.
Once dried (or freeze dried) you can store your meals in vacuum sealed bags for up to a year. Longer than that, I add an oxygen absorber and store in Mylar bags. Dehydrated food will last 10 years if properly stored. Freeze Dried foods has a much longer shelf life, up to 25 years.
Other than these guidelines, dehydrating meals is very straight forward. You can just double the recipes that you enjoy eating, eat half and put the leftovers in the dehydrator (or freeze dryer) to make your food storage meals. Some of the meals my family enjoys: Chili con carne, shepherds pie, Chili Mac, Spanish rice, Beef stroganoff, Curried Chicken with rice, as an example. This way it takes hardly any time to get a good store of ready to eat meals.
The website: <a href="(REDACTED By Auto-Moderator Robot) Chef has tips for the logistics of taking food on backpacking adventures as well as some innovative dehydrated recipes.
I hope this is helpful.
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Thank you for your knowledge. I have a freeze drier and I appreciate the tips. I check out your book.
Elizabeth.
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I have had success dehydrating vegetable soups and most vegetarian curries. I’ve found that if you soak the meals in cold water for 15 minutes and then bring to a boil, it reduces the amount of fuel needed for cooking. Wishing you well on your big adventure!
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Not sure if you’ve already gone on your trip but something to consider. Our local library has a freeze dryer one can schedule to use. You might check into your area and see if that’s an option. Maybe process a trial package to see if it’s going to be the right solution.
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Did you have any tips or suggestions from your adventure regarding your food preparation? Did you end up freeze drying (or dehydrating) any individual components or entire meals? If so, was it worth the prep work? I hope your experience last year was enjoyable!
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Thanks, Karen! So I did oven-dry a few staples before I began my trip, but I’m ashamed to admit I never actually used any of them. I am one of those people who really does not enjoy cooking or meal prep of any kind, so I ate a lot of cold foods, salads, protein drinks, etc. If the weather was cooperating, I sometimes grilled some fresh meat and veg. On the upside, I lost 60 lbs in five months! (Yes, I could totally afford to lose that much, lol). I do still have those foods I dehydrated in my pantry box. One of these days soon, I definitely need to rehydrate them into a lovely soup, before they expire.
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