Rehydrating Food

Darryl,

My family and I have been dehydrating our food for a couple of years now simple because we were lazy/dissatisfied with the "special" meals that have been suggested for backpacking.

As I like to tell my friend, "I like to eat what I normally have for dinner at home!"

I have even dehydrated take out Indian food from my local restuarant.

To answer your questions about rehydratiing your food:

1. When I get into camp for the evening, I immediately use what water I have left from the day or filter some clean water.

2. I pour my dehydrated food into my pot and pour in enough water to cover the top most part of my food. Better to go with less and as it rehydrates, you can additional water as needed.

3. Then I setup my shelter, sleeping system, etc. while the food is rehydrating in cold/room temperature.

4. I have found that it is best to allow 30 minutes to 45 minutes for the food to soak and rehydrate.

5. Simmer the food slowly and be careful not to burn the food…add additional water as needed and then enjoy your meal.

Notes: One of the benefit of using dehyrated food, besides the reduction of the weight of the food is that you use very little fuel. You are re-heating vs. cooking food. I have even dehydrated rice and pasta, odd as it sounds. Example: On a 4 day/70 mile trip to Mt. Whitney on the High Sierra trail, I used a total of 2.5 oz of fuel. This was with a hot drink & hot oatmeal each morning, hot drink at night with a hot dehyrated meal. (I use a MSR Titan Kettle 0.9 L).

My early experience was that I used to pour in the water and the food at the same time and then put my pot to a simmer/boil. This resulted in two things…bits of burned food and pieces of food that were soft on the outside, but hard to a little crunchy in the middle.

Part of how your experience will differ will be based on how dry your dehyrdrated food is. My early attempts at dehyrating food resulted in granola looking chunks of food, which took longer to re-hydrate.

Note: I also use a food vacuum sealer to store my dehydrated food and then toss the bags into my freezer. I actually have food that is two years old that I am still eating on trips today and they are fine.

After researching dehyrators for a while, I ended up buying a 5 tray Excalibur Dehydrator, which has a built in timer and the heating element is at the back of the unit vs. at the bottom, which allows for better warm air flow and more even dehydrating. Highly suggest that you get some of the Teflex Solid Drying Sheets for liquids or sauces…like pasta sauce, which ends up looking like a fruit leather.

Hope that this helps you out and good luck!

-Tony

In most cases it will a 1:1 ratio of water to dry food. Though in the case of sauces it can be 2:1 or even 3:1. Always start with less, you can add more water as needed.

Rather than weight, a dry foods measuring cup can be your friend. 1/4 dried hamburger + 1/4 cup water.

Having said that, there are many ways to rehydrate food. It can depend on what you dry as well – some foods take longer to come back to life.

Myself I top my food with the amount of near boiling water I will need, stir, seal tightly, put in a cozy and ignore for 15 minutes, then eat. At very high altitudes though this can be an issue, due to the lower temp that water boils at. In that case, simmering in a pan can be needed.

As for soaking food: if you cook one pot style it will save fuel. Add your food and water to the pot and let soak for 30 minutes, then heat to a boil. Though you need to watch the heat so you don't burn your food.

If making soups or sauces you can add your dry ingredients to the water and bring to a boil and simmer.

Last but not least: the smaller and more uniform your food is, the faster it will rehydrate. Make sure you look at the lengthy list of cooking threads in the food forum – lots on drying.
I have a section on one of my websites on Dehydrating 101 with a number of photo pictorials on drying:
http://www.freezerbagcooking.com/dehydrating.htm

when is the next freezer bag cooking book coming out?? that book really reshaped how i cooked in the backcountry last year!

I made a good cozy from Reflectix (double mylar foil bubble wrap) and even at 12,000 feet it kept food hot while rehydrating FBC style. Although Sarah always says "near boiling water", in the Sierra even a rolling boil is well below 212.

Most of my food was fine with this, but some items needed more time/heat. I found that adding a few ounces of boiling water to the ziploc after breakfast, then the remainder at dinner time, reconstituted the crunchy bits better.

It is coming, I promise ;-)

It is written in full – the husband is doing his editing stuff. Unfortunately he does all the book and video editing after hours and his job is one of those 60+ hour a week jobs :-(

The recipes in book 2 are fun, fun and fun! Though as I wait on him….I am writing book 3 ;-)

I'm really looking forward to it!

I boil the water so as to negate the need to filter or chem treat the water. I let it cool for a minute or so, dump it into the bag, and then into the cozy it goes (my fleece hat). I used to just pour it right in once it boiled, but I guess dumping boiling water into a standard freezer bag isn't the best idea.

Dan, it is fine. It is a rare time when a bag leaks – usually if a bag does leak it is due to a small puncture caused by sharp pasta/veggies/rice when packed in the food bag.

I do pour into the bag (never had a leak yet), I just let the water cool for minute so it's not "boiling" when I pour it in.