Chilli con Canoetripping

[Odyssey]

It's that time of year again when I ladle out whatever smells good on the stovetop into the dehydrator.
Today it was a chilli concoction I call Chilli Con Canoetripping. Don't ask me for a recipe because I don't remember what's in it exactly. But it tastes good. Sausage, beans, veggies and sauce. Packed away for this year's trips along with the makings for dumplings.
I spread out the chilli 1 cup each per tray on parchment paper.







Anyone started up their dehydrators yet?

 

[Mihun09]

Have one, don't use it much, never have taken much to dehydrated food, which explains why Christy brings so much fresh stuff. Try carrying full potatoes for 2 weeks.

Taken out of the boxes, Kraft Dinner doesn't take up much space, less than Klik or Spam!

 

[Alan Gage]

I keep meaning to do some dehydrating but keep putting it off. Heaven forbid I actually do something ahead of time. Better to wait until a week or two before the trip when I'm trying to get everything done at once.

I did do about 25 apples this fall when they were fresh, about half of what I should have done. Still need to do lots of bananas, strawberries, beans, veggies, quinoa, farro and more apples.

Probably seems silly to cook and then dehydrate already dry ingredients like beans and grains but the time to rehydrate is much less than the time it takes to cook them the first time. This way I can bring them to a boil for a couple minutes, wrap the pot in a cozy, and 10 minutes later it's ready to eat.

Alan

 

[Odyssey]

Er, KD is basically a dehydrated meal in a box. The "cheese" is anyway along with dried pasta. I love the stuff, but would never be allowed to bring it. The princess says so. We have ported potatoes too, but they're starchy jackets of water. A bulky heavy bag could be reduced in size and weight in no time at home. If you don't like the commercial instant mashed potato types you can easily dehydrate homemade potato mash, leaving out the butter/buttermilk/sour cream hoopla. But before anyone starts tossing potatoes at me, I'll just say that there's nothing like the taste of fire roasted potatoes in camp. And any burnt bits taste good too. We might sometimes bring a couple spuds but never too many more.
I like the idea of apples Alan. I should do a tray.

 

[Iskweo]

Contrary to my princess's opinion, I do dehydrate a fair bit of stuff. Mostly meat and then I disguise it with canned items. I have found that the flavour of home dehydrated food is much better than commercial stuff.

The best part for me though is that I can take meats now that last the whole summer if I look after them correctly in storage. So, protein issue solved. Pasta and rice are always a good deal. Bannock can be a winner too. Next year I will try bread, small loaves. Pizza could work out also.

And yeah dehydrating is cool but the bacon cheese dogs on Summit Lake were kind of nice too.

 

[Mnoutdoorfunguy]

We regularly use the dehydrator. It makes it much easier for us to prepare meals and ingredients every week or so rather than trying to get it done in one marathon session.
That way we are usually surprised at how much we have ready to go for our trips or impromptu getaways. We can easily put together meals from individual ingredients: onions, black olives, carrots, diced or sliced tomatoes, peppers, etc. If we have extra veggies, fruit or complete meals we just pop them in, dry them, zip loc, label and put them in the freezer.

 

[Iskweo]

Yeah that is something that I do as well...dehydrate a bunch of things in lots and them make up specific meals from them as I need them. Then I take the meals on that trip and use them. I dont often cook a meal and then dehydrate the entire meal, it is usually ingredients that I cook or rehydrate together.

 

[memaquay]

The only thing I can speculate about is the relative fire scale of Brad's dehydrated chilli. It probably ranges from a low of "Sweating Head" to a high of "Sphincter resembling Mick Jagger's Lips".

 

[Odyssey]

Ooooh I remember those killer dogs Iskweo. They're on my menu now. And my princess says "Yay!!"

This chilli is very tame stuff mem. No spicy surprises here. Not this batch anyway. (You've just ruined any future Stones' music videos for me.)

 

[DuctTape]

I stopped using my dehydrator to make meals specifically for future trips. Instead, I use it to dry leftovers from dinner. After a while I will have quite a few ready to go. Saves on throwing away the container lost in the back of the fridge.

 

[MacCamper]

Dehydrated about 20 cases of apples this last fall/early winter. As a part-time picker I am paid in seconds as well as a marginal cash supplement. They make great neighborhood Christmas gifts and in-law presents as well as personal use. My apples become crispy, not pliable and I have even ground them in my spice grinder and added to protein powder and cinnamon for a dynamite breakfast shake. I also make a great chili, marinara, lentil soup and wild rice hot dish for the BWCA. Each meal gets rehydrated in a Tupperware container then heated up. Mmmmm good stuff there.

 

[Alan Gage]

My apples become crispy, not pliable

Mine have never been anything other than pliable. Same for bananas. Does it take more time, temperature, or something else?

I don't know that I'm really complaining though, I like the little chew.

Alan

 

[memaquay]

So what are you guys using for dehydrators? Thinking about getting into it, I've looked at some on amazon, there's some fairly inexpensive ones there. After you dehyrate, do you freeze the stuff? How long will it last left in a bag at normal temps?

 

[Alan Gage]

So what are you guys using for dehydrators? Thinking about getting into it, I've looked at some on amazon, there's some fairly inexpensive ones there.

Excalibur all the way, baby.

http://www.amazon.com/Excalibur-3926...bur+dehydrator

You can save a little money by getting one without the timer but the timer is great. That way you can have it shut off by itself in the middle of the night or middle of the day if no one is home.

I started with a Nesco. It worked fine but the round trays aren't as efficient space-wise as square ones and with smaller, and fewer, trays, it can't handle as big of a load. After 5 years or so the heater went out and I had to replace it. That's when I got the Excalibur.

The Exaclibur trays are huge and wide open with no hole in the middle. Makes it very easy to just dump whatever you have on the tray and spread it around. It can hold a ton of stuff, which is good for me because I'm a binge dehydrator. I don't do a little bit here and a little bit there. When I get in dehydrating mode I go to town. If I remember right I can do 27 apples in one load. I buy bags of frozen vegetables at the grocery store and think it will handle over 12 pounds in one shot.

After you dehyrate, do you freeze the stuff? How long will it last left in a bag at normal temps?

I don't know how long stuff lasts. I imagine it depends on what it is, how well it was dried, and how it's stored. I put mine in zip-lock freezer bags and most of it then goes in the freezer just to be sure. Some of the stuff, like dried grains, I don't worry so much about and, while still bagged, is stored out of the freezer.

Alan

 

[Odyssey]

I found my American Harvest 4 tray Snackmaster in an antique barn for $20 Can.
The chilli I just made has some sausage in it, so there's the real possibility of it going rancid or worse, so after I put it in ziplock bags (suck the air out with a straw-high tech-me) I put them in the freezer to keep until the trip. I do this with all the meat I dehydrate.

My machine is the Edsel of the dehydrators, but it's working fine so far ( and at a good price).
Mine has no timer ( but it has real nice chrome bumpers and tail fins - lol) so I just remember to check it. I readjust the trays halfway through to ensure even dehydrating over all trays. You can't over dry food, but you can under dry it.
I don't do a lot of food. I still have some leftovers from last summer.

 

[Mnoutdoorfunguy]

I have had the Excalibur 9 tray model for many years without any problems. I have and used other models but the Excalibur is worth every penny. The trays are easy to clean and the consistancy of drying in the different levels is very good. We use ours to make yogurt with the trays removed. Get the Teflex sheets if you intend to dry fruit leathers, sauces and the like. We dry everything, zip loc or glass jar it, label and then freeze it for long term storage. I am not sure how long items would keep if not frozen. I would suspect at least a year. The 9 tray model would be my first choice again since it is very easy to fill it up.
For instance, a case of bananas will fill the 9 trays twice and it will all fit in two one-gallon zip lock.

 

[Iskweo]

Ours is one of the Nesco American Harvest models from...wait for it.....Lee Valley.It was not priceey at all and works pretty good for the amount that I do. You can always go old school and use the oven but this is much easier to use and works well.

I used to roll my eyes at dehydrating but once I tasted the home done stuff it opened up a lot more possibilities for tripping foods. Especially hamburger...you can dry it out and take bags of it with you. Vegetables too like carrots, peas, green beans. I have my own from the garden but if you buy frozen peas or beans thaw them out and dry them the flavour is amazing. Celery pretty much disappears when you dry it but the taste is massive to add to stews and chili.

Give it a try Mem, you will be glad you did.

 

[sweeper]

Go Solar, it's a lot cheaper!









I use an Excalibur for meals but fruits and veggies I let nature take care of.

 

[yellowcanoe]

Ha ha.. Solar will only cost me thousands! That tree cutting. ( my yard is just like an Algonquin campsite. ) but nice set up

 

[yknpdlr]

I'll be firing up my 1000 watt Nesco 12 stack soon. For some 20 years I have used it (two of them) to dehydrate food for an Adirondack wilderness guide's training program in June, with up to 30 students and staff for the 4-day outdoor certification portion of the training. I've been very happy with the performance and longevity of the Nesco considering the many hundreds of pounds of food it has processed; may or may not consider moving to Excalibur if and when my current Nesco ever dies.

I'll be extra busy in the coming months once again dehydrating all breakfast and dinner meals for my 6-person voyageur canoe team for our return trip to the Yukon 1000 mile Y1K race down the Yukon River in July. With 6 paddlers in the boat, we can afford one person taking a few minutes out to heat water and prepare the food on board with 5 still paddling in the race. Then each person eats one at a time while the others continue to paddle. No one goes hungry or loses weight on my team!

As others have said, just to be safe and especially since I am feeding others, I bag and keep everything in the freezer until ready to travel. I keep the fat content relatively low, but don't go crazy over being non-fat with the food I dehydrate. Never had anything go bad or taste "off" after several weeks storage at ambient temperature.