Explorer Kate all the time dehydrates her meals at dwelling to avoid wasting weight and house on hikes. It’s the right option to ensure you’re nonetheless consuming scrumptious and nutritious meals whereas tenting and mountain climbing. That is easy methods to dehydrate meals for mountain climbing.
Relating to mountain climbing meals, we regularly think about dehydrated house meals, loaded with preservatives, barely recognisable as an precise dish. It doesn’t must be like this!
Think about in the event you might pull as much as camp, drained and weary, and have a connoisseur babaganoush with crackers as an entree, whereas pulled pork sliders bubble away in your pocket-sized mountain climbing range.
Enter envious mountain climbing buddies, as they drool over your shepherd’s pie created solely over the flames of your campfire.
‘I bet carrying that all day weighed a ton!’ they’ll say, as they attempt to swallow a bit of chewy cardboard meat, described on the packet as ‘chicken stir-fry’.
‘It weighed 200 grams and serves two people, how great’s a dehydrator?’ you’ll say, as their jaws drop to the ground, their style buds tingling on the odor. Time to get cooking!
What’s a dehydrator?
A dehydrator is a compact oven that removes the water in meals by cooking on a low warmth for an prolonged time frame. The result’s a meal that’s half the burden and may be saved for twice as lengthy. When able to eat, re-introduce water to the meals and the rehydrated product will style precisely the identical as earlier than. In different phrases, it’s a hiker’s greatest good friend!
The place can I purchase a dehydrator?
Whereas it’s potential to dehydrate your meals on a low setting within the oven for hours, a selected dehydrating equipment is a safer and extra handy possibility.
The primary place to search for a dehydrator is in grandma’s cabinet or your nearest op-shop. Within the Nineteen Seventies. they have been all the trend to scale back waste and minimise space for storing by dehydrating left-overs or pre-made meals.
Sadly, this development pale in the course of the ‘90s, but we’re right here to make it fashionable once more. Sustainable, money-conscious, and flavour-savvy hikers on the prepared!
If none can be found second-hand, a brand new dehydrator may be bought from shops like ALDI, Kmart, or Goal ranging from $50, with top-of-the-range, bigger dehydrators going for round $200. A fairly large expense to get began, however the dehydrator will rapidly pay for itself with the cash saved from store-bought, freeze-dried mountain climbing meals.
How do I take advantage of a dehydrator?
The choices for dehydrating are countless, however attempt beginning with one thing easy. Contemporary fruit is likely one of the best mountain climbing snacks to dehydrate and requires no added sugar or preservatives when created at dwelling. Kiwifruit turns into a scrumptious bitter burst, mango is a chewy candy strap, and berries add a pop of flavour to boring breakfast oats.Â
1. To start the dehydrating course of, place baking paper over the trays to keep away from meals getting caught within the drying racks.Â
2. Peel and slice up your fruit evenly, no larger than 1cm thick, to scale back dehydrating time.Â
3. Squeeze lemon juice over the fruit to cease edges from browning, and house out evenly on the trays, avoiding items from touching.Â
4. Temperature and time for dehydrating varies relying on the kind of fruit and the way a lot there may be; most dehydrators include a consumer guide which will include a chart to assist with this. For those who get caught, 70 levels celsius is a superb place to begin for many meals.
5. Start by dehydrating for eight hours, checking the fruit all through. Flip the fruits over and rotate the trays roughly midway by way of with a purpose to evenly distribute the warmth.Â
6. If extra time is required, merely add one other 4 – 6 hours, till all of the moisture is totally sucked out of the fruit and so they resemble their store-bought, dried counterpart.
What meals can I dehydrate?
Meat
Uncooked meats equivalent to lean beef or kangaroo may be made into jerky with a tasty marinade and a little bit of salt. Pre-made meat dishes equivalent to pulled pork, curries, and bolognese dehydrate very well, good for rehydrated camp dinners.
Greens
Dehydrate water-retaining greens equivalent to mushrooms, peas, spinach, zucchini, or capsicums to prepare dinner up a meal whenever you get to camp. Assume stir-fry noodles or ramen soup.
Dips
Yep you may make dehydrated dips! Utilizing store-bought or home made dips equivalent to hummus or babaganoush, unfold evenly on the lined trays, roughly 1cm thick. Dehydrate till all of the moisture is gone and a tough wafer is left. Crumble up the dip right into a meals processor, mixing right into a powder. When it comes time to eat, merely mix the dip powder with slightly water, stirring right into a paste.
Fruit Roll-Ups
A wholesome various to the grocery store, sugar-loaded fruit straps it’s possible you’ll bear in mind as a baby. Experiment with all of the flavours: apple cinnamon, combined berry, tropical passionfruit, or anybody up for pina colada?Â
Mix fruits right into a thick puree, including slightly maple syrup to sweeten if crucial. Unfold evenly, once more about 1cm thick, over lined trays, dehydrate till fruit puree turns into leather-like.
Marshmallows
A candy deal with for when a sugar hit’s wanted to beat that last ascent! Use the smaller marshmallows out there within the cooking part to avoid wasting time on dehydrating or bigger marshmallows for a chewier texture. Unfold evenly onto trays and take a look at to withstand consuming them till they’re utterly dehydrated. They change into a scrumptious mountain climbing sweet.
Yoghurt
Camp breakfast doesn’t must be uninteresting, now the key of dehydrated yoghurt is out. Observe the above directions for dips, utilizing your favorite yoghurt. Serve over granola within the morning or create in a single day bircher muesli by mixing rehydrated yoghurt and muesli earlier than curling up in your sleeping bag the evening earlier than. Pleasant!
How a lot meals ought to I dehydrate on every tray?
Measure out one serving per tray. Previous to dehydrating, spoon out a single serve right into a bowl, unfold that very same portion onto a single tray, and retailer as a single serve.
Meals dehydrate to greater than half their dimension and your eyes can usually be bigger than your abdomen when dehydrated meal. This’ll keep away from meals wastage when at camp – having to hold out left-overs on a hike can usually end in a really smelly backpack.
What are the most effective methods for dehydrating?
Transfer the highest trays to the underside and backside trays to the highest, for any snack or meal dehydrating, to unfold warmth evenly all through the cooker. If dehydrating a snack, equivalent to fruit or jerky, make certain to flip every bit roughly midway by way of to even out the warmth even additional.Â
As for meals, guarantee to stir roughly on the tray, to interrupt up and keep away from a brittle biscuit from forming, a crumbly combination is faster and simpler to rehydrate.
How lengthy does dehydrated meals final and the way do I retailer it?
An important a part of the dehydrating course of is storage. Guarantee all of the moisture is evaporated earlier than you cease the dehydrator. The meals have to be utterly cooled earlier than packing, to keep away from condensation from forming within the bag and including moisture again into it.
Retailer in a vacuum sealed, ‘Ziplock’ or ideally reusable ‘Stasher’ bag. Hold it in a dry, darkish spot or within the freezer. The meals nonetheless accommodates some pure micro organism, so use the dehydrated meals inside three months.
How do I rehydrate my meal?
When it comes time to eat your dehydrated meal, begin the rehydration course of as quickly as you get to camp, this’ll lower cooking time at dinner and dissipate much less gasoline.
Pop your dehydrated meals right into a camp cooker or bowl, pouring over the quantity of water that was eliminated in the course of the dehydration course of, or sufficient water to utterly cowl the dried items. Chilly or sizzling water can be utilized, nevertheless sizzling water will pace up the method. At supper time, put your semi-rehydrated meal on the range, bringing to a boil, then simmering till prepared.
FAQs About Dehydrating Pre-Cooked Meals at Dwelling
What meals doesn’t dehydrate nicely?
Keep away from utilizing oils/cheese/fatty meats. Fat don’t dehydrate nicely, keep away from utilizing oils and cheese in pre-made meals, and select a leaner minimize of meat.
Stir-fries simply don’t work – Talking from private expertise, I’m but to efficiently rehydrate a stir-fry and never have it end in a mush of Asian impressed flavours. Be at liberty to show me flawed, however you’ve been warned.
Can I dehydrate the whole lot collectively?
Dehydrate like-foods collectively.
Dehydrating curries with apples will end in curry flavoured apples. Keep away from dehydrating robust smelling dishes with different meals, matching comparable flavours collectively when dehydrating. For instance, marshmallows and yoghurt each odor candy when dehydrating, and may be dehydrated on separate trays, however in the identical batch.
How a lot water ought to I add to rehydrate my meal?
Weigh your meals pre and submit dehydrating.
In case you have kitchen scales out there, it helps to weigh one serve previous to dehydrating, then weigh the identical serving after dehydrating. The distinction is precisely how a lot water has evaporated, due to this fact is the precise quantity of water that ought to be added to rehydrate the meal whenever you arrive at camp.
For those who neglect this step, simply add sufficient chilly water to utterly cowl your meal whenever you’re able to rehydrate.
Are there different dehydrated meals choices?
If all of this appears like slightly an excessive amount of work, or an impromptu journey pops up and also you’ve run out of premade provides, there are just a few manufacturers that promote ‘freeze dried’ meals with no components or preservatives. Learn the labels, because the much less added preservatives and thickeners in your meal, the tastier it’ll be!
Anything I ought to learn about dehydrating meals?
Label your meals.
When the whole lot’s dehydrated and sealed, a crimson curry might seem like bolognaise. Mexican rice will resemble risotto. If you wish to know what you’re consuming at camp, and what added elements may have to be carried to boost your meal, label your meals, what number of serves there are and the way a lot water ought to be added.
