Anyone able to share any experience, good or bad of using a food dehydrator to prepare their own camp food - particularly with respect to easy to use main meals?
In the past I have always been too short of time and made use of commercial dehydrated/freeze dried meals. However, having recently retired am wondering whether a dehydrator might be a useful investment to improve my camp food and perhaps provide greater variety.

If you enter "Dehydrators" in the search bar you will get quite a few results.

Hi Mike
My dehydrator is one of my favourite bits of kit. I brought it for my first Challenge in 2000. It repaid its cost on that first crossing and is still going strong. Mine is an Ezidri but I don't think they are made anymore.
What I love is that I can eat what I like and the size of portion I want and the food smells appetising - no chemical wiff you get when opening some packets. It is also lighter to carry and less bulky as there is no excessive packaging.
There are a few things that don't work well. Chicken, potato and egg cones to mind. Red meat and vegetable dishes on the whole work well. My personal favourites are smoked salmon kedgeree (minus egg) for breakfast and Moroccan spiced lamb and chick peas, venison casserole and red wine mushroom risotto for tea.
If you want a natter pop in on your bike again or give me a ring. Will be at the hostel for 10 days from Sunday.
Ali

Thanks Peter

I should have thought of that! Some very helpful comments.

Mike

Mike, Clas Ohlsson (on line) do a simple "mushroom dehydrator" for about £30, and that does the business for me. I've found thinly sliced dried capsicum peppers are nice to add to other dishes, and lentil dal dries pretty well as a main dish. Paul Atkinson, "Whiteburn's wanderings", has some recipes on his site and you'll find several other enthusiasts in the TGO community who would be happy to share recipes and tips.

I love my dehydrator!

I usually use what is left over from a family meal: - veg, (but not sweetcorn - I can't get that to rehydrate to anything that does not resemble bullets) and meat chopped up quite small so it will rehydrate easily, (best if you cut it across the grain,) and throw it into a concoction of tinned tomatoes/canned beans/chickpeas and spiced or garliced to taste.

I generally use a patato masher to break up any big beans/carrots etc, so the whole thing is a bit 'pulpy'. I have found that big bits do not rehydrate well.

Sometimes I start with minced beef and onions or minced turkey and onions and add other veg as I have them to hand.

I brew everything up in a heavy bottomed saucepan, and keep it on the hob, stirring as needed, until it is staring to burn onto the pan. In other words I reduce the water content quickly, to the point where it will burn. Then I spread it out into my dehydrator.

I know from how much I had in the pan initially how many meals it will yield, so when dried out as far as it will go I divide up into that number of portions and bag.

I eat it either with couscous or smash. A tip with these, to make them more tasty is to mix with half a packet of dried soup - my favourite is golden veg, but anything that does not have croutons will do.

In camp, I have a little plastic pot (about 90mm round and 50 tall) which I sit the opened bag in, then fill with boiling water. I twist the top round to close it up, then sit the whole lot in my hat, as a cozy. I leave that there to soak while I enjoy a brew. When I am ready, I then brew up again, make smash/couscous and a second cup of tea, tip the rehydrated meal over the smash/couscous and enjoy!

This is a topic I have been looking in to with my walking partner. We've looked at the food costs and are looking at a 'commercial' dehydrator, with multiple trays and an integrated fan in order to more evenly dry.

Must admit I have no idea what brands are 'solid' and which are dross, many of the cheap ones on Amazon look like they'll barely last a year of use, with pathetic build quality and inability dry anything more than fruit.

I use an 'American Harvest Snackmaster' (= Ezidri) but there are plenty of dehydators available - have a look at http://www.lakeland.co.uk/14210/My-Kitchen-Food-Dehydrator

My favourite dishes are:

1) Beef hash (Corned beef hash but using decent minced beef) - use Smash rather than try to dehydrate potatoes

2) Bolognese-type sauces

3) Curries

4) Anything that you've made too much of at home - just make sure that you break it down into small pieces to aid the dehydration / rehydration processes.

5) Stewed rhubarb. To die for!

When I bag the individual meals I add some appropriate flavourings to the bag to compensate for any of the flavours that are driven-off by the dehydration process. This can be a pinch of dried herbs, a quarter of an oxo cube, a pinch of curry powder etc.

As has already been mentioned, potato doesn't work - so use Smash. Chicken doesn't work - although I've has some success with tinned chicken.

There's no doubt about it, dehydrating your own food is far better than buying commercial stuff. Apart from anything else, you control exactly what goes in and you control the portion size. A dehydrator will pay for itself in a short time, I wouldn't be without mine now.