DEHYDRATING MEALS 

Some general tips for meal dehydration

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Here's a collection of 10 of our tips for dehydrating meals. If you've just bought a dehydrator give the instruction book a read! . Not a lot of people seems to read instruction manuals, but your dehydrator one is SUPER helpful! They usually have recommended dehydrating times times for different types of foods. They also have some pretty neat ideas about what you can dehydrate to get you started. 

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1. Oil doesn't dehydrate

Whenever you are cooking anything to dehydrate, always eliminate as much oil as possible. A dehydrator evaporates all the water out of your meals and will leave any oily meals looking moist; they often won't store well. This can lead to dehydrated meals going bad much earlier than they should. 

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2. Holes in your dehydrators racks?

Baking paper. Cut out some baking paper to the size of your racks and get saucey! I've even done thick soups! Yumm!!

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3. Get an idea of how many serves you've made before dehydrating it

You can always find some rough guidelines on how many grams of dehydrated sauce you should have per meal, (we provide these in our meal plans for each trip!) but I also like checking myself. When you cook a meal, if you're like us and don't follow a recipe, its a great idea to figure out an estimate of how many serves you think you've cooked before you dehydrate it. This makes it heaps easier to figure out how much more you're going to need to cook, or if you have enough to eat a meal before dehying it! It also helps if you can figure out how many serves fit on each tray for your dehydrator, then it saves you having to weigh out every serve when you bag it up. 

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4. Try to get it so it dehydrates evenly

Simply try to chop things small and evenly, and make sure you spread them out thinly and evenly.

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5. Check it regularly and rotate your racks

Dehydrators are just like old ovens, they have hotter sections and cooler sections. Check it every two or so hours and make sure to rotate appropriately. If your dehydrator doesn't have a time or  heat control it's a good idea to set an alarm and perhaps check it more frequently once it's getting close to the recommended time!

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6. When is your meal fully dehydrated?

This one is tricky to explain as the texture of your dehyrated meal will change depending on what is in it. You should however be able to pick it up and feel if it has any moisture in it. If you can feel any make sure you dehydrate those parts longer! You can also break off any bits that are done and put them aside and continue dehydrating the rest. We often do this!
 

7. Dont' over dehydrate your meal!

Yes, this is definitely a thing! Once all the moisture is gone from your meal the heat from your dehydrator will start to burn your meal. If it starts to smell slightly burnt it probably is. Be careful not to mistake moisture for oil. I've been tricked into burning meals because of this too many times before. Double check the texture and look closely before assuming it's just water.

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8. Take a water-tight container for rehydrating

You may like to use a wide topped drink bottle or use a screw top large container. If you're using a wide topped drink bottle keep in mind that once you rehydrate a meal in it it will hold that flavor for a longgg time. I like to have a designated 'food' container. 

Having a container (that's water-tight) allows you to start rehydrating your meal at lunch time, before you're sitting down to eat.  This will save you a fair amount of fuel and it'll mean your dinner is ready a lot quicker! See below for more rehydrating notes! 

 

9. Don't expect it to rehydrate exactly the same

Dehydrating is fantastic for long trips, especially for sauces such as bolognese, but don't expect it to be exactly the same as it is at home.

  Flavor: Dehydrated foods are known for having less flavor once rehydrated, so ensure to make it with lots of good flavors to start with! In saying this, I remember the first couple of times I made meals for dehydrating I added wayyy too much. I thought I should add enough 'flavor' that it tasted too much before dehydrating so it'd taste good after rehydrating, right? Nope. Definitely don't do that! It should still taste really yummy before you dehydrate it. ​ If you're worried, head over to our Dehydrate Food Recipes page to get an idea of what flavors we put in. We also carry a small spice kit on our trips.This includes salt and pepper, some basic dried herbs (relevant to the meals we are taking) and chili flakes.

  Texture: you might find occasionally that some things become chewy, especially meats, and others might turn a bit soft or mushy. If your meal is still crunchy, you may not have rehydrated it fully. To avoid things getting mushy make sure you don't over cook them when you first make them. Also try not to add too much water when re-hydrating them (see below for tips on this). As for meats, a certain level of chewyness will always occur we've found. However we do also have  some handy advice for reducing the chew if you're looking at re-hydrating meats for meals below!

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10. Test your meals before you go out on trip (especially longer trips)

This is SUPER important, especially if you're just starting out! You don't necessarily have to rehydrate an entire serve though.  Putting a small amount in a glass with a very small amount of water works if you're happy to eat it cold. Ideally you want it to taste good at home, then you know it'll taste amazing out on trip! It's also no good taking food you don't like out on trip! We've definetally been caught n on this in the past!

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Tips on how to re-hydrate your meals

How much water do you add?

We can't tell you exactly, every different meal or item is different. My basic rule it to just cover the dehydrated meal with water, and only just. It's more of an issue to put too much water in than too little, you can't take it back out again.... and if there is too much your meal will taste really diluted and that's just plain upsetting after all the work you took. Once you've got the water in I like to make sure that I give it a shake every now and then to make sure all of it gets evenly rehydrated. If you think you need more water add a little more at a time. However you can always rehydrate it more as you are cooking it.

 

When do you start rehydrating?

As a general rule, when we are hiking we often; start are lunch rehydrating at breakfast then put our dinner in our rehydration containers after that. This gives them a few hours to rehydrate before dinner and saves you fuel and having to wait too long for dinner. All you have to do is heat it up!
However be cautious if you are hiking in hotter conditions. Once it's rehydrated it's at a higher risk of going off. Depending on the temperature, we sometimes might leave things like dehydrated chicken dehydrated until we get to camp just to be safe. However, majority of things should be okay for the hour or two that they are actually rehydrated before you eat them. 

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What if it isn't re-hydrated by dinner?

No stress. Just add some extra water, a little bit at a time, while you've got it over the heat. Heating it up will help it rehydrate quicker. Your mates just might be finished eating before you haha! Take a mental note of this and try to get it rehydrating earlier the next day.

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Tips for dehydrating meats

Choosing your meat

The type of meat you choose will affect how your meal turns out, and how long it will last in storage. Try to pick lean meats with a low fat content - it is better to spend a little more on good quality meat that to have your whole meal fail. Different types of meats will work better. A great option for mince is kangaroo if your in Australia!

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Preparing your meat

To ensure your meat comes out edible, and dehydrates quickly and evenly, it is best to cut it down to small pieces. We most often use mince as it is easily dehydrated in sauces, but have also dehydrated chicken breast by cooking it first, then shredding it into fine strips by hand.

If you are able, try to remove as much fat as possible when cooking your meat - by draining mince, cutting off fat, or skimming the oily surface of a soup.