has anyone tried making their own "mountain house" style freeze dried meals?

[Robert Z]

I see that a lot of us are buying freeze dried veggies and what not for long term storage, but has anyone tried making add boiling water meals?

I have found mylar bags with tear off tops and zip lock under the tear off just like the meals come in, so whats to stop us from working out a recipe with some freeze dried veggies and meat with some bullion powder and an oxygen absorber then sealing for a super long term grab and go meal?

[serendipity]

I have thought about it....

 

Haven't made it any further than that though.

 

I would be interested to hear as well if anyone else has done this.

[Aint2nuts]

I just bought 6 heads of celery to dehydrate. Added to zucchini, potatos, carrots, tomatoes,bell peppers, onions, tvp in beef or chx flavor and bullion, maybe some pasta, I could see a nice stoup outta that. LOL

[LeeAnn]

 

I dehydrated celery Saturday for the first time and it practically disappeared.

[Canned Nerd]

Celery is 94% water. Even Watermelon is only 92% water.

 

[LeeAnn]

I think mine might have been 98%

[Kevin B 123]

In times past, I have cooked then dehydrate Spaghetti & meat balls ( Cut the meat balls into 1/8 to insure they dried), and Spaghetti & meat. Cooked beans in a crock pot, then dehydrated them. Also chilli, no meat ( in future will try a chilli w meat). I had “steamed” the meat ( then browned it) to eliminate the oil/grease/drippings, which would grow rancid either in the dehydrate OR in storage. The meat balls were heated, removed from their liquid environment, Steamed ( to allow further grease to drip away) then cut in 1/8ths for drying.

 

I have mixed dehydrated vegetables with chicken bullion, beef bullion to make a soup. I do dehydrate broccoli and then make my own “Cream Mixture” ( all dry powdered ingredients). Will soom be making Cream-of Adspersus/mushroom/celery soups, I make my own powdered potato soups, my own Potatoes Al gratin, escalloped, etc with dehydrated potatoes, flour, butter, ham base, dried cheeses, whey, spices. I may get some FREEZE dried meats ( ham) for this as well!

 

According to the “Hiking / Backpacking” forums I sometimes frequent, many a meals may be dehydrated zip-lock bagged, then inserted into a Mylar bag, to which boiling water is latter added. Some hikers use a hand warmer placed in-between the two bags ( with ambient temp water added to the Zip-lock bag) and they hike till the meal is “heated”. When I do do this, I place the hand warmer, cut in half in a separate2 baggies, with VERY little air, ( which prolongs the life of the hand warmer) in-between the food bag & the Mylar bag, ( on either side). Doing this, will prolong the RE-hydration Time of the food. .

 

YES we can make much of our own Pre-Prepared meals ourselves, with some imagination and small vials of oil, ( for needed “fats”) , good planning, we can indeed create quite the menu, at a cost way lower than MRE’s.

 

 

 

I look forward to other ideas.

 

[Aint2nuts]

Kenvin,

 

Can you post some recipe quantities?

[HSmom]

Freeze drying is a very different process than dehydrating. There are no USDA approved methods for drying meat (other than jerky) at home.

[Leah]

If you want to talk about dehydrating meat, you'll want to post down in the 'Cave'. There are some threads there.

(The burger's in the dehydrator...)

[Kevin B 123]

Basic “Cream Style” soup base.

 

1 cup Instant milk

1 cup Malted Milk -- If you don’t have this use Powdered milk for “baking”

OR use 2 Table spoons DIASTATIC Barley flour and 1 & 7/8 cup milk powder

1 cup AP flour + 1 or 2 TABLEspoons barley flour ( leave out if using diastatic flour ( malt flavor)

1 TABLE spoon Arrowroot- Is a thinker that will thicken at a lower temp than & imparts BETTER flavor than cornstarch/ Otherwise use 3 TABLESPOONS Cornstarch

2 TABLE spoons whey powder

2 TABLE spoons Butter Powder

1 TABLEspoon Potato Powder

1 tea SPOON salt or sea salt— MAY omit if on a low salt diet, the Bullion has PLENTY salt!

Pinch of garlic powder - optional-

Pinch of Paprika - optional-

Pinch of onion powder -optional-

Dash black pepper -optional-

pinch of GROUND cellery seed

 

 

ADD 1/4 cup Chicken. Or Beef, Or Ham base ( or 2 to 3 CRUSHED CUBES) - cubes have MORE sodium in then !

 

 

 

Use this basic recipe and 6 cups water as a base then add

 

1 cup broccoli + 1 cup powdered cheddar cheese( I only dry the very TOPS of broccoli– never any “stems”

or

1 cup dry mushrooms– Use Chicken powder 2 make “Golden, BEEF powder to make HARDY,

Good with powdered Pumpkin ( 1 TABLEspoon) Or powdered SQUASH (1 OR 2 table SPOONS)

or

2 cups celery----- I cup should be dry blended to better “distribute” the flavor threw out the mix)

or

2 cups dry asparagus ( add Parmesan cheese ? )

or

1 cup spinach + 1 Table spoon dry POWDERED spinach— for color!

 

 

Am working on my other MIXES---- to post

 

 

[Aint2nuts]

That sounds great. I see I will have some items on my list of things that I need.

 

I have wanted to put in a big order of things like cheese powder, butter powder, sour cream...veges, fruits, etc... I made my list and it came up to about 600 dollars. LMAO Not gonna happen any time soon. I might have to watch for free shipping deals, and order 2-3 items at a time.

 

Arrow root? Never seen it -- would I get it in a health food store or someplace like a Sprouts that has bulk food bins?

[Kevin B 123]

In stores that sell "Bob's Red Mill" products, you will sometimes see it, It is sold in many spice racks in the store ( PROHIBITIVELY EXPANSIVE in the spice rack) . Barry farm sells it. Ask at you grocery store if they will order it for you.. Ask at a health food store, ( Ones that handle Bulk foods will often order things for their customers. I go to a Mennonite Farm Bulk Feed store, and they order things for me.

 

Arrowroot is a starch, like Corn starch or tapioca flour/starch, Un-like Tapioca, it dose not super bind- (Make pudding consistency), but is more like corn starch, EXCEPT it is flavor neutral, will bind a liquid with LESS , will bind BEFORE the liquid boils. If you make a RUE from Arrowroot, it will gel, but be more or less “clear” . I use it to make the “sauce” for beef burgundy, it with the wine/Burgundy makes a Lovely presentation for the eyes * the tummy ! I learned about Arrowroot in child-hood, so know it like I do flour to gravy. I like it far better than corn starch... Use either one, it’s just my preference.

[Canned Nerd]

I much prefer ClearJel and it is clear, plus there is an instant version for cold food use.

 

[Kevin B 123]

I have never use "clear gel", must investigate it !

[Canned Nerd]

ClearJel® is the only USDA approved thickener for canning and is used heavily in the bakery business. Its not that well known in households since it does not have a mass distribution, but the stuff is awesome.

 

http://www.bluechipgroup.net/ClearJel.html

[etp777]

I used to do dry food packs myself all the time for camping/hiking. Need to dig up my recipes again (as had set cooking time and were sized for my alcohol campstove). Basics though were rice, boullion, tvp, and dried veggies. Eitehr vaccuum packed or double bagged (dependign on whether I had vaccuum packer, which changed over the years). Cook up quick in the little swiss surplus campstove I carry. Filling, cheap, and store well.

[Robert Z]

oh man, I really did it, I don't know what came over me but I just blew a fortune on freeze dried food and stuff.

 

I got a bunch of mylar bags and o2 absorbers from the LDS web site, an impulse sealer from ebay, and a BUNCH of freeze dried veggies from a couple of sites. I am glad I will have them all but I am REALLY experiencing buyers remorse!

[Kevin B 123]

Robert,

 

Your Freeze dried stock can easily be used in amongst your daily cooking, on almost ANY give Schedule of you making/choice in order to stretch you grocery dollar. One meal a week will last till _______ ? Mixing a few ingredients in every/every-other meal can stretch the grocery dollar.

 

You could work hard and create your own DRY prepacked meals, ready for water, and be “set” for disaster, hard times, and electric outage, snowed in, etc.. Or you can store these “stocks” until needed---- needed----

 

 

I see where ept777 is thinking of posting sone hiking/backpacking do-it-your-self recipes, which IM looking forward to myself, which may well give you further inspiration/hope, thought(s) . One thing is certain, WE ARE in a Depression, and no-doubt a food shortage will follow. This, In part because people will “horde” what is available in stores, and in-part that should there be crop failures, that will create shortages. ( MUCH of this years barley crop, due to the flooding, is NOT suitable for planting, but the FDA says that it IS edible).

 

Various Food industry sectors , SUGAR COFFEE, white RICE ( other types will follow) have already announced “predicted/Anticipated “shortages”. Fight those REMORSES down, be ye prepared.

[Violet]

RobertZ, don't you dehydrate your own fruits and vegetables ?

There are recipes for using your own dried foods for breads, soups, etc.

Speaking of shortages, I asked our friend, who works at a grain elevator here if they are seeing any change in shipments .He said the biggest change is the drop in corn since it is being used for ethanol. Some drop in wheat, too, but the biggest drop is in the corn being shipped.

If folks are waiting to store food, I think it may be about too late for them. Wait until the panic hits. Won't be a pretty sight in the stores.

 

[Robert Z]

the corn shortage has been going on for quite a while, I saw that when I bought my first bag of corn to put out for the deer. I used to get 100LB bags of shell corn for $6.00 per bag 2 years ago,last year IIRC it was $8.00, I paid $13.50 per bag this year.

Needless to say I didn't give the deer as much this year. I actually felt a bit bad for it. I usually feed them several hundred lb of corn each year and I get to see them all year round, I then harvest 1 per year, this year they only got 300lb of corn.

 

To answer your question violet, no I do not dry my own veggies. I have made Jerky in my cold smoker many times.

I have been avoiding another food squirreling addiction.

[Violet]

Robert Z,

But it is cheap entertainment ! Oh, you need another hobby, don't you ?

Aren't we a bad influence on here ? LOL !

Just trying to save you some money on freeze dried things if you can dry them cheaper. Always looking for a way to save money.

 

[Robert Z]

I understand and I have thought about getting a real dehydrator (not one of the ronco cheapies), I most likely will eventually. But drying and freeze drying are not quite the same thing too though. I have even looked into buying freeze drying equipment, it is simply WAY out of reach.

[Kevin B 123]

Robert,

 

A dehydrator is a must for anyone attempting to stock food preps, they are so very versatile. Food, Flowers, wet papers, ect., can be dried in them with ease, and while not tying up your oven. They are safe to leave operating while one is “out”, can be used in conjunction with a timer.

 

Cost may be in issue, as it was in my personal case, how one intends to use it, also comes into consideration: I looked at many, and immediately ruled out the cheap Ronco types as they are to small, need constant rotation of tray for then to work “properly”. Ruling out all of the round types as well, for the same rotation need the design dictates. Even the powerful 1600 watt units, that operate on heat circulating air & “pressure” I decided against for both cost & limited usable square foot of usability, as compared to the square trayed “cube” type of dehydrators.

 

The square tray dehydrators offer slightly more drying bang for the buck. So the Issue of features, ease, longevity, and cost came under research consideration and Numbers crunching. Feature for feature, the Excalibur and the VegiKiln were neck in neck. ( One difference the Excalibur had an detachable door to cover the trays with- implying a dough proof “rising” box To use the VegiKiln as a profe box, you’d need a piece of plexiglass the size of the trays- A VegiKiln trays make the SEAL) . These two units And other similar American made knock offs, run about the came per unit. They come in 4 tray, 5, 7 9 10 tray models, going from 140 up to 360, or higher depending on seller.

 

I found a made-in-China unit, designed in America, dehydrator called a Good4You, I bought a 10 tray unit for 130, including shipping, 10 fruit-roll-up-liners, 10 “screens” & a 10 year warranty. I have used this unit to dry25 pounds of potatoes, 10 lbs apples, 12 lbs peaches, 5 bags spinach, 15 lbs mushrooms, herbs ,30 lbs carrots, 12 lbs celery, bushels of Pears, bushels of Apricots, 15 lbs berries, 12 lbs bananas, 12 lbs broccoli tops, several bags of Oranges, peppers, ect ( all in dry weight units), all of this on a shelf that would hold 1/10th of this if canned!

 

I do purchase freeze dried sour cream, butter milk, powdered milk, ( we CAN’T dry dairy products in a dehydrator) exotic fruits not available in my market area. I am still considering purchasing a case or two of meats.

[Robert Z]

Kevin, you make it sound very interesting. I wonder though do dehydrated veggies have the same sort of lifespan as freeze dried?

 

Man, once I recover a little from this ding I might have to pursue a dehydrator.