Comments on: Expeditions – Food Drier

By: Andrew

Andrew — Sun, 17 May 2009 23:11:25 +0000

Hi Kerry – I mainly dehydrated veggies (mixed, hashbrowns, peas, corn, etc) as it is simple and easy. It seems to keep for quite a while, but I’ve never tested it beyond a few weeks after being zipped up in a freezer bag.

If you are just doing a small handful (like in soup), you can throw them in the water as it is warming up. If you are making a meal out of it, you probably want to let them soak for an hour or so.

By: Kerry

Kerry — Fri, 15 May 2009 19:49:35 +0000

What kind of foods do you dehydrate to bring on longer trips that won’t go bad? Mainly veggies? You mentioned hash browns…how do you bring them back to life? Just add water and cook? I’m new to dehydrating my own foods, but it sounds like the way to go for sure…

By: Christian

Christian — Fri, 15 May 2009 08:01:37 +0000

Vacuum sealer is a key addition. Absolutely minimizes size, retain flavor, and pretty bombproof bags, plus you can cook out of/with them.
P.S. – Sorry, forgot to tell you great post!

By: Christian

Christian — Thu, 14 May 2009 21:47:56 +0000

Vacuum sealer is a key addition. Absolutely minimizes size, retain flavor, and pretty bombproof bags, plus you can cook out of/with them.

By: Rob

Rob — Thu, 14 May 2009 20:33:04 +0000

Hey Andrew,
FBC had a website (freezerbagcooking.com), which they have now combined with TrailCooking.com. Also, have you seen Alton Brown’s food dryer? It’s a number of furnace air filters bungeed together over a box fan. It’s supposed to work pretty well. As for me, I have a pretty simple model I cobbled together with some screening, a lightbulb, a relay, and a computer fan. Total cost ~$10.
- R

By: Andrew

Andrew — Thu, 14 May 2009 15:12:08 +0000

Hi OMR – I’m not a huge fan of F.D. meals. First off, the servings are tiny. If it says “four servings” that about enough for one person. Second, if prepare them per the instructions, you’ll be eating half crunchy (CO2 WARNING!) half scalding meals. Then, you have to deal with the bags. I’ll do them once in a while for a single night if I want to go as light as possible, but not for extended trips. For me, I always cook my FD meals again anyways, so the speed/ease is negated.

I recently picked up a book called “Freezer Bag Cooking” which is a nice compromise. You mix up your own food, then cook it up.

By: dr

dr — Thu, 14 May 2009 14:52:17 +0000

Loved the Ronco Food Dehydrator paid program when I was a kid. Now I know why.

By: OMR

OMR — Thu, 14 May 2009 14:41:29 +0000

Just me or does ‘freeze dried’ leave you full of air? Last winter, before a long ski trip and out of courtesy to my tent-mates, I tried conditioning the GI tract beforehand by dining exclusively F.D. meals (for the week prior to my trip). It didn’t work; still filled the tent with much CO2 – plus the wife kicked me out of the bedroom during the test phase.

By: Brad Barlage

Brad Barlage — Thu, 14 May 2009 13:12:17 +0000

I have one of those units also. If you need a second unit to double up your batches let me know.