Like many new backpackers we ate Mountain House freeze dried meals when we were on the trail.
Leann got tired of these meals after our first week long trip and started looking for better options. She is a good cook and after doing some research she decided to make her own dehydrated foods. Next step was finding the right dehydrator. Reviews were unanimous that Excalbur was the one to buy.
https://excaliburdehydrator.com/
Dehydrating process:
A dehydrator has trays, heating element, vents, and a fan for circulation. The dehydrator’s heating element raises the temperature inside the machine, the fan evenly circulates the heat and removes the moisture, while the trays hold the food you wish to dehydrate. Dehydrating food is an ancient process that goes back to approx. 12,000 BC. Standard dehydrated food generally has about 80-90% of its moisture removed.
SHE SAVED US A SMALL FORTUNE AND WE ATE BETTER!
Once she got really good with dehydrating she wanted to try freeze drying since this is how most of the commercial companies process food. Freeze drying preserves 97% of the foods nutritional value and still maintains taste and texture. Freeze dried foods also have more than double the shelf life of dehydrated foods. Dehydrated food should be stored in a freezer for long term use, this is not needed with freeze dried food. Major obstacle: nobody was making home freeze dryers until Harvest Right launched their product to market.
Freeze drying process:
Food is subjected to extremely low temperatures (-40F or colder) until frozen. Once frozen, a vacuum is formed around the food, and then the temperature is slowly raised. Heat causes the frozen food to release water vapors without going through the liquid stage (sublimation). Freeze drying removes 98-99% of the product’s moisture
The first thing she tried was pulled pork. I almost cried when I tasted it. It was awesome, what’s next?
