Dehydrated foods

**Socalman** · 05-09-2015, 02:58 PM

There are many companies producing dehydrated foods for preppers and backpackers/campers. I have some thoughts about the role of dehydrated foods for prepping. I do have one bucket of Mountain House dehydrated meals that we could grab in 30 seconds and be gone. It would last the wife and I for one week.

1) Dehydrated meals generally do not provide a large number of calories. You need to READ the labels on the meals. Some packages say they offer 2 servings but each serving is tiny and only provides 600 calories.

2) Dehydrated foods will require a water supply to re-hydrat. Can you count on having a water source?

3) A diet of nothing but dehydrated meals can lead to some digestive issues, particularly constipation after more than a few days.

4) Rather than using dehydrated meals, it seems to me that purchasing some dehydrated ingredients makes more sense for long term storage. Some cans of fruit, veggies, ground beef, egg powder, other items that may become difficult/impossible to locate when SHTF would be good to stock.

We have a small weekend/vacation place in a mountain resort in the San Bernardino Mountains and we do have some full meals stored there for the times when we may visit and get snowed in and we have used supplies we took up or purchased for the planned time. Even this winter which was almost a non-event in California saw my daughter snowed in for a few days around New Years before the road was plowed.

In conclusion, my feeling is you use dehydrated foods as a PART of your food preps, not the entire food source. Your thoughts, feelings, ideas are appreciated.

**jamesneuen** · 05-09-2015, 09:14 PM

That's the catch point with me is the amount of water you have to use with them. Down here every ounce of water is precious when most people don't know how to purify it from the saltwater we have.

I also get concerned because the low caloric and vitamin count relative to how much it costs. I would rather exclude them completely and just use traditional methods till they either get cheaper or improve the method used to make them but I wouldn't turn down a pallet or two if someone gave it to me.

**Katrina** · 05-09-2015, 10:59 PM

My Brother and SIL have been dehydrating their own food in meal type packing ie pasta, veggies ,spices etc. in jars and vac-pak bags, I think if you could do that rather then buying prepackaged meals,you could control the caloric counts then. Having said that I do have some FD foods in my long term storage as a back up and will be dehydrating fruits, veggies this summer to add to the stores. I have been storing water and have the means to purify more if needed.

**Vodin** · 05-10-2015, 01:56 AM

Got a dehydrator as a gift. Used it a bit. We water bath and pressure can primarily. The dehydrated fruits dont last long enuf

**Katrina** · 05-10-2015, 03:32 AM

Know what you mean, Vodin. Grand kids and us big kids love 'em. Better than candy any day.

**Vodin** · 05-10-2015, 07:51 PM

lol wont even go into Beef Jerky that is the first to go. A SHTF moment is when one runs out of good jerky.. Speaking of which where is that..GONE DOH!

**bacpacker** · 05-11-2015, 01:12 AM

We have been dehydrating for years. Started with a cheap Ronco, making jerky. A few years back we got an excaliber and have gotten to where we try new stuff every year. And yeah jerky and fruit is to good to leave alone.

As far as prepackaged stuff. We keep some on hand for quick and ready meals. Not as a primary meal source. I kinda look at them like I do MRE's, I keep some on hand mainly for a bug out situation. Other wise they are a supplement at best.

**Sniper-T** · 05-11-2015, 11:04 AM

I've been dehydrating for close to 30 years, mostly meat, fruit and veggies, but also things like lasgne, spaghetti sauce, chili, soups, and bullion.

Not only can you control the amount of salt, but you can also control portion size and caloric content.

Here, I have a surplus of water, no matter the season, but can be limitted with my canned goods, based on temperatures. Cans generally aren't as good onc they freeze, but bags of dried rice/beans/meat/veggies... hold up just fine!

IMO