DIY Meals?

[2die4]

I have tried a good amount of the freeze dried stuff out there and I have yet to have a complaint about taste. As I was eating my lunch and looking at my tasty meal, I had an epihany amongst the chirping squirrels and the soothing sounds of the babbling brook. The stuff I was eating was primarily rice and a varitey of beans, dehydrated vegetables and a buillion cube. I figured I could make my own concotions and make an obsecene amount of meals for the price of two packets of meals. I do realize the process that MountainHouse (and companies like them) uses cuts some of the weight down but for a DIY meal preps I'm willing to take on a few extra grams or another pound in order to make my wallet happy.


Has anybody out there made DIY meals like this? I'd like to see if anybody has already gone through the experimentaion stage.

[bacpacker]

I have in the past for longer hiking trips we made. I used frozen corn, peas, mostly whatever you like and dehydrate them. Weight isn't much different from freeze dried. Add some rice and maybe some jerry and you have yourself a pretty good meal. Season it how you like.
I carried a small plastic jar and would put the daily portion of dried food in and fill with water in the morning, by the end of the day that bit was rehydrate and would cook up pretty quickly.

[Domeguy]

I have thought of doing this myself and dehydrating different vegetables along with dried meats to mix together and vacuum seal, but I was unsure as to how much water would be needed to reconstitute them into something edible. Is there any magic formula as how much dry to water mixture there is?

[bacpacker]

I did not m8x the jerry in until I sated.cooking it. So it never plumped up a lot. As for veggies, I just topped up my container with water. When I started cooking just bring down to near dry. The amount didn't seem to matter as long as it was enough to rehydrate.

[Caveman Survival]

I have thought of doing this myself and dehydrating different vegetables along with dried meats to mix together and vacuum seal, but I was unsure as to how much water would be needed to reconstitute them into something edible. Is there any magic formula as how much dry to water mixture there is?

I regularly make my own dehydrated meals. If you want to know the formula weigh your food before it goes in the dehydrator, then weigh it when it come out. That's water weight you lost. I then vacuum seal my meals and write the water weight that needs to go back in. I made a chart showing me the weights of different amounts of water so I don't have to constantly calculate every time I pre-package. Always add a little more water than the water weight because you will lose some to evaporation I. The rehydration/cooking process.

Hope this helps.

[Caveman Survival]

I do this for rice, stews, sauces etc. obviously noodles and soups and such you would need to go thru the hassle cuz more water won't hurt the rehydration process or change what you are eating (if I am rehydrating hamburger, I want hamburger not burger soup)

[Domeguy]

You sir, are what I like to call a "FRIKIN GENIUS".

[Sniper-T]

I too dehydrate a lot including chili, lasagna, spaghetti sauce, etc. for most things a 'rule of thumb' is about a 1:1 ratio of dried food to water.

[Domeguy]

Than this also qualifies you to be hereby known as a FRIKIN GENIUS.

[ak474u]

You could also buy and break down #10 freeze dried meals into smaller packages if you wanted to go an easier more economical route without the DIY dehydrating. The price per ounce on a #10 is way less than the individual meals.