I’ve been exploring homemade dehydrated meals in the last year for my mountain bike tours. I use these meals near the end of a week-long tour, when I can’t access stores along the way. You’ll need a 500-600 watt food dehydrator for these recipes, but you’ll find the quality and taste far superior to store bought dehydrated meals (plus much less sodium!). The key is to make a meal you like at home, then just dry it. Dry meats separately. I store all these meals in the refrigerator in zip locks, so they are ready for any trip. I find I am able to keep them for about a year like this.
Here are a couple of my favorite recipes for 2 people:
Rice & beans with curry
Cook 1 c brown or white rice & 1.5 cups water
When mostly done add:
½ can of black beans
add chopped carrots
Place on food dehydrator on parchment paper
Dry for 4-5 hours.
1.5 hours getting dry.
4 hours mostly dry
Barley with Tikka Masala Sauce
Cook 1 cup barley with 3 c water for ½ -¾ hour
add carrots or other veg.
Mix in ½ a jar Tikka Masala Sauce
Add in other spices (cilantro, chili)
Dry for 4-5 hours on parchment paper
Keep moving mix around so it doesn’t clump too much.
Chicken
1 12.5 oz can chicken rinsed
Dry on Parchment paper for ~6 hours
Rehydration:
Soak for 20-30 minutes with room temp water. Test. Heat before serving.
Once you try a few of these, you can go crazy new ideas on items to dehydrate!
