DIY dehydrated meals

MartinK9

Section Hiker
I've looked through this thread and don't think my question has been covered.

I normally dehydrate cooked meals at home then vacuum seal and freeze. When needed I just add all contents to pot, add water and then heat and eat out of pot.

What I'm considering is sealing in mylar bags (not too sure if I will vacuum seal as I might just transfer from vacuum sealed to mylar bag as required) and then just boil water and add to mylar bag.

My question is are mylar bags suitable for adding boiling water with regard to leeching of nasties. I know there are food grade bags available but I can't find anything that makes mention of the safety aspect I am concerned about.

Any info would be appreciated
Mixed messages on Google. If you're not sure just reuse a commercial dehydrated meal bag. I use a Mountain House one.
 

el manana

Thru Hiker
I've looked through this thread and don't think my question has been covered.

I normally dehydrate cooked meals at home then vacuum seal and freeze. When needed I just add all contents to pot, add water and then heat and eat out of pot.

What I'm considering is sealing in mylar bags (not too sure if I will vacuum seal as I might just transfer from vacuum sealed to mylar bag as required) and then just boil water and add to mylar bag.

My question is are mylar bags suitable for adding boiling water with regard to leeching of nasties. I know there are food grade bags available but I can't find anything that makes mention of the safety aspect I am concerned about.

Any info would be appreciated

I've bought from these 2 sellers in the past:

Mylar 1

Mylar 2

Never used them for making meals, just storing. Both say food safe but when boiling water added ?...🤷‍♂️

Would be interested to know myself
 

Lyrrad

Trail Blazer
I've bought from these 2 sellers in the past:

Mylar 1

Mylar 2

Never used them for making meals, just storing. Both say food safe but when boiling water added ?...🤷‍♂️

Would be interested to know myself
I think retort pouches may be the way to go as they can withstand water temps of 121 deg C, but I never managed to find any and I still see some conflicting info on them. Silicone bags would be perfect but their weight is prohibitive.
 
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Kits281

Hiker

Asian Style Peanut Noodles

I’ve seen a few recipes for Asian style peanut noodles online but here’s my take on it. The ingredients weigh 140 grams and as prepared it provides 750 calories and 20 grams of protein. You could easily add some dehydrated vegetables for more nutrition and texture for a few extra grams. The powdered peanut saté sauce is a typical Dutch/Indonesian ingredient which can be found in Asian grocery stores along with everything else. The advantage with this is that there is no messy peanut butter paste to deal with and it’s lightweight. Hopefully those of you in the UK will be able to find it.

How do I add a photo of the ingredients to this post from my iPad?

Peanut Saté Noodles - one serving

300 ml water
1 package ramen instant noodles
10 grams dried small soy chunks (or other protein of choice)
1/2 package (34 grams) of powdered saté sauce mix (Conimex if you can find it)
10 grams coconut powder
10 grams dried fried onions
10 grams chopped peanuts

Boil water, add soy chunks, noodles, and dehydrated vegetables if adding.
Cover and set aside in cozy for 5-10 minutes until soft.
Warm on a low heat and add peanut saté powder, coconut powder and seasoning packet from noodles.
Stir well to combine.
Add chopped peanuts, fried onions, and season to taste with chilli flakes.

Enjoy!
 

Peterbob67

Trail Blazer

Asian Style Peanut Noodles

I’ve seen a few recipes for Asian style peanut noodles online but here’s my take on it. The ingredients weigh 140 grams and as prepared it provides 750 calories and 20 grams of protein. You could easily add some dehydrated vegetables for more nutrition and texture for a few extra grams. The powdered peanut saté sauce is a typical Dutch/Indonesian ingredient which can be found in Asian grocery stores along with everything else. The advantage with this is that there is no messy peanut butter paste to deal with and it’s lightweight. Hopefully those of you in the UK will be able to find it.

How do I add a photo of the ingredients to this post from my iPad?

Peanut Saté Noodles - one serving

300 ml water
1 package ramen instant noodles
10 grams dried small soy chunks (or other protein of choice)
1/2 package (34 grams) of powdered saté sauce mix (Conimex if you can find it)
10 grams coconut powder
10 grams dried fried onions
10 grams chopped peanuts

Boil water, add soy chunks, noodles, and dehydrated vegetables if adding.
Cover and set aside in cozy for 5-10 minutes until soft.
Warm on a low heat and add peanut saté powder, coconut powder and seasoning packet from noodles.
Stir well to combine.
Add chopped peanuts, fried onions, and season to taste with chilli flakes.

Enjoy!
Thank you, that sounds yummy 👍🏻
 

Stuart

Section Hiker
About 2 years ago I made a big batch of fruit leathers which are still going strong. Most recipes advise that they will go bad after a few months but these are fine, just stored in Kilner jars on a shelf in the kitchen.

We've got an allotment so it's a god way to use the fruit. Soft fruit is really expensive to buy so it might make sense to forage or to look out for neighbours with fruit trees who don't pick it all.

The basic idea is to lightly cook some soft fruit: apples, raspberries, gooseberries, rhubarb until they go soft. I like to add a sweetener such as honey or plant syrups such as agave or maple. I've added some flavour as well (eg cardamom, fennel seeds etc).

Spread the mixture onto baking paper in the dehydrator and take it out when it's dry and it should peel easily off the sheet.
 

turkeyphant

Section Hiker
I like to keep my camping food cheap, simple, light, compact and tasty. I usually use 65g packs of instant noodles, which only need 200ml of water to rehydrate them, and I and use three per day. Obviously you don't get that much flavour out of the flavouring sachets supplied with them so I always add extra ingredients to "bump up" the flavour, and nutritional value too. Half a Knorr Chicken stock cube does wonders on it's own, but I also add some mixed herbs, mixed black and white pepper and some fried onions too.

However, the energy content of instant noodles isn't that great (about 150kcals/100g), so recently I have started adding some vegetable suet (815kcals/100g) to increase the energy content...It doesn't need much..1 Teaspoon is enough, or the noodles will be too greasy, making the inside on my pot harder to wipe clean afterwards.

And even more recently I discovered "well matured cheese power" from Taste Sensation (£7.95 for 500g, inc. postage.). It lasts for at least a year from the purchase date without refrigeration, offers a lovely cheesy taste, and 550kcals/100g...Again, 1 teaspoon of it is plenty...It's powerful stuff.
I went back to their site earlier and discovered they do pretty much every type of veg out there in powdered form...Beetroot Carrot, Brocolli, you name it, they have it, so I may add some more powdered ingredients to the list later.
This is a great shout shame the cheese power has gone up so much.
 

ADz

Thru Hiker
"well matured cheese power"

Reminded me of the Cheese Ranger from What's up Doc? show :biggrin:

mg]
 

Tartanferret

Thru Hiker
Reminded me of the Cheese Ranger from What's up Doc? show :biggrin:

mg]
I know you can buy freeze dried cheese but that industrial stuff reminds me of my hatred thing for “Parmesan” when I was younger.
Sweaty socks In a little bisto tub shaker, grim.
I think my dads homemade farty egg Mayo had a similar impact.
 

Lyrrad

Trail Blazer
Yeah saw you said they were good

They ok for boiling
I've used the same pouches on the recommendation from @MattK. I use them for dehydrated food and put boiling water inside of them.

I came to the conclusion food grade silicone reusable pouches with a prohibitive weight penalty or the limited reuse of commercially available dehydrated food pouches were the only avenues to take to improve food safety

If you are talking about using the bag in boiling water rather than filling with boiling water, I would be pretty certain all will be fine. I wouldn't use the water for anything else though
 
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