perfectlydark wrote:Got one today..bit of a noob. Its a tray dehydrator so good.for jerky/fruit etc, but dehydrating meals is there any tips from a pro? Im not sure how regular dehydrators work
Not a pro, but i've done a fair bit. Have ended up only doing mince - beef or chicken. It dehydrates and rehydrates much quicker than slices. I still break up bigger globs of mince for more even drying. Go for the lean stuff. Fat doesn't get preserved in the same way as dried things are, so it will go rancid quicker.
I do lots and store it in ziplock bags in airtight containers in the freezer, labelled with what it is, how many serves and the date. i.e. i do a big cook-up so i don't have to do a drying session for every trip.
It's hard to estimate serve size when it's dry, so work out how many serves you have
before you dry it, and divide it up later accordingly. One way to do that is to use the bowl you'd normally eat out of when you walk as a measurement.
I've got lazy lately, and just cook up a whole lot of mince and dry it. Knowing the finished weight of a dried main meal for myself, i add dried veggies from the local health food store, which has a wide variety, and herbs and spices, stock cube etc. Coconut milk powder from the supermarket goes well in curries, added after rehydrating them.
I often cook and dry brown rice - tastier and more nutrious than white. (Raw rice has water in it. Cooked and dried, it's much lighter, and can be rehydrated by just adding cold water if you have to, if you wait long enough.) Lately for more space saving, I stick the cooked, dried rice in a blender, and add it as a thickener to the main when i rehydrate it.
Try searching for other threads - i think there are a few with some good ideas on this.
Have fun.