How to Dehydrate Food for Camping
Dehydrating food ahead of time is a great way to prepare for a camping trip. Especially with long camping trips, you are unlikely to have any method of food preservation at hand, so it is important to pack food that is non-perishable. Using a food dehydrator to prepare supplies ahead of time will give you plenty of food with a longer shelf-life.
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Instructions
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Select a mixture of foods that you will want to bring on your camping trip. It is important to have plenty of fruits and vegetables, as well as some meat for protein. Be sure to pick out enough food that you will be able to eat every day while camping, and factor in a little extra in case of emergencies.
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Cut up your foods into thin pieces. Remember that dehydration will take much longer for thicker pieces, so you should avoid having any large chunks. Remove any pits from your fruit (apples should be cored). Then slice them into uniform slices. Meats should be sliced into strips no more than 1/4-inch thick.
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Treat your foods before the dehydration. Some fruits with light colors will brown unless you treat them with something to prevent it. You can use lime juice or ascorbic acid for this purpose. Meats should be seasoned and rubbed down with spices. Salt and pepper are the standards, although other spices can be used for more flavor.
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Place your foods into the dehydrator trays, being sure to keep all slices flat on the trays and not touching each other. Be careful not to let your foods stack on top of each other, or parts of them will not be sufficiently dried. Don't mix food types on a single tray. Make a few trays of meat and a few trays of fruit.
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Dehydrate your food. You will likely want to take the meat out after 6 hours, while the fruit slices may require 2 to 4 more hours. Once all the food is dehydrated, store it in airtight containers so it remains fresh for the camping trip.
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Tips & Warnings
Marinate your meats before dehydrating for added flavor.
