Saturday, July 11, 2009

Nesco American Harvest 5-Tray FD-35 425-Watt Snackmaster Dehydrator

This unit features Nesco/American Harvest's innovative Top Mounted Powerhead that dries food quickly and evenly with superior results. Detaches to make dehydrator dishwasher safe for easy clean up. Fan-Flow Technology means faster, more even drying with no tray rotation necessary. Perfect for the beginner.


I simply love to hike camp, hunt and fish and do it just any chance I get. What I don't like is carrying pounds and pounds of gear the weight tends to distract me from the joys of the experience. So I am always looking for ways to lighten the load so to speak now I am not what they call an "Ultra-Light Hiker" I just don't subscribe to sawing my toothbrush in half and ripping all the tags off my gear to save a few ounces. Nothing wrong with this method it's just not for me.

My basic pack weighs about 30 pounds, but when I load it with food and water it soars to 45 or even 50 pounds. So I learned to carry less water as I can always (I HOPE AND SOMETIMES PRAY) find some on the trail and purify it and that helped immensely. However the food issue was still a weighty concern even though I usually just pack Military Meals Ready to Eat known as the MRE and some freeze dried or dehydrated food like Mountain House which is excellent pack packing food, but again weighty. Luckily a few months back a hiking friend introduced me to FBC.

Freezer Bag Cooking and before I explain the procedure I want to share with you that I no longer carry a set of cooking gear a plate or even wash dishes any more and that my friends is a true blessing in it self. I prepare the meals at home and put all the ingredients in a zip lock freezer bag. In the field I simply add boiling water from my canteen cup to the bag place the bag into what they call a cozy for insulation and wait 10 minutes eat a delicious meal then throw the now empty freezer bag into my trash bag clean up my spoon and move on to more pressing matters like a good cigar and a sip or six of my favorite brandy.

On a three day two night excursion I will prepare two breakfast meals three lunches and three dinners throw in some snacks and only add about a pound and a half to my load. Another plus is the food is great because I made it. Well my wife really makes it I'm not that good and I like my own food (Ah my wife's) indeed I do.

The only caveat with FBC is if you want to eat your own great food you will need the ability to dehydrate either by the home oven or using a dehydrating machine which is more efficient and it is so easy. Even when I hike solo the grand kids still love helping me prepare and bag the staples. We have great fun and they learn about cleaning and cooking food. Last month on a weekend fishing trip they made my favorite Grand mom's home made 6 layers Lasagna they simply separated three of the top layers which made two large pieces then they cut those into about 2 inch squares...well except for the 10 year old some of his pieces where err...let's just say uneven. Popped the meal into the dehydrator and 8 hours latter I had these ugly little chunks of dried Lasagna in a freezer bag. But at camp when I re-hydrated them they became beautiful bites of my wife's tantalizing 6 layers Lasagna that had the aroma of an Italian restaurant. My companions were a bit jealous.

Day 1 Johnny's Meaty Mac and Cheese:

4 Oz Dried Macaroni

1 PAK MRE Cheese Or store bought cheese pak

4 Oz Gravel (Hamburger meat Lean)

1 PAK Olive oil

2 Oz Dried tomato

2 Tbsp Dried milk

At home combine all ingredients except MRE Cheese and Olive oil. At the camp pour in one cup of boiling water stir add the MRE Cheese stir again add oil stir again. Let bag sit in a cozy for 15 minutes.

or

2 Packs Instant Oatmeal
1 Box raisins
1 Tbsp Dried milk
Cover with water cozy for 10 Minutes

Because of space constraints I can't go into details or other recipe's, but if you enter freezer bag cooking into your search engine it will produce a plethora of sites that go into great detail about the whole process including dozens of recipes. So learn enjoy and eat well. See you on the trail.

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dehydrator