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HoosierHiker
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PostTue Jun 02, 2015 6:04 pm 
Hi all! Kind of new to the forum and dehydrating. I haven't dabbled into dehydrating meat yet, besides beef jerky. I love to cook and hike so I figured the next step is to start making my own backpacking meals. I have spent a lot of time on here reading through everyone's tips, you guys are a wealth of knowledge. As for hamburger, I know the less fat the better to avoid the meat going rancid but what about short term? If I am dehydrating something that I plan on taking on a trip the following weekend would I be okay with the higher fat content? What about hiking in the heat? I have a killer family sloppy joe recipe and I swear it tastes best with the 80/20 ground beef. What do you guys think? I would be happy to share the recipe of anyone is interested!

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Snowbrushy
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PostTue Jun 02, 2015 8:33 pm 
Hi Hoosier! Hamburger Helper up.gif Think of all the possibilities. Lasagna, Stroganoff, Three Cheese, etc..

Oh Pilot of the storm who leaves no trace Like thoughts inside a dream Heed the path that led me to that place Yellow desert stream.
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HoosierHiker
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PostTue Jun 02, 2015 8:35 pm 
Thank you for the suggestion, but no thanks on the Hamburger Helper smile.gif much appreciated though!

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Snowbrushy
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PostTue Jun 02, 2015 8:38 pm 
Meatballs? You gotta love them!

Oh Pilot of the storm who leaves no trace Like thoughts inside a dream Heed the path that led me to that place Yellow desert stream.
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HoosierHiker
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PostTue Jun 02, 2015 8:47 pm 
Alrighty! I guess this isn't the best forum for backpacking/dehydrating tips. Thank you Snowbrushy for the thoughtful suggestions.

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Ski
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PostTue Jun 02, 2015 9:55 pm 
Hoosier: per Sarbar (resident expert on this stuff): lower fat content = longer shelf life. I'm not going to try to second-guess her answer in regard to higher fat-content meats. hang tight until she sees this and weighs in on it. I believe I used really lean ground beef in my chili recipe and it turned out okay. no idea why higher fat content base ingredient wouldn't work, other than having a greater potential of going rancid faster. but if you're going to use it right away.... who knows? again... wait for Sarbar to answer on that one.

"I shall wear white flannel trousers, and walk upon the beach. I have heard the mermaids singing, each to each."
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Joe Biden
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PostWed Jun 03, 2015 5:54 am 
I have tried dehydrating meat and it never tastes all that great. You are better off dehydrating everything else except meat and buy the meat at places like: http://www.packitgourmet.com/home.php

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RichardJ
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PostWed Jun 03, 2015 7:48 am 
Maybe using ground turkey would work better. A few years ago I switched to ground turkey instead of beef and now I prefer it. Much leaner. I spice everything up so it always tastes good.

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marydave
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PostWed Jun 03, 2015 11:34 am 
I've dried lean ground beef in the past, frying it first and draining and patting dry to get as much fat out as possible. It needs to be broken up really finely or it will take ages to rehydrate. Even then, it can be a little, um, gravelly. So I mostly dry (Costco canned) chicken and tuna these days. I haven't tried drying ground turkey.

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HoosierHiker
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PostWed Jun 03, 2015 12:03 pm 
I love the idea of dehydrating ground turkey! Turkey lettuce wraps are a regular week night dinner in my house. Though I think I would have to tweak the recipe because of all the salt in the soy sauce. I have always wondered about how dry and tough chicken would be when you rehydrate. I'm sure with enough spices and other flavored ou can make it taste good! Do you think canned chicken dehydrates better than say, slow cooked shredded chicken or rotisserie chicken?

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ranger rock
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PostMon Jun 08, 2015 11:02 am 
I dehydrate hamburger every year. I fry it up in quarter sized pieces and marinate it in soy sauce. I fry it until it is very well done and I drain the fat out of it. I store it in the freezer until it is time to hike. I add it to nearly every backpacking meal we eat. I also dehydrate chicken and pork. Lower fat meat is best, hamburger drains well. Pork can be a little iffy, so I probably won't dehydrate it again. All dehydrated meat is stored in the freezer until it is needed. I make all of our backpacking meals since I am frugal and I am sensitive to MSG. I've been doing this for years. You could use leaner hamburger and then add veggie oil to it when you cook it to regain some of the fat. Veggie oil keeps well.

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marydave
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PostMon Jun 08, 2015 11:32 am 
HoosierHiker wrote:
I have always wondered about how dry and tough chicken would be when you rehydrate.
I have found that the trick is to use pressure-cooked chicken, and the Costco canned chicken is an economical example. There have been other threads in this forum on the topic of drying chicken. This, for instance (see iron's post at the end for advice matching mine): https://www.nwhikers.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=8016084

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sarbar
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PostTue Jun 09, 2015 9:09 am 
My tips? Buy the best meat you can first (grass fed, organic), lower fat. Cook, drain, roll in paper towels to remove grease. Then dry on parchment paper lined trays with at least at 155* for temp, till bone dry. Once dry, let cool, then seal tightly and freeze till trail time, and use up within 3 months time.

https://trailcooking.com/ Eat well on the trail.
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Kim Brown
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PostTue Jun 09, 2015 10:27 pm 
The gent is asking about dehydrating meat that's a little fatty; does that work at all? I would think if so, it'd have to be eaten very soon, or it'd taste stale. Otherwise, food-vac it...?

"..living on the east side of the Sierra world be ideal - except for harsher winters and the chance of apocalyptic fires burning the whole area." Bosterson, NWHiker's marketing expert
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HoosierHiker
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PostWed Jun 10, 2015 11:24 am 
I had frozen hamburger meat that was high fat content and I wanted to dehydrate it and use it for an overnight last weekend. I decided to make taco meat. Cooked it and drained all the fat, added spices, jalapeņo, and onions. Everyone enjoyed it at camp! It was not as gravely as I expected it would be. Success!

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