I just got home to find a giant box from Amazon which can mean only one thing: my new dehydrator is here!
I know, I know, it's weird to get excited about a dehydrator--especially when the NYC air feels like it squeezes every bit of moisture out of your skin. However, Jeff and I are doing some research for an upcoming backpacking trip, and I've been reading lots of opinions about how to decrease pack weight without compromising either deliciousness of food or calorie counts. Recall that Jeff and I have fast metabolisms even in sedate city life, so we need a lot of food to keep our bodies from consuming their own muscle mass when we're actively hiking. There are three prolific commenters on the Backpacking Light Food, Hydration and Nutrition forum who advocate dehydrating your food. It makes sense: water is both really heavy to cart around and causes many foods to spoil; I have a love-hate/mostly hate relationship with superprocessed foods that are designed to be shelf stable; I will not touch Mountain House or Backcountry Pantry foods; and I cook some pretty delicious meals if I may say so myself.
We decided against the Alton Brown jury-rigged box fan dehydrator, since it couldn't handle things like curries or sauces, and opted instead for the Nesco FD-75PR 700 watt model. It got a good review from one of those prolific commenters on Backpacking Light (she wrote a trailcooking book and always shares excellent comments). That review and the very reasonable price of $55 sold me.
We probably won't do too many epic cooking sessions to fill up the dehydrator but rather go the route of drying leftovers from dinner instead of packing them into the fridge. I'm excited for this new project!
I know, I know, it's weird to get excited about a dehydrator--especially when the NYC air feels like it squeezes every bit of moisture out of your skin. However, Jeff and I are doing some research for an upcoming backpacking trip, and I've been reading lots of opinions about how to decrease pack weight without compromising either deliciousness of food or calorie counts. Recall that Jeff and I have fast metabolisms even in sedate city life, so we need a lot of food to keep our bodies from consuming their own muscle mass when we're actively hiking. There are three prolific commenters on the Backpacking Light Food, Hydration and Nutrition forum who advocate dehydrating your food. It makes sense: water is both really heavy to cart around and causes many foods to spoil; I have a love-hate/mostly hate relationship with superprocessed foods that are designed to be shelf stable; I will not touch Mountain House or Backcountry Pantry foods; and I cook some pretty delicious meals if I may say so myself.
We decided against the Alton Brown jury-rigged box fan dehydrator, since it couldn't handle things like curries or sauces, and opted instead for the Nesco FD-75PR 700 watt model. It got a good review from one of those prolific commenters on Backpacking Light (she wrote a trailcooking book and always shares excellent comments). That review and the very reasonable price of $55 sold me.
We probably won't do too many epic cooking sessions to fill up the dehydrator but rather go the route of drying leftovers from dinner instead of packing them into the fridge. I'm excited for this new project!
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