Dehydrating foods

I had a beagle for a very short time (sad story of another's incompetence).... they are hunters and howlers you know? NOT a good choice for being stealth btw (or even in a campsite ) rofl.

I had a chance to try out my kale chips... was eager to munch while at Disney camp... YUK! They were like trying to eat crepe paper weeds! Not the crispy chip that went into the bag...yet the seal was tight and no air had gone into the bag. I spit it all out--twice. And I just now tried again, thinking maybe...you know...it was just me? UGH no they are horrible!

My dog loves hardboiled eggs. But then, he also likes whipped cream lol (put whip cream onto his dog food chips lol)

I would advise that you work at not letting the future dog see the association of food chicken/eggs and the live birds and nests. Believe me, you have to train them to leave the latter alone!

I have begun rotating the dehydrated foods from last August.... and making fresh. The meats especially.

I think I mentioned I found FLASH FROZEN dog food/pure chicken or beef in small packages for $12 but when considering how many pounds of meat is there (based upon my dehydrating ratios) it is worth it. PLUS there are NO expirations dates.

Anyway... I had put some au jus on my dog's food and it gave him the scoots. I knew better. I know better. His system cannot handle wet foods. It would have taken time to make rice soooooooo I pulled a packet of dehydrated rice I had done in August. (Veggies last 'forever' btw..but this was necessary.) AND IT WAS GREAT! It took 20 minutes to be 'dog ready' but I went ahead and soaked it for 30 minutes and then it was also good for human consumption. The dog spit out the few green beans I had mixed in..but then, so would I have bc I can no longer handle anything in that family.

ANYWHO this will be a great foundation for him at times... very easy to fix... amount of water you would use to first make the rice might be too much so I went 1 - 1. He of course didn't need it heated but I was able to anyway and added butter (who doesn't love butter)...

God is good!

HEY FOLKS!

Got updates on this dehydrating food stuff process

I found that the dog doesn't like the Perdue chicken tenders...and in fact, barfs them up quickly. So I decided they must have a stronger brine in them and washed the strips first. No, not washed as in what I do with dishes nor even what I do with veggies and fruit (those that lend themselves to an apple cider vinegar wash)... but in filtered water to remove the saltiness? I can't taste so I assumed this was the issue. He ate the washed chicken 2 days later without issues.

I have also quit dehydrating the angus eye of the round because I have plenty for me... and it's too high in fat for the dog's digestive tract. He can't eat angus beef. SOOOOOOOooooo I moved on to the 925 lean natural ground beef.... I rolled them into small balls (slightly larger than a shooter marble), microwaved them on high for 3 minutes to cook, and then put them into the dehydrator. I will see how long they take (I did one tray the other day but forgot.) There are about 60 of these size 'meat balls' to 2 lbs of ground beef.

I enjoyed doing the cubed butternut squash. Bought many bags and did them since they are not always in season, in the market, even though they are frozen in bags.

The frozen cut carrots (the squiggly line cut) in bags are also convenient. Organic was available. I did a package of these when I did several packages of the butternut squash.

I'll try to upload the picture of sizes. LOL talk about space saving! I think I did 48 oz of squash and they all fit into one 18 oz mylar bag once dehydrated. The tiny-ness of the carrots is why they always mix them into other veggie packets. In the spoon picture, the carrot slice is on the left, the 1/2" cubed squash is on the right in the spoon picture. It took 7 hours for the veggies.

The tray shows the meat balls ready to dehydrate.

I've been dehydrating more organic non-gmo brown rice. It's a staple for the dog's food (base). It dries up so small it's a joy hehehe

I crock pot it. It's a one one-half quart crock pot that only runs 100w NICE and I 'm trying to not let it get broken bc that will run on my van if I want it (though I have a 1 cup Dash 20 minute rice cooker on the van)

ANY way... once you have the rice cooked... cool it. My assistant says to hit it with cold water to break any clumps apart but I haven't tried that. ( I do recall hitting camp coffee with cold water to make the grounds that have risen to the top fall to the bottom .. .real camp coffee!)...

I put the cooked rice into the refrigerator for now... and then they break apart very easily for dehydrating!

Place the cooked rice onto the 'fruit roll up' plastic trays for dehydrating. I find I can put 3 cups per tray onto mine.

You Can put the freshly cooked rice onto trays but they need help in the process to declump...some will burn almost... with gooey in center etc.. takes many more hours to dry this way.

After drying, totally declump the rice into grains again and bag/label.

Think about the type of water you use to make rice. Spring water is best. Even bottled spring water (genuine).

Don't use (nor drink ) purified or other bottled water.... nor tap water if it comes from the city..probably has purification chemicals and fluoride too!