Sunday, June 3, 2012

Dehydrated Canned Black Beans


Watch for those sales on canned goods.

When you find a really, REALLY good deal, buy as many as you can afford and stash them in a cabinet, under the bed, wherever.

  • Make sure they are plain veggies, beans, whatever
  • Read the labels to make sure they do not have high fructose corn syrup or other Nutrational Nasties
    • Avoid anything on the lable that you can’t pronounce or you aren’t sure what it is
  • Most foods only need a little salt or possibly ascorbic acid (vitamin C stuff that maintains color)
  • Avoid highly seasoned products
  • Avoid anything that is seasoned with fats, gravies, sauces, etc.
Whenever you are ready to turn on your dehydrator, if your machine is not full, top it off with a few canned items. 


Here are some canned black beans I dehydrated.  They will tend to split a bit, but that has no affect on the taste.  They will be hard and maybe a bit crumbly. 


Why do you dehydrate canned foods?
  • It takes less space
  • They will keep longer
  • They weight substantially less, so it’s easier to transport them in an emergency situation

What do you do with dehydrated canned foods?
  • Use them in Thermos Bottle Cooking
  • Add them so soups and stews
  • Use them in casseroles
  • If it is beans, combine them with cooked dehydrated rice for a more digestible meal
  • When you rehydrate them, add the following dehydrated ingredients to jazz up the meal
    • Onions
    • Bell peppers
    • Herbs and spices
    • Rice
    • Pasta
    • Ground meat


6 comments:

  1. My son needs to carry dehydated food for week long climbing trips. We tried pork and beans, he liked them very much with the dehydtated hamburger. A site we found called it bark!

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    1. If he needs dehydrated for for his climbing trips, take a look at the thermos bottle soups! I was really pleased with the results. Even my hubby liked it! (Now THAT'S progress)

      Have you seen the book, LipSmackin' Backpackin' yet? I have a review on it. It is specifically for backpackers who want to make their own camping foods. Some great ideas in there.

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    2. He was very pleased with his "groceries" and the envy of his companions. After reading from Backpacking Chef.com I made a fleece cozy for his camping pot. Some recipes call for a 5 min presoak and most others will be taken from the heat into the cozy for 10 min. This woorked well and didn't add any wieght. A snack he shared with his friends was dehydrated flavored yogurt (only this time we will strain the whey first), and again the envy of. I will defineity look for the book, since it took a lot of searching just to find cooking info (plenty of drying info). Thank you!

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    3. I'm thinking I need to look over that site. thanks for the link!

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  2. What temperature and how long does one leave the beans in the dehydrator?

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    Replies
    1. HI Claire, thanks for writing.You will want to dehydrate just about everything except meat at 115 to 120 degrees. Drying at a slower temperature will help prevent case hardening.

      http://dehydratingwaybeyondjerky.blogspot.com/2012/10/variables-in-dehydrating-times.html

      You might want to look over this post on testing for dryness.

      http://dehydratingwaybeyondjerky.blogspot.com/2012/04/testing-for-dryness.html

      Good luck and keep me posted!

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