Primitive Camping & Bushcraft

Camp Cooking Made Easy: Dehydrating Food for the Woods

Episode Summary

In this episode, Chris Speir explores the power of dehydration for outdoor meals. From making protein-packed beef jerky to creating lightweight, flavorful vegetables, learn how to turn fresh ingredients into long-lasting food perfect for camping, backpacking, and survival.

Episode Notes

Topics Covered in This Episode:

Why Dehydration Matters for Outdoor Enthusiasts

Dehydrated foods weigh less, take up less space, and last longer than fresh alternatives. Whether you're heading out for a week in the mountains or just want to keep a reliable food stash at home, knowing how to dehydrate your own meals can be a game-changer.

Get More Hands-On Outdoor Knowledge

If you're serious about mastering outdoor skills like food preservation, fire-starting, shelter-building, and wilderness survival, check out my book: Primitive Camping & Bushcraft. It’s packed with real-world skills and techniques to help you thrive in the wild.

Episode Transcription

(upbeat music)

 

All right, welcome back to the

 

Premium of Camping and Bushcraft Podcast.

 

My name's Chris Speir

 

and I'm gonna be your guide

 

to enjoying the great outdoors.

 

So today I'm doing

 

something a little bit different.

 

I am actually live streaming to YouTube

 

while I am recording this podcast

 

for the podcast platforms.

 

If my voice sounds a little different,

 

it's because I have been out in the woods

 

teaching survival skills to a

 

bunch of boys that I mentor.

 

We learned how to put together a shelter.

 

We learned how to start a fire,

 

how to collect different things for fire

 

like your tinder and your

 

kindling and then your fuel.

 

I showed the boys how to do the,

 

char cloth.

 

I showed the boys how to

 

actually filter their water

 

and drink the water, how

 

to use a metal container

 

to drink the water

 

and to purify the water.

 

So all in all, we had a real good day.

 

We had a real good time

 

and it was just a great day

 

outdoors, the kids were

 

so enthusiastic about it.

 

Their favorite part was

 

being able to use the char cloth

 

that they made to actually start a fire.

 

They had a 100% success

 

rate in using the char cloth,

 

making it and taking it and

 

putting it inside a tinder

 

bundle and then throwing a

 

spark to it with a ferro rod.

 

They made a little ferro rod necklace

 

with a little striker

 

and it was pretty cool.

 

These kids just really ate this up.

 

If you're looking into

 

wanting to get involved

 

with doing some stuff like

 

that with some fatherless boys

 

truth of nature is an

 

amazing Christian organization

 

to where you could actually

 

be there and fill in the gaps

 

for some of these young boys that don't

 

have a father figure

 

in their life.

 

And I've got regular seven,

 

eight boys that come routinely

 

to every month's program and

 

these kids really learn a lot

 

and they really just bond with you

 

and all the other mentors.

 

It's all about

 

building lasting relationships

 

and teaching these kids how

 

to be a man in today's world.

 

I am all about teaching

 

toxic masculinity to young men

 

because that's what

 

we need on this planet.

 

So if that offends, find

 

someplace else to watch.

 

But anyway, on today's show,

 

we're gonna talk about food.

 

We're gonna continue our subject to food.

 

And we're breaking into the dehydrator.

 

So I've talked about

 

this before last year

 

on this actual podcast

 

and what we did yesterday,

 

or yesterday, last week.

 

So what we did last

 

week is we talked about

 

the five different areas of food.

 

You got dehydrated food and that's using

 

a regular dehydrator

 

and then you have

 

your freeze-drive foods,

 

which is most commonly

 

like your Mountain House meals

 

or your different

 

brands of dehydrated foods.

 

Then you have you just add water foods

 

and that's just like

 

your instant mashed potatoes

 

or your noodles or your whatever.

 

You just add a little

 

bit of water, you cook it

 

and you're good to go.

 

Then we had our prepackaged foods.

 

Now, these prepackaged

 

foods will include stuff like

 

Vienna sausages or

 

beans or broccoli and rice

 

or macaroni and cheese.

 

Those, well, that was prepackaged foods.

 

That was actually the just add water.

 

I was reading the wrong spot.

 

Prepackaged foods is actually Vienna

 

sausages and sardines

 

and a can of beans,

 

any kind of canned foods.

 

Summer sausage comes to mind

 

as a perfect prepackaged food.

 

And what I really

 

like about summer sausage

 

is the fact that, and I've

 

touched on it several times,

 

I touched on it last week as well,

 

that one of the most beautiful things

 

about summer sausage

 

is that it does not have

 

to be refrigerated

 

until after you open it.

 

And then after you open it,

 

you still got a couple of days

 

that you can use it

 

depending on whether it being

 

900 degrees outside, like it is here.

 

Now, the next part is

 

gonna be procured food.

 

We talked about procured

 

food, and that'll be like

 

for here in South

 

Mississippi hunting and fishing,

 

stuff like that, foraging mushrooms,

 

different other foods.

 

Don't forage mushrooms unless you know

 

what the heck you're doing,

 

because out of the thousands

 

and thousands of

 

mushrooms, only like 270 of them

 

are edible or 70 of them are edible.

 

I don't remember.

 

So even then, that

 

should give you a clue.

 

(laughing) So anyway, dehydrating.

 

So dehydrating your food

 

is fairly a simple process,

 

and there are several different kinds

 

of dehydrators you can use.

 

You got the small, cheap

 

dehydrators that can be found

 

at department stores, and

 

then you got the bigger ones

 

that are basically

 

commercial dehydrators.

 

And so what I got is the LEM or LEM,

 

and I got it from Academy Sports,

 

and it has got the five trees in there,

 

and I love using this thing.

 

And we talked about

 

this briefly last week,

 

where this dehydrator, it can

 

take a good eight pound roast

 

and condense it down

 

to three pounds of meat.

 

So you're losing five

 

pounds of water weight

 

out of the roast.

 

So, but then you got

 

vegetables, like vegetables.

 

They go from being real

 

heavy, and they got a lot,

 

you never realize how

 

much water or how much fluids

 

are actually in a veggie table

 

until you actually throw

 

them in the dehydrator.

 

Once you throw them into the dehydrator,

 

they shrivel up and they turn into

 

practically nothing,

 

and you can dehydrate anything,

 

and you can rehydrate almost anything.

 

And dehydrators are amazing,

 

and they're very affordable.

 

They're economically affordable to anyone

 

that wants to do it.

 

So I just realized if anything looks

 

weird on the videos,

 

I forgot to turn the overhead light off.

 

(laughs) It's all good.

 

So, but anyway, so

 

dehydrators are an amazing asset

 

to have whenever

 

you're making your own food

 

when you're heading out into the woods.

 

It's really a good tool to use,

 

and that's what it is, it's a tool.

 

It's not anything other than that.

 

It's just like a pot and pan is a tool.

 

You use that tool to cook your food

 

and to get your food ready to eat,

 

or boil your water, or

 

in South Mississippi,

 

burl, you're gonna burl your water.

 

But one of the best

 

things that I love to make

 

with a dehydrator, and I know everybody's

 

pretty much the same way, is beef jerky.

 

Now beef jerky is extremely versatile.

 

You can eat it on its own,

 

or you can add it to beans,

 

stews, soups, or help

 

make a more complete meal.

 

Now, homemade beef

 

jerky is a lot different

 

than the store-bought stuff.

 

The store-bought stuff

 

has so many preservatives.

 

It's crazy, you got preservatives in it.

 

You got, it's really horrible

 

what they actually do to be,

 

it's not even really

 

beef jerky, it's really not.

 

Beef jerky in a dehydrator

 

is so much healthier for you,

 

it's so much better for you.

 

And there's tons of studies

 

and of all the diets out there,

 

the one where you're

 

just, the carnivore diet

 

is basically, or is the absolute

 

healthiest diet for you.

 

So beef jerky,

 

is easy to make, is fun to make,

 

and I guarantee you, out

 

of an eight pound roast,

 

and you cut that thing up and

 

you get it on that dehydrator

 

and you dehydrate that thing,

 

I promise you that it is

 

going to not last very long.

 

(laughs) Beef jerky is one of those amazing things

 

that you can experiment with it.

 

You can make what you wanna make with it.

 

It doesn't have to be,

 

there's no wrong way,

 

it's kinda like bushcraft,

 

it's kinda like bushcraft and survival.

 

There's no wrong way,

 

there's only an end result,

 

whatever it is, the outcome that you want

 

and that you achieve or strive for,

 

that's what you're gonna get.

 

Now, beef jerky is easy to make

 

and so you want, like I

 

have a local butcher's market

 

or a local grocery store here

 

that has a butcher shop in the back

 

or a meat department that

 

they actually slice your meat up

 

for you and, excuse me, but these guys,

 

I will go and get a top

 

round or inside round roast

 

or I have round roast or whatever

 

and I'll have them slice it

 

and I just tell them

 

sandwich meat them for beef jerky

 

and they know exactly what they're doing.

 

They'll go in there and they'll slice

 

that puppy real thin

 

and they usually trim most

 

of the fat off of it too.

 

Fat is like when it comes to beef jerky,

 

you don't want a lot of fat on there

 

because that's what makes it rancid.

 

That actually cause it to

 

spoil is the beef jerky,

 

it is the fat and so the

 

oils and the fats go rancid

 

and they just make it, they turn nasty.

 

But when you get them

 

to slice your beef jerky

 

as thick or as thin as you want,

 

the thicker the jerky is,

 

the longer you're

 

gonna have to dehydrate it.

 

The thinner it is, the

 

shorter amount of time

 

you gotta dehydrate it.

 

And one of the things

 

that I love about beef jerky

 

is that once you get

 

that thing marinated,

 

you put any flavor

 

you want on beef jerky.

 

Some people do just

 

straight up salt and pepper,

 

some people throw it in

 

teriyaki sauce or whatever.

 

Or what's old, Texas Pete, Texas Pete,

 

the guy on TikTok, the chef that,

 

this dude has grown, he

 

has made a massive following

 

and Pepperbelly Pete, I'm sorry,

 

I thought it was Texas

 

Pete, Pepperbelly Pete

 

and he's on TikTok.

 

And this dude has, he's coined the term,

 

wash your sister sauce,

 

who's your sister sauce?

 

Or every time is something different.

 

And go ahead and try to pronounce it.

 

It's like almost impossible.

 

Worcestershire sauce,

 

Worcestershire sauce,

 

whatever, man, you can use that.

 

And I found a stuff called Moors.

 

Moors is a steak marinade

 

and it's called Spicy Moors.

 

And I'm telling you right now,

 

it is the absolute best marinade.

 

Pork chops is great in

 

it, chicken's great in it,

 

beef is great in it.

 

And it's very hard, it's

 

very hard to find a marinade

 

that works between

 

all the different meats.

 

And I haven't tried it on fish yet,

 

but I might actually try it

 

on some fish, that'd be crazy.

 

I never tried a marinade on a fish.

 

I usually salt and

 

pepper and lemon or oranges

 

or some kind of fruit or citrus.

 

Well, anyway, so you put some meat on

 

your dehydrator rack

 

and it's gonna take

 

four or five, six hours,

 

depending on however

 

long you're gonna do it.

 

You're gonna put it on your rack,

 

then you're gonna, don't

 

let them touch too much.

 

They can overlap just

 

a touch a little bit,

 

but you don't want them to like,

 

you don't want one piece laying on top

 

of another piece like this.

 

So once you lay it on,

 

I like to sprinkle them

 

with a seasoning called Tony Sachery's.

 

Tony Sachery's.

 

And it is a Cajun

 

seasoning that we got down here.

 

And this same is like Slappy Mama

 

or the Texas Pete stuff or whatever,

 

or not Texas Pete, but

 

Pepper Valley Pete stuff,

 

whatever he calls it.

 

But once you've done that,

 

you season it pretty good.

 

Now, I'm gonna give you a secret recipe

 

and I'm gonna tell you

 

right here and right now

 

of a recipe of beef jerky

 

that will drive everybody

 

in your home nuts.

 

It'll drive anybody

 

that ever tried it crazy

 

and you will not be

 

able to make enough of it,

 

I can promise you.

 

You get your roast

 

beef, I'm not roast beef.

 

You get your roast sliced

 

real thin like sandwich meat.

 

Then you marinate it with Zadarins,

 

Zadarins liquid crab

 

boil, crab or shrimp boil.

 

All right, now you're gonna put just a

 

little bit in there.

 

It goes a long way and

 

we'll get back to that.

 

Then you're going to take that

 

and you're gonna stick

 

it onto your trays, okay?

 

Now you're gonna mix it up real good.

 

You know, just a little

 

bit more than a cat full

 

or two cat fulls will work.

 

And you just mix it

 

up real good like that.

 

And then you take that meat

 

and you put it on your trays

 

and then you sprinkle your

 

trays with a little bit of salt

 

and a little bit of cayenne pepper.

 

And come back in, you put the trays in,

 

let them dehydrate and

 

when they're about a quarter

 

the way done, something

 

like that, maybe halfway done,

 

they're starting to shrivel up,

 

change colors, get start, turn it dark.

 

That's when you're

 

going to take a cap of that

 

Zatarans crab bowl and

 

you're gonna put several drops

 

on each piece, I'll do,

 

I'm telling you right now,

 

that stuff is great, it is great.

 

I cannot tell you

 

enough how much it's great.

 

But it's good stuff.

 

But you can use anything, you

 

can use any kind of seasoning

 

you want, you don't even have to use it,

 

you can use salt, pepper and that's it.

 

Now there is a guy that he sent me, I

 

forget where he's at,

 

is Candy, Man Candy, I think

 

the name of it is Man Candy.

 

He sent me some beef jerky to try

 

and he has some cracked pepper stuff

 

or some kind of pepper and it was good.

 

And his beef jerky was real beef jerky,

 

it didn't have all the

 

preservatives and everything.

 

So Man Candy is the name, his

 

name or the name of his company

 

and he does it on his

 

own, he makes his own stuff

 

and sells it, but it's good stuff too.

 

He does real good and it

 

reminds me of homemade beef jerky

 

that you make at your house.

 

But here's the thing, if

 

you're out in the woods,

 

you're taking this with

 

you to rehydrate or to cook

 

or whatever or just to eat

 

and you have some protein

 

or whatever, you could take

 

that roast and dehydrate it

 

and rehydrate it in a

 

soup or stew or something.

 

Now you have to cook it a little while

 

and it takes a little while to cook.

 

I mean, a little

 

while, I mean, a long time.

 

(laughing)

 

But it will get

 

tender, you will get tender

 

and you can take that meat,

 

you could put it in a stew,

 

you could put it in

 

beans, you could put it in

 

practically anything, you

 

can make a dish, whatever.

 

And that stuff, it really

 

does work and it's very good.

 

So moving on, it's a little bit of a hard work

 

and if anybody's

 

following along in the book,

 

we're on page 186, 186 and

 

so we're looking at eggs.

 

There's nothing like

 

scrambled eggs for breakfast

 

and I just went on a trip

 

this past weekend with Dave

 

and old Dave and I have

 

started going camping together

 

and it's a real good time,

 

he's a great friend of mine

 

and he took a bunch of scrambled eggs,

 

like six or seven of

 

them and he used the funnel,

 

cracked them, threw them in the funnel,

 

shook them up, scrambled them,

 

and put them in a water bottle,

 

an empty water bottle

 

and stored them like that.

 

And I was like, dude, that's six eggs,

 

that's like $100 worth

 

of eggs, that's crazy.

 

And here's another thing,

 

I've never in my lifetime

 

seen eggs this expensive.

 

I was going through the big box store

 

but it starts with a W and ends with a T

 

and I was looking at

 

the grocery all back there

 

where the eggs are and 60 eggs for $35.

 

So I was like, are you kidding me?

 

I mean, that's what,

 

five dozen eggs at $35?

 

That is ridiculous.

 

But anyway, scrambled eggs

 

for breakfast is amazing,

 

especially on open fire,

 

especially when you're camping.

 

You know, scrambled eggs is awesome.

 

Breakfast, mix that

 

with a little bit of spam.

 

Eggs are just awesome.

 

But you can scramble your own eggs

 

and you can dehydrate your own eggs.

 

Now, here's the thing

 

about dehydrated eggs.

 

It does not taste exactly the same as

 

fresh eggs for sure,

 

or freeze dried eggs for sure.

 

But it does taste like eggs.

 

It has a more of a rubbery texture to it

 

when you rehydrate.

 

But I love eggs and eggs is good stuff.

 

So what you want to do with that

 

is you want to get some parchment paper

 

and set that parchment

 

paper down on your tray.

 

You want to cut it out.

 

Now, certain

 

dehydrators actually sell sheets

 

that you can put and you can buy

 

and put on your dehydrator already.

 

You got the little round ones.

 

They come with a little round sheets

 

that you can put in there.

 

I find it just as easy

 

to buy parchment paper.

 

It does exactly the same thing.

 

And you buy the

 

parchment paper and you cut it

 

and you set it on the,

 

you set it on your tray.

 

Now, my dehydrator is square.

 

It's a real big square.

 

And it's easier to just cut them,

 

stick them and go for it.

 

Now, in the book, in the book here,

 

I showed using liquid egg whites.

 

Now, nothing wrong with it.

 

And I'm taught with a guy, I

 

saw a short video on TikTok

 

or Facebook or Institute or whatever.

 

And I talked to him through a message.

 

He was like, man, I'm having a hard time

 

dehydrating these eggs.

 

What am I doing wrong?

 

And I told him, I said,

 

look, you can do it this way.

 

I use the pre-carton stuff that way.

 

I don't have to crack the

 

eggs or anything like that.

 

So he tried it.

 

He's like, thanks.

 

I have to try it out.

 

So if you dehydrate whole eggs, you

 

have to separate the

 

yolks from the whites

 

and dehydrate them separately.

 

And once you put them in the dehydrator

 

and you go ahead and do that for 140

 

degrees for about 10 hours

 

until they're completely

 

dry, they will turn yellow.

 

Even the yolks--

 

I mean, the whites.

 

Egg whites will turn

 

yellow like scrambled eggs.

 

And you put them inside a

 

food processor or a little ninja

 

chopper or whatever, and

 

you turn them into powder.

 

Now, when you go to

 

reconstitute these dudes,

 

you're going to put one

 

tablespoon of eggs of the powder

 

that you just made to

 

three tablespoons of water.

 

You're going to stir it.

 

You're going to let it

 

sit for a little while.

 

It takes a little while.

 

And anytime you hear me

 

say it takes a little while,

 

that means a long time.

 

So it's going to take a

 

while for these things

 

to actually reconstitute.

 

But they can reconstitute.

 

So once you do that, you cook it like you

 

would a regular egg.

 

Now, I'm going to warn you.

 

That way, you don't come

 

back and say, hey, Chris,

 

the spirit outdoors

 

said that we could do this,

 

and it tasted like crap,

 

so we're going to sue him.

 

Eggs done this way are

 

more rubbery tasting.

 

It's not like a fresh egg.

 

But this is actually

 

decreasing your weight

 

and making it to where

 

you can hike with it,

 

or primitive camp, or do your bushcraft,

 

or practice your survival, or do whatever

 

it is you're going to do.

 

And we know that a

 

lot of people out there

 

just harp on the survival and all they're

 

doing is primitive camping.

 

So we're moving on now.

 

We're going to do one of my favorites.

 

The next ones, the next

 

two that we're going to do,

 

next three that we're

 

going to do is amazing.

 

You take you six or seven fresh tomatoes,

 

and you slice them, dude,

 

about an eighth of an inch thick.

 

And oh, man.

 

Them things are

 

amazing, like fresh tomatoes

 

on off of the dehydrator.

 

Once you eat a tomato chip, dude, it's

 

got the most bold flavor.

 

And you add that to a little

 

bit with a little bit of salt

 

and a little bit of pepper.

 

Man, that stuff is amazing, dude.

 

Well, anyway, so you go

 

ahead and slice these things

 

about eight cents

 

thick, and then you just

 

put them to where they're barely touching

 

each other on your rack,

 

all the way around, dress that thing up,

 

stick it in there, put a

 

little bit of touch of salt,

 

touch of pepper on

 

there, put it in there for--

 

how long did I put it in there for?

 

You're going to do 145 to 150

 

degrees for about five to seven

 

hours.

 

And then once again,

 

the times are relevant.

 

I mean, the times are just

 

to give you a baseline to try.

 

Ultimately, it's until everything is

 

completely dehydrated.

 

It's not-- I can't explain it.

 

There's not a set time that

 

everything's going to be--

 

it's like whenever you

 

look on the back of a box,

 

whenever you're cooking,

 

it's a cornbread or a cake

 

or something like that.

 

It says 22 to 25 minutes.

 

Each oven is different.

 

Each dehydrator is different.

 

Everything is different.

 

So now, when you do these

 

tomatoes like this, get ready.

 

Get ready.

 

I'm telling you now, it is one of the

 

most amazing flavors.

 

It is so bold that it

 

just-- you get the entire flavor

 

of the tomato all at one time.

 

I cannot explain it.

 

If you never tried a

 

dehydrated tomato chip,

 

I promise you, you

 

would not be disappointed.

 

Now, why would you use a tomato chip?

 

Dehydrated tomatoes.

 

Well, you can crumble it

 

up and turn it into a powder

 

and use it for a soup base

 

while you're out into the woods.

 

Now, you take a fish.

 

You take your fish.

 

You boil your fish.

 

De-boned your fish and everything.

 

You got that meat.

 

Add some tomatoes in there.

 

Add a little bit of

 

onions in there or whatever.

 

Dehydrate stuff in there

 

and you have a fish soup.

 

You retained all the

 

nutrients and oils and fats

 

from that fish in the soup.

 

And so you're actually

 

doing yourself a good favor

 

by retaining all those nutrients.

 

And it really does give you a pick me up.

 

And it really does boost

 

your energy whenever you boil

 

your foods and drink it.

 

Now, I ain't going to lie.

 

It sucks.

 

Drinking liquid foods

 

for a couple of weeks,

 

but you're getting all

 

the nutrients from it.

 

You're not losing any nutrients.

 

And you're using all the nutrients.

 

Now, one of the other things that my

 

brother had turned me

 

on to was squash and zucchini.

 

Some people are like,

 

well, they're both a squash.

 

Well, I'm talking yellow

 

squash and zucchini squash.

 

All right, now fix that.

 

So you wouldn't believe

 

the amount of complainers.

 

You would not believe

 

people get up in the comments

 

and just start, you

 

said this, you said that.

 

But anyway, making chips from

 

dehydrated squash and zucchini

 

is a fantastic, healthy alternative--

 

alternative?

 

Alternative.

 

Alternative.

 

Golly, I can't even tell today.

 

This is crazy.

 

But an alternative to

 

the old potato chip,

 

the old fat-drenched potato chip.

 

And I need news because I'm

 

starting to look like I've

 

been living in a potato chip closet.

 

I'm starting to can't wait.

 

But they give you the same crunch

 

that a potato chip gives.

 

And you can add them into a pot of stew

 

where you can

 

reconstitute them and just cook them

 

or eat them whole.

 

And that's awesome because they--

 

I mean, they're awesome.

 

You put a little salt

 

and pepper on there.

 

And if you're looking for a healthy chip

 

and you want a healthy diet

 

and something with high fiber

 

and without all the saturated fats,

 

without all the garbage that

 

you get in a potato chip bag,

 

look, for the--

 

have you seen the price

 

of potato chips lately?

 

Holy moly.

 

So you get a bag of

 

chips like this, all right?

 

And like a Doritos.

 

I ain't even going to name no brands.

 

But you get a bag of chips like this.

 

And you open that dude up,

 

and all the chips is down here.

 

And you paid $6 for the chips.

 

That's crazy.

 

That is ridiculous.

 

I don't know why people pay for it.

 

People are lazy.

 

And people would just run

 

out there and just grab stuff

 

instead of researching

 

and doing stuff themselves.

 

All right, so I could take that $6,

 

and I could go down to the grocery store,

 

and I could buy $6 worth

 

of zucchini and squash,

 

yellow squash, or any flavor squash,

 

if you'd like any other kind

 

of squash, it doesn't matter,

 

as long as it's a squash.

 

You take that dang squash and

 

slice it up, put it in here.

 

You're going to have

 

more potato chips for $6.

 

Or you don't need potatoes, but you're

 

going to have more chips

 

for $6 to put inside a bag

 

than you would if you went to the store

 

and bought the unhealthy ones.

 

And it's cheaper.

 

You get more for your money.

 

And it's ridiculous.

 

And it does the same thing, except for it

 

don't give you all the fasts.

 

There's a problem.

 

If you could take certain corn chips--

 

nah, I ain't going to call nobody out.

 

But if you could take certain corn chips

 

that people like to use

 

in videos to start fires--

 

I've actually done it here, and there's

 

four different ones.

 

And you set them on a paper

 

towel or set them on something,

 

and that much grease

 

gets on the paper towel?

 

Dude, what are you eating, man?

 

Golly, that's crazy.

 

So moving along, you're going to

 

dehydrate those at 145

 

to 150 degrees for 7 to 10 hours.

 

Imagine that, 7 to 10 hours.

 

Thicker slices are going

 

to take a little longer.

 

Once finished, let it

 

cool down and then store them

 

in a vacuum-sealed bag.

 

I like to take mine, put

 

them in a vacuum-sealed bag,

 

and then I'll put them in the freezer.

 

The reason why I do that

 

is because they last long.

 

No rhyme or reason.

 

I don't know why I do that.

 

I've had problems where

 

chips tend to puncture the bag.

 

And if they puncture

 

the bag, then they're

 

no good after sitting for a while.

 

So they all get all soggy again.

 

That's crazy.

 

All right, onions, they

 

are a huge cooking staple.

 

And then onions are amazing.

 

I mean, all these

 

vegetables can be reconstituted.

 

Now, you can

 

reconstitute all these vegetables.

 

And a lot of commercial

 

seasonings start with onions.

 

And they'll dehydrate these onions down.

 

And then they will put

 

them in a food processor.

 

And they will grind

 

them down to a powder.

 

And you sprinkle that stuff in your food.

 

Onions, onion powder.

 

And you do the same thing at the house.

 

You can make your own onion powder.

 

You don't even have to have a dehydrator.

 

You can do it in an

 

oven at the lowest setting.

 

Just don't let it burn.

 

You can do the same thing with garlic.

 

I've done garlic before.

 

And what's funny is that

 

whenever you dehydrate garlic,

 

I did mince garlic

 

one time, dehydrated it,

 

and it looked exactly like--

 

anybody remember that cereal, Grape Nuts?

 

That's exactly what it looked like.

 

So you can do the same thing there.

 

You can do mushrooms.

 

Mushrooms are-- you take them big

 

portobello mushrooms,

 

and you go ahead and dehydrate them.

 

By the time you have a mushroom this big,

 

it's going to end up like this.

 

I mean, it's going to

 

be teensy-weensy-tiny.

 

And mushrooms are-- they almost disappear

 

whenever you dehydrate them.

 

Now, what I love to do with mushrooms

 

is not throw them

 

back in whole like that.

 

I love to make a powder out of them.

 

Take that powder and put it in my food,

 

my stews, my whatever.

 

And that mushroom

 

powder is good here lately.

 

You know what?

 

This year, I didn't find

 

any lines made mushrooms,

 

but I would love to get me some more

 

lines made powder I got.

 

I'm almost out from the

 

ones I made last year.

 

They last forever.

 

Now, mushrooms are an

 

absolute favorite item to dehydrate.

 

And I love using them in my food.

 

But be warned, they shrink

 

a lot during this process.

 

So bell peppers work too.

 

We're going to be

 

running out of time here.

 

We're hitting 32, 33 minutes.

 

Bell peppers work.

 

Any vegetable, any

 

vegetable that you want to use,

 

you can use in this dehydrator.

 

And you can make your

 

own seasonings with them.

 

You can dehydrate.

 

You can process them down into a powder.

 

You can use a mortar and

 

pestle, pestle and mortar,

 

whatever you want to call it.

 

And you could pulverize them, turn them

 

into a real fine powder,

 

and put them in a

 

little vial or a ziploc bag.

 

You don't even have to have

 

any vials or anything like that.

 

Just use a ziploc bag and take it out

 

into the woods with you

 

and use it to hunt.

 

Now, not to hunt, to cook.

 

And then I've seen

 

people in these amazing videos

 

that get millions and

 

millions and millions of views.

 

And dude was like 14,000

 

feet up in the mountain

 

overlooking the valley

 

with a stream and a creek,

 

not a tree around.

 

And he's cooking a fish on a stalk.

 

And I'm like, dude, there

 

ain't a tree for 13 miles.

 

And where did you find a stalk?

 

He had to track that

 

thing in there to do that.

 

But he's using all fresh vegetables.

 

And it's a great video.

 

I'm not going to lie about that.

 

It was a great video.

 

But these things are very lightweight.

 

So if you're going to

 

be hiking somewhere,

 

dehydrating your food is an awesome way

 

that anybody can do at home.

 

Anybody can use it at home

 

with an oven, with a dehydrator.

 

And it can be done.

 

So you don't have to have

 

a freeze dryer, which we're

 

going to get into next week.

 

We're going to talk about some freeze

 

dryer foods next week.

 

But until then, look,

 

guys, if you haven't--

 

have you all seen that

 

new video I just did?

 

Let's see.

 

For those of you that's going to be

 

watching the podcast,

 

I'm going to roll a video right here.

 

I know what you're thinking.

 

Not another video about coffee.

 

But if I had to be

 

honest, it is really that good.

 

That video was pretty cool.

 

I shot that while I was

 

camping this last week.

 

And then for those of you that are

 

watching the live stream,

 

I just did a video of a super

 

slow motion with the DJI Action

 

Cam 5 Pro or whatever.

 

And it did like 250 frames a second.

 

And this slowed the fire down.

 

So cool.

 

The fire was behind the coffee.

 

And I did the

 

Primitive Camping Blend Coffee.

 

And dude, it was so cool.

 

It was a cool video.

 

And it was cool doing

 

it out there in the woods

 

at the campsite.

 

But hey, look, if you don't mind,

 

go ahead and show some support.

 

Pick you up a pack of

 

Primitive Camping and Bushcraft Blend

 

Coffee.

 

Put the links in the video description

 

into the podcast

 

links and stuff like that.

 

And hey, I hope you enjoyed this episode.

 

And I will see you next time.

 

God bless you.