Dry Food For Thought

In preparation for our hike across Isle Royale, Nathan and I have been dehydrating a lot of food.  I am amazed how easy this is and how well it tastes dry or re-hydrated!  We are dehydrating meals for many reasons including:
-Reduced weight
-Space savings
-Food Preservation
-Healthier meals

Some of our favorite dehydrated items are:

-Apple chips and apple sauce fruit roll ups!

-Zucchini chips

-Pineapples, strawberries, watermelon... Yes,  I said watermelon!

-Beef jerky

-Peppers

-Hamburger

-Pizza sauce

-Cooked and dehydrated noodles (dehydrated noodles is not the same as uncooked noodles. Cooking before hand saves a lot of fuel, since you are not boiling in the field for 10 minutes)

Resources:
There are a lot of resources for meal recipes, meal plans, dehydration techniques for different foods.
One link we really like is: http://www.backpackingchef.com/

There are also a lot of different books on the subject.  I rented all of these from the library and used different ideas/recipes from each.  I purchased the dehydrator bible because it shows how to dehydrate almost everything you can think of, plus provides recipes for backpacking as well as car camping and home cooking.
The Dehydrator Bible
Backpack Gourmet
Simple Foods for the Pack
Trail Food
A Fork in the Trail

Dehydrator:
The dehydrator we are using is the Nesco Snackmaster Encore.  I purchased 4 extra trays and some extra fruit roll sheets to maximize use of the dehydrator. You can buy this online from Nesco or at Bed Bath and Beyond or Meijer for about $65. If you want something bigger and more industrial you should check out Excalibur.