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Posted by Bill S on February 13, 2008 at 6:14:01 pm EST
In reply to Rehydrating food??? posted by Jofes on February 13, 2008 at 4:15:20 pm EST

There is a huge difference between Backpackers Pantry (and similar freeze-dry foods) and home dehydrated foods. Freeze-drying was developed some 50-60 years ago as a way to improve preservation and make the rehydration easier and faster. The food is frozen to liquid nitrogen temperatures and the water sublimed off in vacuum chambers. The rehydration can be done fairly quickly, especially with boiling water, since the freeze-dried food has retained its shape and is porous, like a sponge (vs home-dried or the old style of drying, where the dried food is like leather or a condensed brick). During one of my summer jobs in college, I worked for the old Food Machinery and Chemical Company, who were experimenting with freeze drying. As one of the young backpackers and climbers, they would give us the latest batch of attempts and the instructions "if you figure out how to rehydrate it successfully, let us know." We had numerous hilarious results, plus some disastrous, and a few successful.

To answer more directly, yes, you can use certain ziplock bags. Look for the "freezer" bags, since these seem to hold up better to the boiling water. You do have to spend more to get the higher quality ones (I have had store-branded ones come apart at the seams). Broiler bags (made for broiling turkeys, chickens, and other meats) seem to work ok, but are also expensive. The other problem (the biggest one) with the plastic bags is that you have to dispose of them after one (or perhaps 2-3) use. This kind of waste is not in line with LNT principles, even if it ends up in landfill (the bags are not recyclable or compostable).

It's just better in many ways, especially the long run, to dirty the pot and clean it, disposing of the waste and wash water in the standard way (read the LNT material on this if you don't know the recommended way of disposal of grey water).

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• Re: Rehydrating food??? - Jofes 20:18:48 02/13/2008

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