It's jerky time

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by thepatriot1976, Jun 24, 2008.


  1. thepatriot1976

    thepatriot1976 Resigned Membership

    Hey guys I was given a food dehydrator from a nephew of mine and am getting into the whole dehydration thing. I will mainly be sticking to ground beef and maybe some fruits because of cost. I can get lean ground beef 1lb. rolls at Aldi grocery for $1 a roll (yah, unbelievable isn't it). I have also heard that you can vacuum seal it in bags and they will keep for a very long time (TEOTWAWKI food) My best friend going all the way back to my sophomore year of high school you guys know as Tackelberry (you will respect his authoritaa!) says it's too risky to do and should just stick to Mountain house kind of food, but I could make so much food at such a bargain price if I did it myself. I wondered what you guys thought about food dehydration, the safety of it's long time storage & any hints or tips you might have to help me out.

    Thanks,

    Patriot......

    (by the way it's a ronco 5 tray w/o a fan) [beer]
     
  2. Tracy

    Tracy Insatiably Curious Moderator Founding Member

    Since you don't have one with a fan, be sure it's in a well-ventilated area and be sure to rotate your trays, lest the stuff on the bottom will get over-done before the top trays even gets started.

    Ground beef? Please share the How and your results. Amazing price, by the way.

    Other people have great luck with dehydrating bananas. I don't. They always end up really leathery instead of crunchy and horribly discolored. I've given up on them (and figure I can buy them cheaper considering the amount I've wasted trying to get it right).

    Most fruits and veggies dry very well. Fruit leather (gpa called it - now it's called fruit roll ups at the store) is a really quick and easy snack item that's easy to do, though there's a trick to making sure the fruit goo doesn't make its way to the base tray in the commercial machines. If you have a vacuum sealer, you can make your own "soup in a bag" type of thing. One monkey (sorry, I forget who) even said they buy frozen veggies and dehydrate them.

    Good luck and let us know how it goes!
     
  3. thepatriot1976

    thepatriot1976 Resigned Membership

    Yah, I learned about the ground beef from my nephew (he's been doing it for years). At Waly world they sell a jerky gun kit that includes like 5 packs of seasoning (think Teriaki, spicy, (3) original) you mix in your packet with one pound of meat load it into this cocking looking gun and it makes 1/4" thick strips to load your trays with.

    And the ground beef jerky is really good. I can't even tell the difference between the commercial and homemade stuff.
    [beer]
     
  4. ghrit

    ghrit Bad company Administrator Founding Member

  5. Tango3

    Tango3 Aimless wanderer

    we see alotof jerky "packets"up here for ground beef, in fact they make decent "store like" snacks..I've gota "jerky shooter" like a plastic caulking gun with a slot to squeeze out a 1" wide ribbon,Don't know if I'd do ground beef by itself ( without some kind of curing agent)may not be safe...Food drying(solar powered)will become an important preservation skill for tough times...
     
  6. monkeyman

    monkeyman Monkey+++ Moderator Emeritus Founding Member

    If it has fat in it the fat will tend to go rancid after a bit. So long as its good and lean though and you DRY it dont COOK it then it will keep for a long time. Not sure just how long though understand pretty indefinate, jerkey never tends to stay around me long enough to know how long it would stay good. If it is fully dried though and stored in a cool dry place then I wouldnt sweat it at all if it was a couple years old unless it smelled bad. Now if the tep gets up to much and it COOKS then it will go bad and can be toxic.
     
  7. thepatriot1976

    thepatriot1976 Resigned Membership

    Yah the one that my nephew has is a caulking type gun and works fine.


    Monkeyman Quote:jerkey never tends to stay around me long enough to know how long it would stay good.
    :lol:[ROFL]

    You guys are making me a little nervous about the prospect of trying long term storage. I'm starting to agree with my bro Tackelberry that it's just too risky.

    Oh man, now I'm gonna get a big I told you so when I call him tomorrow, just great. Uh tack if you see this I a... well uhh..I have to wash my hair tomorrow (yah that always works for chicks) I'll call you back later!
    :oops:
     
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