No-refrigeration foods

[Regie]

Don't forget about using of dry meat or soya meat (you can even put it in soup if you don't have other options).

 

[yugogypsy1963]

Dingfelder,

I know all about how invasive oregano and mint can get. I've got patches of oregano and lemon balm growing everywhere. I've got a lot of things in pots but it doesn't always control them.

Regie: I have a smoker and plan to make beef jerky and keep it in a tightly sealed container and I'm afraid soya meat or TVP don't agree with my stomach due to my bean allergy. I've tried season it several ways and nothing helped but thanks for the input.

Cheers
Lois

 

[yugogypsy1963]

I just did a quick research on Rice milk and almond milk and they keep in the pantry until opened so there's another possibility for a no fridge product. Like regular milk they'll keep 7-10 days in the fridge after opening.

An idea that popped into my head after I went shopping last night. When I don't have anything to make broth with for soup, I buy the tetra packs of broth and they keep very well in the pantry.

I'm also lucky that I have a friend who does a lot of canning and dehydrating and if I get the veggies she'll process them for me. I know how to can, but don't like doing it in this hot weather we're having.

That will be my biggest source of weight in my trailer, jars of canning, but I will get lids and rings and take my canner so I can reuse the jars for any fruit or vegetables I can get as I travel.

Cheers, Lois

 

[Dingfelder]

I'm also lucky that I have a friend who does a lot of canning and dehydrating  and if I get the veggies she'll process them for me. I know how to can, but don't like doing it in this hot weather we're having.

That really is lucky.  From everything I hear, that is a cumbersome business indeed.  I've known a few people who just gave up on it because they were tired of the hassle.

That will be my biggest source of weight in my trailer, jars of canning, but I will get lids and rings and take my canner so I can reuse the jars for any fruit or vegetables I can get as I travel.

Yeah, that glass is so heavy !!!!  That's one reason I'm trying to master sprouts.  You can put them in light containers -- baggies are fine -- and only grow and store what you are likely to want at any particular time.  

Soil sprouts do require a growing medium, some of which can be heavy(not perlite or vermiculite, though), but how much you want to carry is up to you, and you can buy soil-less seed starter very easily in most places ... Walmart, Home Depot and such, Costco, any garden store, some department stores, farm stores, etc etc etc ...

A trading off of one thing for another, really.

 

[yugogypsy1963]

I have a sprouting kit and yes that will be going with me as I love sprouts in sandwiches and they're another thing you can put in ramen. And they take up a lot less room than a head of lettuce if you just grow what you need immediately

 

[Dingfelder]

Yup and vastly more nutritious. I love lettuce and it's one of my favorite things to grow, but it has very low nutritive value.

I like sprouts in stir-fries and in steamed vegetable dishes a lot, too. Mung bean sprouts somehow get very flavorful when cooked, and in a heap of steamed veggies can be the flavor that makes the whole batch taste like it was worth making.

 

[wasanah2]

Went on a trip a few years ago and took FRESH MRE's with the heaters.  It was fun because we didn't know what exactly would be inside.  The pouch stated the main dish but the other stuff is always a surprise.  Most of these meals were highly caloric, but we were hiking, so it was great.  Also they were pretty good.  If you didn't want to use the heaters that came with them, you can also just use a camp stove for heating them.

So we took extras, not knowing what we'd like and that was good because we raided other pouches for other sides and such.  Also, no one had to spend a lot of time over a stove.  They didn't need any refrigeration.

The downside was there was a TON OF TRASH to pack out with us.  I mean everything is individually wrapped.  But if you don't mind that or can burn some of the trash, it would work out great.  You need to get fresh ones though and I'd take extras like we did.  They usually come with energy drinks, coffee and everything you need...even a spoon or spork.

 

[crofter]

Moderation in all things. Seems to me that, given the realities of the cheap RV lifestyle, we need to more or less emulate the tenets of Stoicism. Oh well, the spirit is willing, the rest is probably just sophomoric idealism. Someone pass the salt shaker.

We are making up for the excess by having such a low stress lifestyle.     ~ crofter

 

[QinReno]

Yeah Mr C, if you jumble the letters in "stoicism" and add a couple more, you get "consumption", IOW, that modern 20thC philosophy which we were all indoctrinated into.

BTW, I was down in the Sierra last week, and tried some of my new dietary ideas, as discussed previously. I am now addicted to rice cakes over using bread which goes moldy fast in the heat, due to no refrigerator. Some sliced meat between 2 rice cakes makes a good sandwich. Eat the tomato on the side. The ground squirrels pick up the rice cake crumbs.

Then Hungry Jack dry hash browns reconstituted with boiling water makes a good starter for a pan fry meal, adding a small 40¢ can of corn or stringbeans, plus sliced tomato and some canned chicken meat makes a good full meal. No refrigeration necessary.

 

[TexasWoman]

I have a Harvest Right freeze drier so lots of things can be freeze-dried. 
Granted it is an expensive piece of equipment and a pain in the you know what to maintain but it does a good job.  I can make freeze-dried eggs, fruits for smoothies, diced chicken, etc.

Chef's Cut makes awesome jerky  -  more moist and less salty than other brands.  
Their honey bbq chicken tastes like a campfire in your mouth.

Canned coconut milk can be used for smoothies.  Leave the VitaMix at home and get a small Bullet blender to take on the road.

Hard candies like Werther's Originals can get you through a serious sugar craving and won't melt  in the heat.

Pelican coolers are just as good as Yeti and a lot cheaper.  Would really widen your food choices.

Texas Woman
:heart: :heart: :heart:

 

[QinReno]

TW, how do you go about freeze-drying an egg?

 

[wasanah2]

I have a Harvest Right freeze drier so lots of things can be freeze-dried. 
Granted it is an expensive piece of equipment and a pain in the you know what to maintain but it does a good job.  I can make freeze-dried eggs, fruits for smoothies, diced chicken, etc.

Hey TW, I had some freeze dried #10 cans of food and in downsizing, I thought, man, I'm going to eat this food because I just can't store this any more.  I live in a hurricane area, so having stuff like this is supposedly good.  So I opened cans that were supposed to be good for like 25 or 30 years.  In FL, those cans didn't last 5.  I was able to salvage some of it, but the vast majority were toast.  The food tasted metallic.  Yuck.

Just wanted to suggest you taste the stuff over time and then you'll know if it stays in good shape.  I think my cans just got too hot, but I had no room.  Nothing worse than metallic freeze dried raspberries.  It almost ruined me on all raspberries.

Besides tasting the stuff, if you can store it in something other than a tin can, it's gotta help.   How are you storing your Harvest Right foods, like in mason jars?

 

[TexasWoman]

Well, you are supposed to use mylar bags with oxygen absorbers and dessicants.
That is a bit of a hassle especially since oxygen absorbers are expensive and tend to go bad once the package is opened unless you do some kind of strange things like vacuum sealing  them in a mason jar filled with sand.
I have talked FreshPak USA into creating individually sealed oxygen absorbers for me so they don't go bad.

The mason jar is a way to go but their literature says the seal only lasts up to 18 months so you would have to revacuum them every so often.  Not sure if that lasts longer with oxygen absorbers in it but the main problem with mason jars is that they are heavy and let in light.

If you are in a house, that is not so much of a problem but taking mason jars on the road is just downright impractical.

So ... mylar bags is the way to go ... 

It's just hard to make them a uniform size to store easily but I'm working on figuring that out now ... trying to make them come out in a stackable square.

Freeze dry is really the only way to take any amount of stored food on the road without refrigeration... and yes, you have to store in a dark cool dry spot ... If it is going to be used fairly quickly, probably not a big deal leaving it in a hot car but it won't last long term that way.

Texas Woman
:heart: :heart: :heart:

 

[Dingfelder]

Yeah heat is a big problem in any vehicle. Not only do they generally get hotter than their surroundings, but simply being in those surroundings is plenty hot enough already to age foods quickly. A veggie or piece of fruit that might last two weeks in the fridge or a week in a closed garage might last only a couple of days in an RV/Van/etc. A box of raisins might melt together into a single raisin.

This is one of the harder things for me. I don't mind pooping in a bucket or cleaning mostly via sponge baths, but having limited fresh produce is a big negative for me.

 

[TexasWoman]

[font=Roboto, Arial, sans-serif]Bob  made a great video on YT about keeping a car cool.[/font]
[font=Roboto, Arial, sans-serif]Do a search for "Survival/Space Blanket super cheap way to cool a Van or RV"[/font]

[font=Roboto, Arial, sans-serif]I ordered the space blanket and domino magnets and will test it on my car[/font]

[font=Roboto, Arial, sans-serif]It would definitely help keep food longer to keep the car cool.[/font]
[font=Roboto, Arial, sans-serif]But an ice chest of some sort is a must if you do not have a solar set up.[/font]

[font=Roboto, Arial, sans-serif]I am just a part time car camper ... testing the waters .. learning more about Chevy Express vans so will know what I'm doing when I buy one.[/font]

[font=Roboto, Arial, sans-serif]But until then car camping gives me a taste of the life.  [/font]

[font=Roboto, Arial, sans-serif]Food is a big issue ...[/font]

[font=Roboto, Arial, sans-serif]TexasWoman[/font]
[font=Roboto, Arial, sans-serif] :heart: :heart: :heart:
[/font]

 

[QinReno]

This is one of the harder things for me.  I don't mind pooping in a bucket or cleaning mostly via sponge baths, but having limited fresh produce is a big negative for me.

Same thing for me. As 100W of solar satisfies most of my needs, I use a small cooler with ice. It will keep sliced meat and cheese good for 3 days or so, then the ice is melted. So, dry food after that. I buy small and "firm" Roma tomatoes, and they keep fine for quite a few days in the side pocket of the cooler (I use a hard-sided cooler inside one of those soft-sided coolers, with ice in both compartments). However, no room for bread which will get mouldy. And bananas go bad fast.

Also, I especially like sliced green and red peppers in my meals, but they don't last well once they are sliced. Buying one of those $2400 dry-freeze devices is out of the question, but I was wondering about those "dehydrators" that sell for $50 or so. Does anyone know if they will do do a decent job with say: bananas, tomatoes, green peppers, red peppers?

 

[Dingfelder]

A number of people at the gardening forums I've frequented were very positive on regular dehydrators. Peppers of course have been dried for ages in all sorts of ways, including simply sun-drying them, and I remember specifically a lady who used her dehydrator extensively saying they worked very well for tomatoes, and that that's how she saved her sauce-type tomatoes (roma, marzano) for making pasta sauce, rather than the usual canning. Took up much less space and little concern about them going bad..

The cheapest ones aren't always the best, though. Some of the trays are small and working with circles isn't always easy. The one I saw repeatedly recommended most highly and with fewest complaints or negatives, in various forums and online reviews,was the Excalibur, which goes for around 200 bucks and up. For people who took up dehydrating and stuck to it, including ones that I've spoken with personally, the Excalibur was an investment worth making.

If you have the space, there are many versions of home-built and commercially-built sun-dryers, too. That may be easier for nomads, depending on their electric situation. Dehydrators need to be on for hours at a time.

There are also people who dehydrate in their ovens, or even microwaves, but that's a different story and you're back to talking about high energy needs.

Also, some of them are popularly noted for being quite loud. That may be a problem for you if you want to be sleeping in a small space as they go on drying all night.

 

[QinReno]

There are also people who dehydrate in their ovens, or even microwaves, but that's a different story and you're back to talking about high energy needs.

Also, some of them are popularly noted for being quite loud.  That may be a problem for you if you want to be sleeping in a small space as they go on drying all night.

As I have an apartment for a homebase for trips, I probably wouldn't use it while on the road. As far as ovens go, the dehydrators apparently require a constant air flow, and an oven would need to be jury-rigged for that.

Even the cheap Excalibur looks huge for my purposes, but this whole thing is definitely something to investigate. Got to have my red peppers when on the road, and dried bananas would also be nice, .
https://www.amazon.com/Excalibur-3900B-Dehydrator-Temperature-Dehydration/dp/B004Z915M4

 

[wasanah2]

A number of people at the gardening forums I've frequented were very positive on regular dehydrators.  Peppers of course have been dried for ages in all sorts of ways, including simply sun-drying them, and I remember specifically a lady who used her dehydrator extensively saying they worked very well for tomatoes, and that that's how she saved her sauce-type tomatoes (roma, marzano) for making pasta sauce, rather than the usual canning.  Took up much less space and little concern about them going bad..

One thing I noticed.  Freeze dried food doesn't take up less space than fresh.  The cells are left open with air, which means when rehydrating it can look nearer to the fresh article.  However, the dried food shrinks because the cells collapse.  They rehydrate, but not to the cell size of when it was fresh.  So freeze dried might be important for some things and not for others.  I would think tomatoes that are going into a sauce don't have to retain a cell structure.  Also my dried blackberries, when rehydrated, don't look the same as freeze dried, but I think the dried ones taste better.  All in all, I'm not impressed with freeze drying, at least for my uses.  And the dehydrated takes up less space.  I just don't want to taste that metal taste from freeze dried cans any more.  That is simply foul and a big waste of money. 

I think TW has it better putting things in mylar bags, but I eat stuff up fast enough to put stuff in ziplocks.  I'm not storing stuff for Y3K, just trying to keep from going to the store as much.

 

[Dingfelder]

Carrying around some mylar bags sure sounds a lot less heavy and bulky than mason jars!

I like the idea of being able to save excess food from a harvest or just a sale at the store, one way or another. If you can do it taking up less space, so much the better. And for nomads or even stationary trailer living, weight can be a big problem that it seems dehydrating might help quite a bit with.

I think it's pretty interesting that you can even dehydrate some of the heaviest, bulkiest things, like soups and sauces! Pasta sauce, for instance, is a big offender.