NOT mixed berries or peaches - they need to dehydrate in an elevated colander stuck in a BIG bowl at least 18 hours

***This should have said DRAIN, not DEHYDRATE
The ones I buy are wicked juicy and will overflow even if you stick waxed paper under them. In a bowl, you save the juices to reduce down or add tapioca to for a pancake topping, or you can pour them off into tupperware in the freezer, then make peach or mixed-berry or mixed fruit jelly out of them.

I do the same with canned fruit if I don't use all the juice from them, and with the MRE T-rat trays of blueberries.

I knew you were the one who could help me fix my mix! (thank God for printers so I dont have to write all that down). I usually add mushrooms to everything so I'm gonna miss them 😀 ....gotta admit that they turn to powder often when packing the tube around anyways.

I got another mix you can fix too!

I'm gonna let you in on a secret...I'm really lazy! I look for shortcuts to everything, especially cooking. Cloudy scared the kids off my cooking at an early age (to them) and I let them run with it. But I have to make my own breakfast as wife leaves early. So if there are no leftover scraps to chew on, I have to put forth an effort. I like omelets but can't stand the mess involved in making a loaded one. So every once in a while I make a liter sized container of premix to sprinkle on. The contents are:

Knuckle's Shaker (Ancient secret recipe)

1/ Red, Yellow & green bell peppers -(dehydrated, but 1st chopped into 1/4" pieces or smaller)
2/ Onion -(dehydrated, but 1st chopped into 1/4" pieces or smaller)
3/ Mushrooms(dehydrated, but 1st chopped into 1/2" pieces or smaller)
4/ Parsley - piles of it
5/ at least 1 packet of onion soup mix
6/ bacon bits (the real kind if made near pay day)

note: likely by now you've noticed the lack of measurement. There aren't any. I'm a guy!

I have added various other quantities of things to this mix over the years but these ingredients usually are the base items. I once added Kraft cheese powder from a box of KD (to which I never heard the end of). I thought it was good..sorta, but then I'm known to ingest most things.

Cloudy (wife) has made various comments about my mixes (over the centuries)but I am observant that she often partakes of their contents and think I don't notice. One of the many secrets of a survivalist is to keep quiet about such things...and so I still live!

That one looks pretty darn tasty, bossman.
I like tomatoes in pretty much everything. Dehydrated tomatoes taste more like sun dried (not my fav) so it's worth FD to me, for emergencies, but I do diced chunks, too, out of cans (need strained while everything cooks).
I'm also a big, big black pepper fan.

You can either cook and freeze extra bacon (or sausage, or ham) in little piles on a cookie sheet, or between layers of waxed paper, then stack them and pull out just what you want in either crumbles or micro-sized slices and links. You can also get somewhat lower-cost TVP/soy sausage crumbles to add to a different shaker and pizazz up spuds, eggs or grits.

You can do basically the same mix (+ or - maters) you have listed over grits, too, with sausage of any kind or shrimp (or beans) and just fry an egg to toss on top (breakfast, lunch or dinner, mmm).
It's almost a super-pizazzed topping for an English muffin sammich, too ('cept for the mushrooms, but the mushrooms are a good idea and I will make some for Mister Goat Palate).
+/- the bacon and onion soup, + basil, marjoram oregano and garlic, it would be a great way to jazz up diced tomatoes or pureed tomatoes into a pasta sauce/tosser.
We (and by we, I meant everybody but me) like greens in eggs, too. Spinach, malabar, strawberry spinach, purslane, and docks all add one element or another.

If you really want to be lazy, get yourself some little custard dishes, whip your eggs, spray the dishes, mix in the rehydrated shaker stuff, and bake them (or steam them in a tray with water) and you'll get a sammich-sized wafer of goodness or a cute little round to stick under salsa and on top of fried grits. Double-mmm.

Old Bay/Zatarans here, thyme there, bit of sage and marjoram, it's pretty versatile.
You can also roast your peppers before dehydrating them for that extra punch.

I get "that" look when he sees some stuff getting dehydrated sometimes. And then he eats it. I feel you there.
Of course, I give him the same look when I hear about major electrical projects and HAM radio mentioned in conjunction with my pickup (my truck only needs the holes it came with) so it balances out.

I've been using a blended herb mix in my rice and other foods .

Herbs de Provence : contains : thyme , savory, rosemary, marjarom, lavendar ,oregano
The blend is nice.

I also bought a Greek herb mix, but it has dried onions in it and onions do not agree with me, so
I try to avoid , unless they are big enough to pick out of the stew.

So there might be some herb blends you could mix up or buy like I did, and have handy.
Thereby not having to keep piles of different herbs, and the mix you have will get used up
faster and thus be fresher.

I've been using a blended herb mix in my rice and other foods .

Herbs de Provence : contains : thyme , savory, rosemary, marjarom, lavendar ,oregano
The blend is nice.

That sounds good too (but I can't see me remembering that next time I make it to a city). I often throw a little extra something in but can't remember what it was even if I did like it 😆 (old age is the excuse I use nowadays). Took me forever to remember how to make a killer tartar sauce..

oh ya..another secret recipe (passed down 42 1/2 generations....or not)

MOM"S TARTAR SAUCE

1/ Mayonnaise - (store bought or home made... I prefer Miracle Whip)
2/ Relish - (store bought or home made...but no ketchup, ya hear?)
3/ Dill - (yup, the spice)

Directions:
Put mayo in a dish.( to make a big batch , put more mayo in the dish)
Add relish until it looks "Pretty Good"(then stop).
Now add Dill till you think it's almost too much (then stop).
Your done!

Try this once and you'll never by that expensive store crap again! ( thanks Mom)!

This is the only thing you put on Pickerel (that's Walleye to you Yank's)! Anything else is considered a sin in God's eyes(really...ok, most likely)!

Hey, peeps,
I'm sure some/many/these exact lists have popped up before. I ran across them and it jarred my memory of the conversation here.

Here's a compilation of a BUNCH of self-made starter recipes (onion soup mix, cream soup base), main recipes and soups, side dishes, bread mixes, and things like dressing mix, shake-n-bake, endless cakes and desserts and icings:
http://www.savebiglivebetter.com/2013/04/472-easy-meals-in-a-jar-recipes.html
Some are more geared to making gifts or just cutting time, some are geared toward home growing and dehydrating with the "faux/just-like" themes for taste or the ease of just-add-water.

This one
http://rainydayfoodstorage.blogspot.co.uk/p/meals-in-jar-recipes.html
is very much geared toward food storage. I would not bust into my #10 cans to stick the ingredients into clear glass jars just to make things faster, but they do have some applications as either meatless versions, versions put together from homemade ingredients, "ready to add to meat" versions, and she pretty much always mixes up the spice mixes she talks about after the main ingredient list. That's something that could easily be done with common bulk-purchased herbs or home-dried herbs, to have ready or to add to things on a trail.
Somewhere near the bottom she also starts mixing up cleaning supplies, and then it goes to "regular" recipes.

This one is geared to getting away from the fillers and chemicals in a lot of the spice packets I tell everybody to buy to make their beans and rice, lentils and wheat, and barley and beans taste better:
http://www.keeperofthehome.org/2013/02/17-homemade-spice-mixes.html
Like the others, it includes things like powdered milk, corn starch, and others that don't really have a replacement (and I don't really have to be told how to make cinnamon sugar for buttered toast) but it's got some pretty good "just like" and starter mixes for tacos and sloppy joe's and others. It's also got stuff like harvest spice blend, sausage seasonings, and a couple of allspice alternatives (for where the climate isn't ideal for a nice, native MidAtlantic spicebush tree).
🙂

Knuckle,
If you want to add a different twist to your white fish, add in some basil (I like fresh and sliced into ribbons, but dry works - let it sit a bit) and halved cherrygrape tomatoes. Both can also be added to regular tartar sauce from the store or a homemade-homemade tartar sauce.
I like it with 1:1 tomatoes and sauce, and about 1 tsp fresh or jarred/1 TBsp dry basil to about 1/2 cup of tartar sauce. Black pepper is always welcome in my world.
Boy Toy will also stick it on leftover pork slices if he's not watched closely and stick the whole kaboodle on a bun, but then, he also eats pickles on his chicken sandwiches.
-P

Knuckle,

Boy Toy will also stick it on leftover pork slices if he's not watched closely and stick the whole kaboodle on a bun, but then, he also eats pickles on his chicken sandwiches.
-P

😀 You sure you ain't a biker chick cause you talks like one? 😆 😆 I ain't heard "Boy Toy" since I left the city! (and I can't repeat what we called the ladies....)

I kind of set in my ways and that is mostly the case when I eat white fish. If I'm doing the fish cleaning and cooking, them and trout hit the smoker! Then they become snack food when others visit as I lay full fillets on the table and we just pick it off the skin. Throw in some pickled eggs and I can drop a big woman with one breath! (while her hubby is pigging out on them too). I usually just go for the pickerel though as you can be choosey where I live!

You sure you ain't a biker chick cause you talks like one?

Just an old once-a-jarhead.

This one
http://rainydayfoodstorage.blogspot.co.uk/p/meals-in-jar-recipes.html
i
-P

Did you check out the instant cheese soup?? Ewwww 🙂

This one
http://rainydayfoodstorage.blogspot.co.uk/p/meals-in-jar-recipes.html
i
-P

Did you check out the instant cheese soup?? Ewwww 🙂

Do you eat Bear Creek or Campbells?
http://www.foodfacts.com/NutritionFacts/Other/Bear-Creek-Cheddar-Broccoli-Soup-Mix-112-oz/16930
http://www.foodfacts.com/NutritionFacts/Cheddar/Campbells-Condensed-Cheddar-Cheese-Soup-1075-oz/10341
Velveeta?
Lay's cheese sauce?
Or cheez-its? Spam? Pop-Tarts? MREs? Store-bought general brand sliced bread?

No, I haven't made that particular recipe, but I've used similar for high-energy, high-fat camping meals.

I've been using a blended herb mix in my rice and other foods .

Herbs de Provence : contains : thyme , savory, rosemary, marjarom, lavendar ,oregano
The blend is nice.

That sounds good too (but I can't see me remembering that next time I make it to a city).

While out at Bulk Barn, they had some of this Herb de Provence ... I sniffed it and it is
way not nice like the stuff I got.

I ordered mine online from here.
http://www.silkroadspices.ca/products/herbes-de-provence

Here is a nice blend, could use it on everything
http://www.silkroadspices.ca/products/silk-road-all-purpose-blend

I will say this online site has high quality spices , they have alot of other blends and you
can get lost on this site.

We have tried freeze dried strawberries, the kid's (in particular) loved them! We put them on breakfast cereal most of the time.

We have been using some of our dehydrated onions lately. The most recent thing I used them in was homemade meatloaf. I've also used them on hot dogs and mixed into other meals. They are quite good. With the meat loaf I soaked them in water for a little over 10 minutes and then mixed them in with the meat and let them cook with the mixture ( I didn't soak them for as long as the can said, as I figured the grease and juices from cooking the meat would take them the rest of the way).

My hubby and I recently bought our first MRE as he is thinking on taking some camping with him and eventually for food storage. We opened one to try out and had a really good experience with it. We split it in half, it was a vegetarian chilli with beans. It had liquid chilli, four sugar cookies, pink lemonade powder, two crackers, a bag of trail mix and then some seasonings, it tasted much better than we had expected!

Heya amaryllis,

My wife dehydrates EVERYTHING. She also makes her own version of MREs and 'Meals in a Jar'. We just spent a week in the Kootanays with a group, and became guinea pigs to the new recipes (luckily we had Mountain House, Backpackers Pantry, and Alpineaire MREs to fall back on should there be a catastrophic taste failure. Surprisingly, her dehydrated foods were par excellent. Ova Easy eggs were a real treat. She tried her version, and we compared them both. The general concensus was to just buy the Ova Easy and save a lot of prep time, since dehydrating eggs tends to be a lot of work. MREs have come a long long way and so has the taste. What puzzled us was the suggested portions, on the purchased MREs. They will state that it is for two people, but if you are hiking all day, you really don't want to share half.

I got my wife this book a while back and she has been making and modifying the recipes, but instead of putting them in a jar, she vacuum seals them in mylar bags. Keeps the bulk down, and you only have to cut open the one end and add hot water like store purchased MREs.

http://www.amazon.ca/Meals-Jar-Just-Add-Water-Homemade-Recipes/dp/1612431631

Sure beats eating jerky and grass clippings.

Took the advice and broke out my Thrive pantry cans:-
Garden peas - excellent
Sour cream powder - decidedly strange! Slightly cheesy flavour and more like a light whip than a cream.
Red n green bell peppers - awesome
Leeks - again awesome (bulk barn)

Most are freeze dried but some are dehydrated.

I had some left over KD from the kiddies snack and mixed it with the Thrive Sour cream, red n green peppers and leeks. Made a fairly decent Mac pasta salad for BBQ time.

Kids love the freeze dried pineapple and vanilla yogurt bites.

This is all good! If it taste good when your at home, it'll taste fantastic when your outdoors! Things I make camping often get kiboshed by the wife and kids when I try them as a regular meal. I have often contemplated this and concluded that we work up a better appetite outdoors, or maybe being surrounded by the smells of nature add to the pallet, but somehow things always taste better outdoors.