Create shelf-stable storage of ground beef for camping and hiking trips, meals in a jar, or just to have some on hand for quick meals. You can do all of this without a pressure canner or freeze dryer!
Cook beef until well done over medium high heat in your skillet or frying pan of choice. You can season the meat with salt and pepper, garlic, onion powder or other seasonings if you prefer. I find it makes a better end result.
Drain beef in a colander over a bowl or stockpot. This helps drain any residual fat and moisture from the beef.
Place the beef onto paper towels, old tea towels, or newspapers (most newspapers use non-petroleum inks now) to remove excess fat.
Weight meat on a scale to get an indication of what one serving size or what one pound of beef weighs once cooked.
Place the meat onto dehydrator trays. I find using a fine-mesh sheet like these from Kispog work best to contain the small pieces of meat.
Dry at 145°F/60°C or above for 4-10 hours. You aren't trying to preserve nutrients at this point, so bumping up the temperature will help this go a little faster.
If necessary, pat the beef while in the dehydrator to remove any excess fat that is released.
Test for dryness (crumble easily with no obvious moisture). These will be like little hamburger pellets or crumbles.
Weigh the ground beef portion from step 4 again to get the weight after drying. The difference is what you'll want to use for reconstituting the dried ground beef. Make a notation of this in your dehydrating journal to have ready when you're rehydrating.
Oven Instructions
Prepare meat as above.
Place cooked, drained ground beef onto parchment paper-lined baking sheets.
Allow to dry in a 170°/72°C oven (or as low as it can go, but keep a careful eye) for 3-5 hours or untl dry and crumbly.
Pat away any fat that comes to the surface with paper towels occasionally.
Store in an airtight container for up to two years (but the freezer is the most optimal space).
Mix gently until well combined, but not longer. You don't want to overwork the beef.
Cook as normal and follow dehydrating instructions above.
Video
Notes
Storage:
Store in an airtight container - canning jar, vacuum seal bag, or mylar bag with an O2 absorber if you wish.While shelf-stable storage of dried ground beef is possible, the optimal storage is in the freezer until auch time as you need it for short-term hiking/camping trips or meals in a jar. You may get a few months; you may get a year. You'll get longer the leaner the meat is to start with.
Rehydrating Dried Ground Beef
There are two basic ways to rehydrate dried ground beef.
Toss a serving size into your soup or stew and allow it to rehydrate in the long simmering process.
Rehydrate in hot water or broth and steep for about 15 minutes. Placing a cover over an open bowl will help keep heat in.
Darcy's Tips
Use as lean of ground beef as you can find. 90/10 or 93/10 is preferred.
Use broth, whenever possible, to rehydrate the meat. This adds to the flavor of what many people don't like about reconstituted ground beef.
Season your meat when cooking. When cooking, you season the layers of all your food and do it for your meat before dehydrating it.
If you can get minced meat, it has a less crumbly texture than ground beef.
Don't rinse the cooked beef in your sink. Even using hot water, fats cool pretty quickly in the drain and add to any build-up, giving you a hefty plumbing bill.