10 Ways to Use Freeze-Dried Meats (plus a SALE)

A while back we did a big post all about how you can incorporate meats into your food storage, ranging from canning your own to purchasing freeze-dried and everything in between. Today we want to focus specifically on Freeze-Dried Meats since people tend to be unfamiliar with them and don’t really know how to use them. They are one of our FAVORITE storage foods since they can really add a lot to any meal. Below we’ve listed 6 ways you can use freeze-dried meats, as well as 4 of our favorite recipes to try them in. Enjoy!

6 Ways to Use Freeze Dried Meats

Toss it In
Any type of soup, stew, or sauce is liquid enough to reconstitute your meats within a few minutes. No need to hydrate them first. It is so easy and can add bulk and calories to any meal. No chopping, thawing, cooking, etc. required.

Bulk it Up
Many just-add-water meals tend to be vegetarian in order to keep the price down. There are a lot of bean and rice meals, soups, etc. that hover around 200-300 calories per serving. If you have a lot of those type of meals in your storage, adding some freeze-dried meat can be a great supplement. You would want to rehydrate them in hot water, and then add them in just as your meal is almost finished cooking.

Wrap It
Don’t have time to prepare some chicken for a quick enchilada or quesadilla? No problem! Add freeze-dried chicken and you can add some protein to your mexican dish in about 5 minutes. Dinner is fast and easy and you are practicing with (and rotating) your food storage.

Top It
One of our favorite food storage meals to make is pizza (who will be sad in an emergency if you can eat pizza???) Freeze-dried chicken, beef, or sausage are all great pizza toppings to add some variety to your pizza.

Extend it
If you are running short on meat in your freezer/fridge, or you are worried about trying things with JUST freeze-dried meat, it is so easy to mix it half and half. I love to do half a pound of hamburger and throw in some freeze-dried ground beef that I already reconstituted while it fries up. It can be used for tacos, sloppy joes, etc. and no one will even know it wasn’t 100% fresh meat.

Eat it Dry
Ok this may sound a little odd but hear me out, freeze-dried sausage crumbles dry can be delicious as a crunchy topping for a salad. Think bacon bits but BETTER.