DentonDoc was telling me about using dehydrated chicken for lunches.  This has gotten the wheels spinning in my head a bit.

Anyone ever dehydrate  their own chicken?  If so:

What type of chicken did you start with?

How did you do it (dehydrator, oven, or other)?

What setting did you use on the above appliance?

How did the chicken rehydrate (hot or cold water, how long)?

How would you rate the quality of the end product?

What sorts of meals do you use it in?

Thanks to any and all who can help me out with this!

Yep.  I take dehydrated chicken for lunches (and sometimes add it to dinner dishes).  I use a dehydrator set to 155 degrees and the process is amazingly short compared to other products I dehydrate.  Eliminate as much water as possible before you begin.

For lunch, I dehydrate the canned chicken (which Bannock correctly indicated, is already cooked).  Make sure the pieces of chicken are well separated and spreadout before you begin.  The chunkier the pieces, the longer the amount of time it takes. 

I package each portion in a separate snack-sized baggie.  When ready to prepare, I add maybe a tablespoon of water (maybe a touch more) to the baggie and let it set from 30 minutes to an hour (usually while I continue to fish).  Time is a little shorter if you if you kneed the bag a little.  When re-hydrated, I add a packet of Mayo, a packet of pickle relish, kneed a bit and viola . . . chicken salad.  I place this on crackers, tortillas or pita bread.  Its light, packable and tasty.  All the left over mess (mayo and relish packet) go back in the baggie for future disposal.

The quality is not quite as good as out of the can, but relatively close . . . so long as you don't rush it and make sure all the chicken is re-hydrated.  The fact that it was ever dehydrated is nearly unnoticable if you use it in a cooked disk (I sometimes use it with chicken and rice dishes).

dd

1.  I start with boneless chicken breasts (because I
     am lazy).
2.  Then I cube it (usually small 1/2 to 1 inch pieces).
     It's a lot easier to cube if the meat is partially
     frozen. Remove as much fat as you can.
3.  Add spices (I use salt, garlic, and red pepper).
4.  Nuke the cubes until fully cooked (turn and move
     the pieces around a few times to be sure all of it
     gets thoroughly cooked). Pat the pieces dry with
     paper towel (to remove as much fat as possible).
5.  Dry the chicken in a dehydrator set to a relatively
     high heat setting (135 - 140 F). I prefer meats to
     be really dry (crunchy not jerky).
6.  Place in sealed bags marked "Chicken", the
     pre-cooked weight, and the packing date.
7.  Store in the freezer until the trip(s).

I use the same approach (more or less) for other meats
(turkey, lean beef, lean pork). It's tough to get
pork that is as lean as I would like, so after I pat
the cubes dry with a paper towel after cooking, I then
pick only lean pieces for packing (and eat the fatty
"culls" on the spot). I prefer the cubed chunks to
"hamburger" or shredded meat. Some meats (ham, tuna,
salmon, shrimp, scallops, clams) are usually pre-cooked
and only need to be spiced, dried, and packed.

The spiced stuff can be eaten as is as an excellent
snack, but I use it mainly for dishes like jambalaya,
gumbo, (fill in the blank) creole, goulash, or chili.
You can get boxes at the grocery that have the rice
(or pasta) and spices and only need water, meat, and
(sometimes) tomato sauce (dried) or milk to be added.
When used in those dishes, I can't tell the difference
between fresh or dehydrated chicken.

I carry a few lightweight clean plastic jars (from
peanut butter or red hots) and put the night's meal
in them and add water to start rehydrating a few
hours before the meal. Some hard to restore items
(corn, peas) get put in the jars at lunch time.

FWIW, I take plenty of shrimp creole on ALL of my
trips.

-aj

I also dehydrate chicken in a dehydrator at 140 degrees. In past years I've dehydrated canned, fresh cooked chicken breast, rice dishes with the chicken already cooked in (one pot meals) and use the foil packages when I don't have time to dehydrate. Heres a tip! go to the deli dept at the local food store and have them slice cooked chicken breast as if for sandwiches but thicker. All the pieces are sliced uniformly which aides in the dehydration process and the rehydrating process.
After lunch I will put the chicken a wide mouth nalgene bottle with water and let it rehydrate till it's time for dinner then just add it to what ever recipe that I'm preparing. Most deli chicken by the way has less than 1 gram of fat per 2 oz. serving, very lean. Boarshead has a hickory smoked chicken which is out of this world when used in chicken salad.

flp