I'm just wondering if this might work as meal substitutes. I notice there are several sorts out there, usually made from meat and berries. I'm going to be traveling for a week next month, so I figured I might buy a box of them.

Expensive though! And they only seem to come in 1 oz packages. Ouch! I'll probably have to have 3 of them just to make a semi-meal.

Has anyone made their own meat bars or jerky? I do have a dehydrator!

I've tried Epic Bison/Cranberry Bars, and they are an acquired taste. I'm not a fan of cranberry, but the bison really needs something to go with it. I had trouble eating a full bar, let alone three at one sitting!

Haven't tried making jerky in our dehydrator yet. That comes after the peanut butter dog cookies. And before anyone asks, they don't contain dogs, they are meant for dogs.

LOL! I knew instantly you meant treats for the dogs.

I had a Tanka, or something like that, bar yesterday. It was good. Kind of sweet, cranberry, and peppery too.

Those Epic bars are a bit bigger. 1.5 oz. Maybe that would be a better choice.

Here's a recipe for paleo beef jerky using ground meat. Maybe I will give that a shot.

http://wellnessmama.com/2201/ground-beef-jerky/

After trying the Epic bars (they're not bad, and one bar is pretty filling) I figured out how to make my own. In my dehydrator book there is mention of making jerky with ground meat, which is essntially what an Epic bar is. I got some lean ground beef (other meat would work as well, but it should, in this instance, be as lean as possible; fat doesn't dehydrate). I just followed the ingredients list on the package, and added things in to taste. I used blueberries, as it was blueberry season; chopped them up coarsely, and put them in the dehydrator for awhile so they weren't so juicy, and then mixed them in with the meat. I spread the meat out on the "fruit roll up" trays for the dehydrator at first (it gets caught in the mesh if spread directly on the trays) and pressed it out to about 1/4". I scored the meat to make it easier to break into pieces once it was dry. I don't remember how long I let it dry. When it was no longer tacky I put the pieces onto the mesh trays so both sides were exposed to the drying.
They weren't bad. The texture was somewhat different from the Epic bar, and the flavor was better in my opinion. The first time I did it I kept the pieces in a lidded jar, and they were fine - though I also ate them fairly quickly, over the course of a few days. The second time I think I didn't make them thin enough, and they didn't dry sufficiently, because they molded in the jar. That rather turned me off so I haven't made them again. If I do I will make sure to make them thinner, and will probably keep the jar in the refrigerator - though the pieces are perfectly portable, and I wouldn't worry at all about keeping them cold if I were, for example, taling them along on a hike or a car journey. Only for longer type storage.

Ah, good! The parchment idea is very good. I did get a tightly woven mesh screen for my dehydrator. That might work. I've also got loads of cranberries in the freezer.

I just ordered the bison Epic bars (imported from the States for an exorbitant fee, but I figure they are really for Emergencies & to keep me on track would be worth it...)

I'm going to look into the ground beef dehydrator options, because I have access to excellent (and low fat) ground beef & yeah, maybe I could make my own... My dehydrator doesn't have fruit roll up trays so I'll need to play around a bit with how it might work... Might even try to grab a bit of my ground meat tonight & try a test area while I make the kids apple rings...

ParisMama - you can tape a piece of wax or parchment paper onto the regular dehydrator sheets to cover up the holes in the mesh. In a pinch I would think that even plain white writing paper would work, if what you are drying isn't too liquid to begin with. The meat should work with that, juicy fruit puree not so well LOL.

How about bringing some of those foil/plastic packets of tuna and salmon that are sold in the canned fish department of the supermarket? There are smoked oysters too. Remember to bring a fork.

The last time I was on netrition I noticed these:

http://www6.netrition.com/nicks_sti...ack_sticks.html

You can eat out, can't you?

I got a free Tanka bar from REI once; it was yummy.

Oooh! Those look good, Alli! I'm going to try them.

Report back to tell us how they taste.

They're about $21 per pound which isn't too bad, considering that they're grass-fed and dehydrated. If you bought enough grass-fed fresh meat to make them it wouldn't cost much less.

Oh, they come in turkey too.

I just submitted an order. Stuck some quest bars on there too.

Quest bars are gone from my menu forever. Evil things. They're not LC despite claims.

The EPIC bars I tried: Turkey (vomitous) and Buffalo (pretty good).

I've got some jerky to try next. I ordered the ones Allison recommended.

I finally made jerky! I bought 4 pounds of ground turkey at Costco and I finally got around to turning one pound of it into jerky. Had no idea what I was doing, but it came out pretty good!

I think I will buy a jerky gun. ;-)

I agree. I've said several times before that I ate 1000 kcal from Quest bars only for 3 days and I gained weight every day. How can I gain from 1000 kcal a day? Something's not right here. If the calories are correct, it must be sugar or something else insulinogenic. Or maybe the calories are wrong. Or both.