Dried vs Fresh. Sure it's paleo but is it really all that healthy?

[surfsteve]

When I first went from 50 percent raw to virtually 100 percent I felt really good. But then I started drying meat and making jerky and I feel as if I've taken a step backwards from eating fresh raw meat and making raw meat smoothies.

Most of what I find on the internet suggests that I am wrong and that dried food is healthy but nobody is really comparing it to fresh food. Just to cooked foods. But my instincts are telling me different. It's hard to know when to trust your instincts and when they have been perverted.

Yesterday I got through slicing up 4 pounds of beef and marinading it to make jerky. I could tell I made too much and it wasn't all going to fit in the dehydrator so I began popping pieces into my mouth and eating them raw. They tasted really good so I filled up on them as I was thinking how much better they were then after they were all dried out. Then I started loading a tray and put it in my dehydrator. I turned it on and about 30 seconds later the machine made a few weird beeps and died never to work again. Maybe someone was trying to tell me something. Here I am with nearly 4 pounds of raw beef and no dehydrator. Ok it's probably less than 3 pounds now since I finished writing this post!

[dariorpl]

Like I said in the other post, you can use a fan to easily dehydrate your beef. But in any case, no, I don't think anyone seriously believes that dehydrated foods have the same nutritional value as fresh. However, dehydrated foods are convenient, easy to store for long periods (especially if you're into prepping), or to carry with you on trips where you know you will have access to fresh water, but not much else.

[surfsteve]

I wasn't thinking about them for preserving so much as I was thinking that it might be good to have the dehydrator around for when I'm craving something cooked or junk food and hamburger jerky reminds me of a cross between potato chips and cooked meat! I suppose that should tell me right there that it's no where near as good as fresh raw food but I suppose it's better than hamburgers and chips.

On a scale of salads and raw organ meats being a 1 and a burned steak and potato chips being 100 I used to think that dried food was a 25 but maybe it's really closer to 75. What are your thoughts guys?

I still have quite a few canned sardines. I could go for some fatty ground beef heart jerky about now. I think I'll feast on some steak tar tare and see how well it hit's the spot. I'm thinking it's OK to eat dried foods as long as I look at it as a transition to healthy raw and an occasional treat but not something I want to be doing all the time for long term.

If society does degenerate to the point my freezer goes out my electric jerky maker will also be useless and I'll have no choice but to cut everything up and dry it outside; flies be damned!

[dariorpl]

If they will keep you from consuming less healthy options, definitely go for it.

[surfsteve]

Sounds like good advise. I think I want a dehydrator to keep around for when I crave junk food. I guess I was right all along though and my craving for dehydrated food turned out to be a passing fad that I had somehow gotten caught up in.

I been eating away at the 4 pounds of fresh meat I cut up for the dehydrator and it will probably be gone by tomorrow. I have some dehydrated liver in the fridge that I seemed to have lost my taste for and went back to making liver smoothies. Guess it will keep for a while...