I have some home made thick lentil soup that I would like to dehydrate and would like to know what to look for when it's done Is it like a leather? Do I bag it like that or would it be better to put it in a blender and turn it into a powder. I like the texture of lentils, but backpacking I know some things are more about the flavor and calories.

It depends on the soup. Lentil soup often dries a little more "powdery" than leather and can't be picked up the way spaghetti sauce or fruit rolls can be. It rehydrates quickly without having to pulverize it, but either way works. It's one of my favorite things to dry.

I dehydrated a bean soup. Let it simmer for a while to thicken, pureed it in a blender, poured it on parchment paper in the dehydrator. It is just like a powder if you crushed the result. Yes, all about flavor and calories.

I see two lentil soups at the local middle eastern restaurants -- whole and crushed. I think the crushed would dehydrate really well.

Bring some pita and enjoy.

I am getting ready for a trip and was trying to put some things together and discovered the soup in the freezer. I might blend it up first and then dehydrate. It should be pretty good for a cool evening in the Adirondacks.

Thanks!

My dehydrator has a disc (solid plastic) for fruit roll-ups. I separate the lentils from the liquid portion with a strainer and dehydrate separately. The liquid on the fruit roll up tray, then peel off and blend it into powder.

Not sure if this is just a lot of extra work, but works well. Tastes the same as fresh...well fresh out of a can. I use Amy's Organic Lentil Soup.

The lentils dry really quick, so I usually use the lower settings.

I add instant rice and ground beef to it to make a hearty breakfast. Sure beats oatmeal.

I separate things sometimes too but don't normally with lentil soup—I just might do that next time. We eat a lot of lentils around here and many different varieties. I also make a lentil salad for the trail and the lentils remain intact in that one (probably because I use canned lentils for that and I cook lentils when making soup). It's one of my favorite salads because I don't have to break out a stove to have it.

Now you all have me craving lentil soup... I might have to make some soon (even if it is summer).

As long as everything in the soup is about the same size you shouldn't have any issues in drying it quickly. If it is a really thick lentil soup I use parchment paper lined trays.
Lentils are pretty fail-proof IMO.

It's making me hungry as well! I ended up using a hand blender and it still has some texture to it, so that's good. It wasn't as thick as I had thought so I added a bit of potato starch and it's now dehydrating at 145 degrees. I like having soup for breakfast sometimes. I'm not a big morning eater, so this might do the trick!

I now am going to try dehydrating rice, but I'm not sure how well it rehydrates back.

I love drying my own rice! Basmati and Jasmine both work well. So does bamboo rice :-) Yum! And it rehydrates nicely, 1:1 ratio of water/rice.

The soup came out great!!

Rice is on..I used Jasmati. : )

Dehydrating rice! I admire your tenacity.

I just bring the 10 minute boil in bag brown rice and let it rehydrated with the soup. It does add texture.

The rice will be a main dish for me. I don't care much for rice in the first place, but when I do eat it, I prefer the rices other than minute. I will bring enough to add to soup and also for breakfast or a main meal. I can add all sorts of things to the rice. I'm not going anywhere once in camp, so if it sits for 10 minutes, so be it. I usually have a quick Cup o Soup before meals and just after I set up my tent. It increases my appetite and relaxes me before the chores of getting water,and all that.
Yes, I can be tenacious. : )

I cooked up and dehydrated some basmati rice this weekend for an upcoming trip. I hadn't done this before so I rehydrated some of it for lunch yesterday for a taste test. It tasted and looked almost the same as before it was dried. I plan on serving this with some masoor dal (red lentils) that I made and dehydrated.

Dehydrating the rice was super easy and will be added to my staple of menu items.