When it comes to storing meat for your long term food storage you have a few options:  canned meat like tuna or chicken will last a few years, frozen meat will only last as long as you have power to keep it frozen, dehydrated meat like jerky, or freeze dried meat.  There are other ways to store meat of course but these are the most common and since dehydrated and freeze dried meat typically last the longest we are going to concentrate on these. The main differences between dehydrated and freeze dried meat are the size/weight, the taste, and the cost.

Since dehydrating removes 98% of water from the meat the size and weight are reduced significantly and are less than with freeze dried meat, however freeze drying meat does removes most of the water as well but this process leaves the food looking the same and not reducing the size by much.  Since freeze dried meat is very moisture sensitive it will rehydrate much faster than dehydrated meat, in fact most backpackers who take freeze dried meat with them will also include something to absorb moisture so the meat will not.  Dehydrating meat is a popular method of preserving meat because jerky is such a great snack.  The problem with dehydrating meat is that it takes a lot of effort in the beginning to cook and prep because if the meat is not prepped correctly you will either be eating very tough rehydrated meat or it will remain so tough that you will not be able to eat it at all.  The best way to prevent this is to cook your meats like chicken or turkey with some type of sauce that contains fat before dehydrating it.

There is a debate about which type of meat tastes better rehydrated – dehydrated meat or freeze dried meat.  The usual consensus is that the freeze dried meat does because the process used to preserve the meat saves some of the meats original juices where dehydrating meat takes that away.  If you properly prepare your dehydrated meat as mentioned above taste will improve but most still prefer the taste of freeze dried meat. This is really something that each person will get to decide for themselves, so store some of each and use it in your regular food storage rotation and see which you prefer.

Lastly the cost difference makes dehydrating food easy and more affordable than making your own freeze dried food, but there is always the option of buying freeze dried food.  This is once again a decision each person will get to make on their own, if they want to spend the time and money to get the equipment to freeze dry their own food or buy freeze dried food, or if dehydrating is the route they would prefer for their food storage.