Posted on 06/20/2009 5:23:10 PM PDT by appleseed
Buying canned groceries and extra bags of flour and sugar have been the easiest part of food storage for me. Dehydrating my own food seemed to belong in the same category as spinning my own wool. Yes, it can be done, but why would I want to go through all the trouble??!
I found out for myself that dehydrating my own food is one of the easiest and least expensive ways to stock up. Now, if I say it’s easy, you know. It’s easy! The foods are fresh with no additives of any kind, so I know exactly what my family is consuming. I save money since commercially dried fruits and herbs, in particular, have a premium price at the market.
I purchased a NESCO American Harvest dehydrater on Craigslist for $30 one January morning and went to work. I’ve had some hits and misses, but here is what I’ve had the best luck with so far.
Canned peaches. Easy, easy, easy and so good! Buy #10 cans of peaches at Costco for $5 or so. Pour the fruit into a colander and rinse with water. Lay out the peach slices on the dehydrator trays and dry at a medium setting until the peaches are chewy. These are a great travel snack and will last for years if you store them using a Foodsaver system.
Herbs. It’s amazing how quickly these dry and are ready for storage. Kellene over at Preparedness Pro recently wrote a great article about growing and and preserving herbs. I love having jars of fresh herbs and have saved a pretty penny because I no longer have to buy fresh and then need them for a recipe only after they’ve turned slimy.
Applesauce! Buy a #10 can of applesauce at Costco for right around $5. Spread a thin layer of applesauce on a plastic tray and dehydrate. When it is dry, you have your own fruit leather! Roll it up, and store. Add cinnamon, pureed strawberries or peaches, or anything else you can think of for variety. My kids love this treat.
Mushrooms. This is another veggie that spoils all too quickly. Slice, dry, store. Couldn’t be easier! Dried shrooms can even be ground into a powder and added to sauces and gravies for flavor. Sliced carrots and celery. These are a staple in my soups and stews, and I hate having to run out to the store when I don’t have them on hand. Again, slice, dry, store!
One of my camping-crazy friends dehydrates sheets of spaghetti sauce, rehydrates them with water over a campstove and has almost-instant pasta sauce. She’s also been known to make hamburger rocks in her dehydrator.
It does take time to prepare the fresh food to dry (peel, slice, chop, etc.), but once they’re on the dehydrator trays and a timer is set, I can spend my time chasing kids and doing laundry.
This doesn’t have to be an expensive hobby. Seek out farmer’s markets, produce co-ops, produce stands, and the like to get the freshest food at the lowest prices. Check Craiglist, Freecyle and eBay for bargains on dehydrators. The Excalibur brand is considered to be top of the line, but there are directions online for making your own from scratch.
For more specific how-to details, check out these websites, and have fun dehydrating your own foods!
Budget 101 – Dehydrated Foods
Mother Earth News
Pop shot several deer with a .22 while hunting squirrels. He always popped them between the eyes.
A New Mexico cowboy, he grew up eating everything wild. After their ranch house burned down in the middle of the Great Depression, the family lived in the root cellar for 3 years while they built a new house.
BTW, I love shooting small game with my Gamo Whisper. .17 pellets are even cheaper than .22 LR and its verry quiet.
I “think” I’ve got a PDF collection on dehydrating food. IF I do...and IF I can locate it, I’ll put it up where it can be browsed and downloaded. I’ll let you know! :-)
This is so interesting, I would never have thought about drying yogurt. I’ve been giving this whole survival strategy a lot of thought lately & here are some of my thoughts:
Dried foods definitely keep a long time, don’t cost energy to store & don’t take up as much room in storage - but what I’m concerned about is that there might be a shortage of water during the time of crisis/emergency/etc. All of these dehydrated foods would take quite a bit of water to reconstitute. If a person has an unlimited supply of water, that’s not a problem, but I’m thinking that in addition to a good variety of dried foods, I’m going to stock up on a good bit of canned foods as well - since they are canned in liquid & we won’t have to use precious water for them.
I don’t plan to store a lot of foods in the freezer for the same reason - what if the power goes out?
I’m thinking about getting some rainwater barrels to harvest our rainwater - mostly for the garden, but to use for drinking, etc if the water goes out. Does anyone have any experience with this?
Wouldn’t want you to miss this thread, m’Lady.
Take it one step further. Get yourself a vacuum sealer, put the dried food in the bag and seal it so it doesn’t oxidize further. Keeps it fresh for a long time.
Ascorbic acid also called vitamin C (C6H8O6) is a better preservative than citric acid (C6H8O7) :)
Bump.
185gr /.308 will work as well. No offense to .223.
Saturday evening and my .02 cents
ping
ping
Thanks, appleseed, for posting one of my blog articles!
The one food I haven’t had any luck dehydrating is potatoes. I blanched them, per instructions, but they still turned out a horrific pinky gray color. If anyone has any suggestions for next time, I’d love to hear them.
Someone asked why I would dehydrate canned peaches. They’re more portable that way and take up much less space.
I have made jerky only once, and that was out of ground beef. I over-dried them and ended up with something akin to doggie treats. Someone told me I could rehydrate the meat and still use it. We’ll see.
With food storage, beans and rice are common, but humans are going to need the nutrients in fruits and veggies. That’s one reason for dehydrating your own.
Thanks again, appleseed, for reading my blog. It’s a thrill to know that what I write is helpful to someone. :o)
I recommend finding a dehydrator on Craigs list. You can find them
used once because they were a Christmas gift, and some people don't have room
to store them or only used them one time.
Kinda like Rifles that are being sold as "only dropped once"..
I would love to know how to dry bananas. We tried that a few years ago and they were not good.
I should have read all of the posts before I asked. I will try to dry bananas your way. Ours were hard as rocks. Thanks for the information.
I just peel them cut theim in thirds then slice them long way. So them in Ascorbic acid, and dry them. They turn out a little leathery but have a wonderful taist. Pineapple is wonderful too. You can sprinkle a little sugar on them before drying.
I use tender quick on my jerky and smoke it good to dry it. I can put it in a vaccum seal bag and it is good for ever.
I’ll give it another try. Thanks.
What brand of food dehydrator would you recommend - for someone who has never tried doing this?
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