Dehydrating Didya know?

Did you know that a little over 5 lbs of veggies dried will fit into a quart mason jar? That is a lot of food in such a little space. Those were all frozen veggies that went directly from the freezer, out of the bag and into the dehydrator. Now I have a yummy mix of carrots, corn, broccoli, green beans and sweet peas in a mason jar.

Oh, and they were a dollar for a 1 lb bag when I got them.

Survival Food: Quick Dehydrating Tip!

Got a quick dehydrating tip. Got a lot of canned fruits and veggies, but not a lot of space to store them? Try dehydrating them! All you have to do is drain off the juice, and put the can contents in the dehydrator! Its real quick and easy. When they are all dry, bag them, vacuum seal them, or put them in jars! It is a lot lighter and they take up a lot less space.

Oh and you can also do the same with frozen fruits and veggies too, just straight from the freezer right to the dehydrator, just pour them out of the bag.

It works!

Survival Food: Adventures in Dehydrating, Tropical Blender Fun (UPDATE OOPS)!

Hey guys, I am updating with just a little news. Got sick with the flu over the weekend, so there was no update. I am feeling a lot better, it was just a quick form of it, but you know it is the reason why I prep! I do get sick a lot, so there you go! Had all the food and stuff that I needed. Also noted what I needed to do better the next time it happens. That is all I am going to say on it for now.

As with the Fruit blend, it did not work out on the first attempt, it came up in fragmented pieces. No worries though, I will keep experimenting with it. I know it can be done, I might need to add in a bit more water to help things blend better, or blend it differently. I will note down what I do and tell you all.

I might also be working on some skills, like sewing and leather working. I will probably be adding that on here too. I think those skills might come in handy. I will keep you guys posted!

Keep coming back.

Survival Food: Adventures in Dehydrating, Tropical Blender Fun!

Hi guys, I am back from my weekend trip. Just spent a few day relaxing from being out and about around so many people. Got some new ideas for this place too which I might share later on hopefully. Right now though, I thought I would create another quick fruit leather experiment. I got this idea from a friend of mine. Take one can of your favorite fruit, in this case I like tropical fruit salad, and throw it in a blender, juice, fruit and all. (BUT NOT THE CAN... and no, I do not speak from experience on this one, it is just common sense! :)) Anyways, then I did like what I did with the Apple Fruit Leather . Pour it on the tray, spread it very thin, and let it dry at the regular temperature. Hopefully this will come out OK.

Will show the results later!

Survival Food: Adventures in Dehydrating, Apple Fruit Leather... Results!

...And about 6 hours later....

Fruit leather made from apple sauce! I was right, I had to go thinner. The recipe worked out, and it is yummy! They really taste like fruit roll ups like you get in the store. Except it is much cheaper, very simple to make, and if you make your own apple sauce, MUCH healthier. I will definatly make more. This makes really nice treats for when you are on the go. Something that is a good food to carry that does not take up much space in a lunch box or backpack. I will look into more recipes on working with this.

PERSONAL NOTE: other than what I explained earlier, it is also best to spread it pretty evenly, otherwise some parts of the leather will get done faster than others. Again, another lesson learned.

If you have kids, they might like making this.

Thanks to The Survival Mom for the recipe.

Survival Food: Adventures in Dehydrating, Apple Fruit Leather... oops..

Just a small update here... I made some leather... but I ate it, but for a good reason! I made a mistake. What I did wrong was I spread it out too thick. Took a bit too long to dry. When in doubt, go thinner and dry it longer. Otherwise, it has potential, just that the mistake was my own. That is what I am learning here, but I thought I would mention it on here. I started a new batch today, so I will post my results as soon as they get done. Also, next week I will have some new articles on survival books, skills and other items. Stay tuned!

Survival Food: Adventures in Dehydrating Part 4, Microwave Results

Well, here are the results of blanching from a microwave. There was some difference in some of the chips in colors, maybe a dark reddish color, and black of course like the first round. This might be due to different factors and could be anything from the process of blanching, to the types of potatoes. Total drying time was a bit longer than I expected at about 17 hours or so. These may not look pretty, but when you are on a VERY tight budget, or in a emergency situation, food is food. Plus these are a bit healthier than the boxed stuff, which is why I did all of this. Now, for storing them, you have several different options.

You can...

1. Leave them as they are and store them properly for later use, which I am learning to do right now.

2. Grind them till they are flaked and package them again in baggies if you are going to use them in the coming future. Or...

3. Get creative and make your own dry "instant" soups! Take other dried veggies and herbs and combining them with the potatoes. Make your own family creations! Of course if I do the same thing, then I will show you what I did.

So there you go, 10 pounds of potatoes that lost a lot of water weight. The actual amount after drying is probably all of a pound of weight. If you guys did something similar, please make a comment about it on here.

Survival Food: Adventures in Dehydrating Part 3, The Microwave!

Ok, finally got around to doing those potatoes. This time I did blanch them using the microwave, but I did them all. Reason being is that I do not have a proper steamer, and getting one is not in the budget at this time. If I can devise another way to do it, I will though, and I will put it up on here of course! But with these potatoes, I do not want them to go to waste. Waste not, want not!

Just basically what I did was clean them using a scrubber and water. Then put them in the microwave for for about 3 minutes. That kind of softened them right up. Good thing about it was it made them easier to cut up the same way I did them the first time. Took no more than about 30 minutes prep time in total and I filled up all 5 racks on the dryer. Again, set them at the recommended temp, and I am guessing at about 8 hours drying time. When they are done, I will post up the results.

Survival Food: Adventures in Dehydrating Part 2, The Results!

Here are the results of my first experiment. This is just cutting up the potatoes and putting them directly into the dehydrator. To me they have the look and feel of wood chips or dried mushrooms really. The reason why the look so odd is because of the oxidization that causes the dark grayish look to them, so NO, it is NOT MOLD! Total Drying Time: 6 hours. Yes, a lot shorter than I thought, but that is why I kept an eye on it. But there you go, first experiment done.

Next up is Blanching. Here is what my book says about blanching:

Most vegatables must be blanched, either steaming over boiling water or in the microwave oven to slow the enzyme action which will continue during drying and storage.

NOTE: Blanching softens the cell structure, allowing moisture to escape more easily and also allows the vegetables to rehydrate faster.

The steam blanching might be a bit harder for me to do since I do not have a steamer, but I might be able to rig one up. I have a metal strainer that I can use. The easiest will be the microwave, just because I have one. (DUH!) Again, I will post the processes on doing this.

Coming up... Dehydrated Microwaved Potatoes!

Survival Food: Adventures in Dehydrating Part 1

Hey guys, back with another article. Last fall I happened to spend a little bit of cash and bought myself a dehydrator (It was on sale and I got a good bargain on it). I am looking to save food as much as I can while on a budget. Finally today I am starting to get some use out of it. Best way to save money is how to save, preserve and re-use food. Well here, I am going to learn how to dehydrate food and re-use it. Then post what I am learning. So far, I am just taking the baby steps as starting easy. So for my first try, I am doing...



Potatoes! They work well dried for soups and mashed potatoes. I found a 10 pound bag of Russets at my local grocery store for cheap. Right now I just did only two racks to start with and with a some advice from a friend, got myself started. The type that I bought is a NESCO Professional Food and Jerky Dehydrator, my family has had good luck with NESCO products, so I think this one would work well. Simple to work as this has a temperature control dial, and to turn it on, all you need to do is just plug it in.

When starting it helps to read the instruction manual for the care and use of the machine. READ EVERYTHING THAT COMES WITH IT! Just wanted to say that as a disclaimer... Then what I did was washed the potatoes and cut them pretty thin, The thinner they are the faster they dry. Usually the drying time is about a day to a day and a half, or so I am told. These should be done in about a day or less. I was told that to test them just take one and break it in half. If it snaps like a potato chip, they are done. If not, or if they seem soft, then they need to dry a bit longer. At the end of the drying time, I will show you the end results. I am just doing two racks as a test because there are several different ways to prepareing the the food. One way is just cleaning and cutting them up. Another is several different ways of blanching, which I will try out too. Maybe you can learn from what I am doing.

Coming up, part 2 of my first batch of dehydrated potatoes.