I was super excited to get to add a food dehydrator to my
kitchen arsenal. I had done quite a bit
of research and really thought about it a lot before I actually placed my
order. My plan is to be able to dry
fruits and vegetables so I can store more food on a much smaller scale and in a
way that will make them last much longer.
And it looks like that is exactly what I will be able to do.
I began by purchasing three 5# bags of frozens vegetables on
sale at Cash & Carry. Peas, sliced
carrots and corn. I laid them out on the
trays, set the temperature and timer and let it do its thing. I worked perfectly. I had put a way a quart bag full of each
vegetable into our freezer and dehydrated the rest until I had two pint jars
full of peas, a pint of carrots and a pint and a half of corn. That freed up a lot of freezer space and I
will have all of these veggies to add to soups, stews and other recipes down
the road.
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| These were some tomatoes we had that were going soft Great way to curb potential food waste! |
My girls are fascinated by this process and have really
enjoyed helping me. They were amazed
when they rehydrated a pea, a carrot slice and a corn kernel in a cup of warm
water and they came right back to their original form. To be honest, so was I. So I guess this is going to work!
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| It is crazy how tiny this stuff got |
I have big plans to dehydrate a lot more things to add to my
prepper pantry. As I do I will be sure
to share with you all the things I am doing in my new little machine. I think it works really well and it wasn't expensive at
all. I ordered it on eBay and it came
with free shipping for $34.99. It is a
Rosewill digital five tray dehydrator
and doesn't take up a whole lot of counter space either. It works like a charm and I could be happier
about it. Do any of you own and use a
dehydrator? If so, what is your favorite
thing to dehydrate?
I generally just dehydrate the apples from our trees, as that's the best way to store them in large quantities. I should up my game though and do what you did with the frozen veg. Dehydrated veggies are so handy to chuck into runny soups and stews and thicken then up with zero effort.
ReplyDeleteI can envision these going into a lot of slow cooker meals.
DeleteI have a dehydrator. So far my favorite things to dehydrate are peaches, apples and corn. I love buying ears of corn in the summer from a local produce stand, boiling them a few minutes to set the milk and then shaving the ears and dehydrating the niblets. I cook some of the corn every year for Thanksgiving and I'm amazed at how fresh it tastes, just like when I first shaved it off the cob. It's a lot of work but a lot of fun too!
ReplyDeleteI'm having a lot of fun with it too! I'm excited to try apples.
DeleteI did have a dehydrator, a Nesco American Harvest, in which the sheets stack on top of one another. It was given to me by a friend. I used it only once or twice, and, for the most part, wasn't impressed. I dehydrated apples, strawberries, cherries and onions. The machine seemed loud, and it seemed to take a very long time. I think I could have done the same on a very low oven in less time, and no noise. Also, we didn't care for the dried fruit. The dried onions, however, were terrific! Word to the wise: If you are dehydrating onions, at least with the model I had, you might want to do so in the garage, basement, or outside, unless you like the smell of onions.
ReplyDeleteWhen we moved, I passed the dehydrator on to a friend, who likes using it to make her own fruit leather.
We are planning to do a lot of onions. You are not the first to suggest I set it up in the garage. Thanks!! :o)
DeleteWatermelon! You must try dehydrating watermelon. I'm not joking. It becomes candy sweet and makes your mouth pucker.
ReplyDeleteI bought needlepoint plastic sheets (they look like screens with big openings) and cut them to fit the trays on my dehydrator. Some things will stick to the trays but the needlepoint plastic can be removed and bent so the dehydrated food will pop off. Saves lots of work.
Jeannie@GetMeToTheCountry
I was wondering about that. Thanks for the tip!
DeleteI have an Excalibur dehydrator and love it. I love to dehydrate bananas, onions, celery, and bell pepper. The bananas do not need any lemon juice or anything as it does not keep them white. The other three are used as seasoning in anything. I dehydrate only Vidalia onions at their cheapest. I like the scent of onions dehydrating. It really does not last long in the house. I dehydrate everything I can get my hands on.
ReplyDeleteI dehydrated a bounty of grape tomatoes and they were just like sundried tomatoes...lol.
I do like the fact no light can get into my dehydrator since light degrades the nutrition in fruit.
The Excalibur is nice! Outside of my current budget however. Maybe some day I can upgrade.
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