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Friday, July 08, 2022 by Zoey Sky
http://www.bugout.news/2022-07-08-food-supply-basics-25-reasons-dehydrate-food.html
Dehydration is a great food preservation method for preppers who want to save time on food prep or those who want to maximize the limited space in their pantry or stockpile.
If you’re still on the fence about getting a dehydrator, detailed below are 25 reasons to start dehydrating food for your stockpile. (h/t to TheSurvivalMom.com)
Unlike home canning, you don’t need fancy equipment to dehydrate food. If you’re on a budget, you can get a basic dehydrator for your food prep.
Check recipes and guides online to learn how to dehydrate different food items like fruits and vegetables. (Related: Food supply tips: 5 Food preservation methods to learn before SHTF.)
Dehydrating food for your kids means you can prep healthy snacks without any added sugar or chemicals like additives and preservatives. Since you know what you’re putting in the food, you can be sure that your kids are only eating stuff that’s good for them.
Many dehydrated fruits and veggies have more intense flavors compared to fresh produce.
Learning how to dehydrate food means you can prep various ingredients like apples, veggie chips and even pasta sauce. With the right tools, you can also dehydrate ground beef or canned fruits and veggies.
If your kids are old enough, you can teach them how to dehydrate their own snacks, which can make snack time exciting for them. Let them choose their preferred ingredients like applesauce fruit leather, apple-cinnamon leather, apple-peach leather or apple-strawberry fruit leather.
A #10 can of applesauce can be used to make a lot of fruit leather for a tasty snack that both kids and adults will enjoy.
Make the most of fruits or vegetables in season by buying in bulk and dehydrating produce for your stockpile or daily use.
Check out bargains and sales at farmer’s markets, food co-ops, fruit stands and pick-your-own-produce farms. Processing in-season fruits and vegetables can help you save more money compared to buying commercially dehydrated foods.
Shop local and in-season and dehydrate food in bulk so you can enjoy out-of-season produce year-round.
You can dehydrate almost anything for various dishes like fresh, canned and frozen ingredients.
Dehydrated food isn’t bland and boring. Instead, many foods are delicious to eat in their dehydrated form.
Dehydrated foods like apple or banana chips can be eaten without rehydration so you don’t need to add water.
You can make sure your family is getting the vitamins and nutrients they need since dehydrated foods don’t lose their nutritional value and maintain water-soluble nutrients.
On the other hand, fresh produce can lose as much as 50 percent of certain nutrients after only several days of refrigeration.
You can save money on groceries by dehydrating herbs at home.
If you have various dehydrated fruits and vegetables in your stockpile, you don’t have to worry about running out of ingredients while you’re cooking.
If space is an issue, dehydrated foods can be a godsend. You can turn 20 pounds of fresh tomatoes into two large glass jars of dehydrated tomatoes.
Take advantage of sales and bulk deals at the grocery store. With a dehydrator, you can buy in bulk without worrying about wasting the food or the money you spent.
Dehydrated foods can be used to prep complete dehydrated meals in Mason jars or vacuum-sealed for easy meal prep. The next time you’re too busy to cook dinner, serve some Mason jar meals.
If you love backpacking, camping or hiking, you can replace or supplement freeze-dried meals and snacks with dehydrated food.
While dehydrated foods can be stored at room temperature, you still need to protect your stockpile against enemies of food storage like humidity and pests.
Use your dehydrator to turn a pound of apples into two ounces of dehydrated apple slices.
Teach kids new skills by showing them how to dehydrate their own snacks. Slice the ingredients beforehand or supervise and let your kids try dehydrating food at home.
If you have excess harvest from your garden, dehydrate them to avoid food waste.
Food dehydration adds another layer of food storage to your preps. Before SHTF, you can add more supplies to your stockpile by dehydrating staples like fruits and vegetables.
Dehydrating doesn’t require electricity.
Even if you don’t have a dehydrator, you can dry food using other means like:
You can also make dried herbs by hanging herbs in bunches upside down at home.
Young kids will often refuse to eat vegetables, but serving dehydrated foods can help change their minds. Another option is to sneak it into their food by using dried and powdered greens.
You also use a dehydrator to dry various non-food items:
Get a dehydrator to preserve excess harvest from your home garden and add to your stockpile before SHTF.
Visit FoodStorage.news to learn more about food dehydration and other food preservation methods.
Watch the video below about seven beginner tips for food dehydrating.
This video is from the Alex Hammer channel on Brighteon.com.
Food preservation tips: What kinds of food can you dehydrate?
Food storage tips: How to dehydrate foods for long-term storage.
Freeze-drying vs dehydration: Which is the best food preservation method?
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Tagged Under: Tags: clean food, dehydrating food, dehydrator, emergency food, Food Preservation, Food storage, food supply, goodfood, homesteading, how-to, off grid, preparedness, prepping, self-reliance, survival, survival food, sustainable living
By Zoey Sky
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