Dehydration 1-2-3

On my other blog I posted this and then saw Davilyns post (below).  I thought this might be helpful here as well.  Hope someone can find use in it.  :)

1 - Dehydrator

First off you need to pick your dehydrator.  There are a few things to factor in when you are making your decision:

• Expand-ability.  I love to be able to use one tray or be able to add more if I need to.  Mine holds 10 trays which easily fits one BIG roaster pan of cut corn. 
• Wash-ability.  You need to be able to wash the trays easily.  If the trays are huge, they are harder to wash.
• Dry-ability. How quickly does the fan inside dry your stuff.  The bigger the wattage, the faster it will dry.
• Affordability.  Where are you in your finances?  Do you want to spend a whopload once, or build up to it. 
• Gung-ho-ability.  Is this going to be an experiment or have you actually eaten dried food and want to do your own?  Is this a hobby or will you be using it all the time for your personal food storage? 
  
  

Lets talk options.  This really is a personal choice as not everyone is in the same place financially or desire.  I have three steps (sort of) for you to choose from.

1.  Really cheap (or for the experimenter):

This is where I started.  I actually bought mine at Superstore, but linked to one that is almost identical at WalMart (because not all of you live in Canada!) 

Here is a really cheap version that will get the job done.  It is slower, and less room, but as a starter dehydrator the price is great and it works. 

If you want plans to make your own, I am not sure how much it would cost, but here is a link to a solar dehydrator.  Here are some simple instructions to a pdf I had for making your own.  You would need a bit of skill but I think it is do-able.

2.  Mid-range (for the serious one who can't really afford step #3)

I actually lucked out and got mine from a friend who upgraded to the whoop-dee-doo version and she just passed it on to me.  Not all of us can do that though, but moving up to a bigger, better one is good if you are going to be using it alot.  Higher wattage, more trays and some liners are great. (makes removing food easier and cleaning easier)

3 - The Serious One (with a bit more cash to put down)

Oh how I love this one.  Check out the Excalibur...

Seriously?!  How cool is that?!

My friend has one similar to this and it ROCKS!  I would love to have one that you don't need to rotate trays or be able to do multiple food types, but we all have to start somewhere.  :)

Once you have chosen your dehydrator, you move onto:

2 - Basic Dehydrating

I thought I would give you a brief tour of some of the stuff I have enjoyed in the past.  Here are a few I am storing right now that we use regularly:

I dried a whole pile of veggies and put them all into one jar and call this one soup mix!  This one has celery, corn, carrots, onions, potatoes (which I bought, sorry), red peppers, garlic, peas, and possibly a few other things.

Corn.  Dh's uncles own a farm and grow LOTS of corn.  I go out and pick corn and freeze, can and dehydrate obscene amounts every year.

Green Onions.  Also from the farm.  I got a big 40 lb box and chopped them.  Dehydrating down to just two pickle jars!
 
Now, I am going to do a really simple "How To" for you.  I bought this lovely pineapple and was going to cut into it and dehydrate it, but decided to make pineapple quesadillas instead!  :)  Lynn mentioned in her comment that she liked pineapple rings, so I grabbed a couple cans.

Choose NICE, RIPE, NOT ROTTEN food.  We want it to last for a long time (and taste good) if you are going to all this work, make it worth it. 

Prepare your food.  Wash it well.

I cut mine in substantial pieces because they are going to shrink like crazy.  If you are doing something like tomatoes or strawberries it is really hard to take off the tray if you cut them too thin.

Line your tray with your food.  It is OK if they touch, or overlap...but be prepared for sticking or longer drying times if you do this.

Place in your dehydrator.  Turn it on.  I love that mine has one setting, ON, takes the guess work out of all the heat settings and what not. :)

I learned the hard way that the more water the fruit/veggie has to start with, the more likely it will be to leak out of the dehydrator.  Now, no matter what I have in there I put a box of some type under it and check a few times to make sure it is not leaking.

Wait until they are nice and dry.  (rotating your trays if necessary a few times)  Some things take longer than others.  Generally the thicker it is the longer it takes to dry.  Fruit and veggies that have a high water content take longer as well. 

These pineapple took a little over 12 hours.  I did canned so you could have a "yardstick" to measure with.  Pretty much all the brands are the same size and thickness.  They are beautiful and almost gone...my boys eat them like candy!  :)

3 - Storing the Goods

There are a couple ways to store your goods:

• Glass Jars.  This is the way I store all of mine.  I go to the local old folks homes here and ask for the pickle jars and they gladly give them to me for free.  I like that.  Glass keeps your food fresh longer than some other options so keeping them in jars suits me.  Glass is also see through.  I am a big believer in seeing what I have so I know it is there.  Jars are also easy to get into.
• My friend vacuum packs her jars.  You can do this to extend the shelf life longer and retain freshness.  If you are not continually opening them, this is a good option.  Most vacuum sealers come with an attachment to do jars with.
• Freezer bags.  I know people that store things in bags.  This is a great version if you are going to use it up really quick.  Personally I want to do LOTS of stuff and keep it for longer periods of time so this is not really an option I use.  You can store the dried stuff in your freezer for longer shelf life in a bag as well.
• Plastic tubs.  I get large ice cream pails for free from a local ice cream parlor.  You could make use of these as well.  If you are going for a longer shelf life bagging then putting into a plastic tub would be the best option.

I have a shelf entirely devoted to jars of dehydrated items that I use regularly.  It makes it nice to be able to see it right there in front of me.

Storage times.  I have read in many places that dehydrated items only last for 6 months to a year.  I think that if you are only drying them partially so they are more like a leather, this would be correct.  I have food that is older than that, I still use it and it is still good.  It takes longer to cook the older it is, but it is still perfect otherwise.

A word about re-hydrating.

I use my dried items in practically everything.  I bake with them, add them on top of things and add them to soups/casseroles. 

If you are going to add them to things and want them totally re-hydrated, add more water.  Generally if you are adding say 1/4 C dehydrated something, add 1/2 C more water.  Some things like peas take a bit more.  Here are a couple recipes I have on here that I use dehydrated in: (lets call it the chuck in method)

Super Pumpkin Chowder

Mexican Corn Chowder (I have used dried chicken, garlic and corn in it)

Beef Barley Veggie Soup

If you want to re-hydrate and use in recipes, the general rule is double the water to dry.  Boil your water first and chuck your dehydrated stuff into it.  Cover.  Wait for about 20 min to half an hour.  Drain or add more water as needed.  Use as fresh.  Here are a couple recipes I use with re-hydrated items:

Green Onion Cakes

Apple Fritters and Corn Fritters

Sometimes I just chuck the dried items on or in something for a crunchy treat.  One of my favorite ways to do that is with Italian Biscuit Pizza, the tomatoes turn into a sort of sundried tomato type chewy.  Yummy.

I always have dried garlic and onions on hand to chuck into things like Mexican Rice, Soups and Stir-Frys.  I love the ease that this provides.  

I love the versatility that dried food provides.  I love that if my kids want a "treat" I can tell them to grab a few handfuls of dehydrated apples, pineapple, strawberries, or whatever I have in my jars at the time.  They love them and I know that they are healthy as I have totally made them.

I should mention just a few things in closing:

• I am lazy.  Almost any short cut that there is, I do it.  I never blanch (unless it is potatoes, and I still haven't done them properly yet) veggies or fruit.  I never dip things in lemon or what have you.
• Buy in bulk.  The bigger you are willing to do, the better.  It may take you a few days to get it all done, but you will save $$$ in the long run.
• Buy quality.  The better quality food you buy, the longer and tastier your food will be.
• Try something new.  This year I am dehydrating all our food we are taking with us on camp.  I am quite excited to do this.  I bought a book a few years ago about trail food (A Fork In The Trail) and am thrilled to experiment with it.  Don't be afraid to dry your families favorite foods.
• Buy the best your can afford.  If you are serious about dehydrating, buy the best you can and go from there.
• Have fun!

If you have any questions, don't be afraid to ask.  I hope I have covered as much as you need, but I am not infallible so please feel free to ask whatever you need.  If you feel more comfortable emailing me, kgm3boysATgmailDOTcom gets me every time!  :)

Cheers

Dehydrating Adventures

I have been having fun with my dehydrator lately. I love going to you tube and watching videos about dehydrating different things. There are some really great ones on there. Some of my favorite ones are found at http://www.youtube.com/user/Dehydrate2store . She has a series of dehydrating videos – I think 10 or so – and they are well worth watching each of them. They have inspired me to do some really nice stuff. I will keep posting as I experiment more with dehydrating. I have some fruit leather on right now, bottled applesauce blended with some bottled cherries – drop them into the food processor, then spread on trays. Yummm! Healthy fruit leather.

I bought a large bag of sweet potatoes (frozen). I cooked them, and then mashed them in my food processor. Then I spread them out on parchment paper and dried them until they were crisp. Then I chopped them up in my processor, and ran them through my wheat grinder. And I have a bag of instant baby food – sweet potatoes. Very healthy and very yummy!!!

I dehydrated a bunch of applesauce. This was applesauce that I had bottle in the past two years and we haven’t used it all up, so I decided to dry it and grind it up to make more instant baby food, or applesauce for baking. It actually rehydrated just as nice as it was originally. Here are a few of the pictures.

It rehydrates back to normal applesauce. Really nice!! One side note here, if you add sugar to your applesauce when you bottle it, then it doesn’t dehydrate as nice, and won’t powder because it kind of crystalizes. It still works though, just a stickier powder.

Then I also had some bottles sour cherries that we haven’t used up from last year, and I thought they would make really yummy craisin like cherries. And wow are they good. They are nice to eat plain, or in salads, or in muffins and baking. This year I don’t think I will even bottle the cherries, I am just going to pit them and dry them.

Pretty tart still, yet really yummy!!

Good Insurance

Well, I had a dear friend give me a call this morning and due to her call, I decided to write this short note.

If you haven't heard about our own disaster, close to home, here is the article Slave Lake

Well my friend called her insurance company, to see what she needed to do to make sure she was covered if something like this were to happen to her. The advice she was given was to take a digital copy of everything, and I mean "everything" in her home. Details, because in an emergency situation, you will not remember all of the things you have. You will not remember most of the things you lost!

So in detail go through your home and make a digital copy with your camera or video camera, and then make several copies of it and keep them in various separate out of town locations, perhaps one in your vehicle too. While going through your home, actually lay out your clothing on your bed and itemize each one, how many shirts you own, how many socks, and so on. Go through each cupboard, closet, bathroom, and so on. And for those of us who have a rather large storage, well if we would want it replaced, then we must detail it all! And I would also suggest that after we have digitized it all, we also have it listed out in detail on paper. If you want to go even another step further, then write down the replacement value of each item. I know it sounds kind of like a daunting task, but well worth the time if it happens to be us in the crisis. I had another friend who had a small house fire in the past and if she would have done this, it would have saved her a ton of time after the fact. The insurance company will not make these lists for you, and they will not find the replacement costs for you, it is all up to you to do these things. So why not do them ahead of time, so that if the disaster happens to your home, and your family is dealing with shock and loss, you will not have the extra added stress of figuring out details of stuff!!

Just some food for thought here, but well worth the time to do it now.

Some of My Favorite Food Storage Mixes

Waffle / Pancake Mix

1 ½ cups white sugar

1 ½ cups ground white beans

1 cup powdered eggs

1 tbsp salt

1 tbsp baking soda

3 tbsp baking powder

1 2/3 cups non instant powder milk

10 cups freshly ground whole wheat flour or mix part white flour

All you need to do to this mix is add water until it is the consistency of pancakes, or whatever you want to make! It will make waffles, pancakes, crepes, fritters, and more.

Muffin Mix

8 cups flour

3 cups sugar

3 tbsp baking powder

2 tsp salt

2 tsp ground cinnamon

Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg. Mix well, put into a large airtight container. Label with date and contents. Store in a cool, dry place. Use within 6 - 8 months. Makes about 11 cups.

Muffins

This is so quick and easy, I use it for breakfast alot.

2 ¾ cup muffin mix (above)

1 egg beaten

1 cup milk

½ c butter melted or ½ c veg oil

Preheat oven to 400. Spray muffin pans with cooking spray, or line with muffin cups. Put muffin mix in bowl and combine egg, milk, and butter in small bowl. Add all at once to muffin mix. Stir until mix is just moistened. Batter should be lumpy. Fill muffin pans ¾ full. Bake 18 - 20 min. Add fruit, nuts, choc chips, for a variety of flavors.

Chili Dry Mix

Use to season chili, refried beans, taco meat, or spanish rice. Multiply by 4 and store in gallon container. I love this recipe and use it for so many things. It really is good. For the tomato powder, I made my own simply by using my dehydrated tomato chunks and chopping them up in my blender.

1 cup tomato powder

1 ½ c dried veggies (dehydrated onion, celery, and peppers, in equal portions, mixed and chopped in the blender and then add some garlic powder or dried garlic, yummy)

½ cup chili powder

3 tbsp cumin

1 tbsp salt

Chili Beans: Add ½ c mix to a quart jar of cooked beans topped up with water and ¼ cup beef tvp or taco tvp or hamburger

Taco Meat: Add ¼ c mix to burger or veggie meat and saute loosely in oil until brown.

Rice: Add ¼ c mix to cooked rice with ½ c water

Refried Beans: add ¼ c mix to 3 cups mashed beans

Salsa: Add ¼ c mix to 2 c homemade salsa

Cornmeal Mix Recipe

5 cups whole wheat flour

5 cups corn meal

1 1/3 c powdered margarine - or you can leave this out and add oil with your wet ingredients

¼ c powdered milk non instant

2 ½ tsp salt

½ c dehydrate egg whites

3 1/3 c white sugar

2 ½ tsp soda

1 ½ tsp baking powder

If you grind your own cornmeal (by grinding popcorn), grind a small bit of wheat after to clean your stones. This recipe will make about 15 cups. To use: 3 cups mix to 1 cup water and if you have to add oil, then add about 1/3 cup. Bake an 8 inch square greased, for 40 minutes or 10 muffins for 20 minutes at 350.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Master Mix (enough for eight batches) I totally love this one and use it all the time!!!

18 Cups flour - mix part whole wheat and part white

8 tsp. baking powder

4 tsp baking soda

8 tsp. salt

6 Cups granulated sugar

6 Cups packed brown sugar

14 Cups chocolate chips

8 Cups nuts - optional

Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and sugar and mix well. Stir in brown sugar until evenly combined. Add chocolate chips and nuts and toss until uniformly combined. Place in airtight container and store in cool, dark location. There is no need to refrigerate.

To prepare cookies:

Beat 1 cup butter with 2 large eggs and 1 tsp. vanilla. Add butter and egg mixture to 6 cups of dry mix with and beat until well blended. Drop by rounded tablespoons onto ungreased baking sheets.

Bake for 9 to 11 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely. Awesome!!

Prices go up at the Cannery

 I did some figuring tonight on some of the price increases that I have seen at the LDS Church Cannery here in Lethbridge, Alberta.  I took the price list from six months ago, and then again in January, and the one that was updated as of Friday April 1st.  I then figured out the percentage of each increase per item.  It is quite scary to think that prices would increase this much over a six to nine month period of time. 

 

I would strongly encourage you if you think you are in need of any of these things, perhaps now would be a good time to get them.  If you continue to wait, you will find either more increases, or perhaps no products at all.  This is something to put some serious thought into.  The Cannery doesn't sell us these things to make money off of us.  They are providing a service for us to get our food storage at the cheapest possible prices.  Consider how much the increases must be at places that do want to make a profit off of us, and we happily and deliriously go about our daily lives not even realizing how drastically prices have gone up.  Perhaps it is time to wake up!!!

 

Products	6 months	3 months	Now	Increase	Percent
Black Beans	$15.35	$13.50	$17.15	$3.65	23.00%
Pinto Beans	17.25	17.8	18.95	1.7	10.00%
White Beans	14.95	12.8	16.35	3.55	24.00%
Rice	8.95	10.2	14.15	5.2	58.00%
Wheat	5.6	7.15	7.15	1.55	28.00%
Apple Slices	58.05	61.7	74.05	16	28.00%
Carrots	55.35	58.8	67.75	12.4	22.00%
Macaroni	12.85	16.85	20.7	7.85	61.00%
Quick Oats	8.6	10.05	16.3	7.7	89.00%
Regular Oats	8.05	10.05	15.7	7.65	95.00%
Dry Onions	73.3	77.85	90	16.7	23.00%
Potato flakes	23.5	31.5	34	10.5	45.00%
Spaghetti	15.4	20.35	24.35	8.95	58.00%
Refried Beans	27.5	29.15	36.65	9.15	33.00%
Hot Chocolate	24.5	34.15	39.75	15.25	62.00%
Flour	9.9	10.05	13.6	3.7	37.00%
Fruit Juice	24.45	28.3	31.95	7.5	31.00%

What Can I Do?

My heart has been going out to those who have been affected by the devastation in Japan.  And I keep wondering what can be done?  All I can think is that we learn from this.  But then I have to say what can we learn?  What is it that the Lord wants us to learn?  And what should we do for ourselves?

 

Could we have disasters like this where we live?  I believe we could!  I have had people asking me what I think about where we live, and I have to say that perhaps the problems we might see here (locally - being Southern Alberta), are the ripple effects of these kinds of disasters. The shortages of certain kinds of foods, or the crazy high prices of certain kinds of food.  We will definitely see the high prices of gasoline!  The ripple effects will affect our standard of living and our economy, no doubt about it.  Are we ready for that?   Of course we could also have earthquakes here, we do have a few fault lines not too far from here, and we could see some flooding, but nothing like a tsunami, (we don't have water!).  We have tornadoes, we have extreme weather, we could see pandemics, we could see biological warfare problems (due to the army base close by), we have a couple of big plants here that produce toxic goods so we could see possible problems there, and the list can go on.  So could we have disasters where we live?  You bet!  Don't think we are exempt from these things!

 

So then what is our responsibility?  Well, my favorite subject to talk about is food storage, water storage, and just basic preparedness and self reliance in our homes.  In any disaster situation the immediate needs are usually shelter, water, food, and warmth, along with hygiene and medical supplies.   As we see from some of the most recent disasters, and what is going on right now in Japan, those who have survived and are living in shelters, they need medical supplies, they need water, heat, and food.  Those a little further out from the disaster areas are finding power shortages (due to controlled blackouts), they are finding empty shelves at the stores due to lack of available food, lack of transportation, due to shut down in dairies, loss of farms, factories that are not operating, and the list goes on.  There is a lack of fuel, many cannot get gas at the pumps because it just is not there.

 

We have been warned, we have been prodded, we have been pleaded with, for many years now within our church, and even through the governments, to be prepared.  Our church (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints), has asked us for well over 100 years now to prepare for any disaster by storing food, clothing and fuel where possible.  Many government websites have disaster plans, and tell people to have at least a 72 hour emergency kit, and up to a 3 month supply of food in your homes.  Our church asks us to have a one year supply of food and supplies in our homes. 

 

So what can we do?  Get prepared in our own homes, for whatever may come our way.  Whether it is just high prices, or shortages, or disasters, or gas shortages, or whatever it might be................get prepared!!!  Don't think for even one minute that we are safe and won't be affected by what is going on out there in the world.  We will, we can, and we will!!! 

 

Our church has Bishop Storehouses that sell basic food supplies in bulk, cheaper than anywhere else, because they want us to get prepared.  Take advantage of these.  From what I hear in many places that people who are not members of our church take advantage of these more than the members - who have been warned.  So find out where the closest one is and head there.  We are doing a ward dry pack canning day on April 9th and I am looking forward to that.  It is always a great time to get together a group of people who want to get prepared and have a work day.

 

So again?  Could it happen here?  Definitely something could, and will at some time.  What can we do?  Get prepared for whatever may come.  We don't know what it will be, but it will come, no doubt.

 

D&C 88: 88-91. "And after your testimony cometh wrath and indignation upon the people.  For after your testimony cometh the testimony of earthquakes, that shall cause groanings in the midst of her, and men shall fall upon the ground and shall not be able to stand.  And also cometh the testimony of the voice of thunderings, and the voice of lightnings, and the voice of tempests, and the voice of the waves of the sea heaving themselves beyond their bounds.  And all things shall be in commotion; and surely, men's hearts shall fail them; for fear shall come upon all people." 

 

In fact it wouldn't hurt to study out the whole section 88.  Study, ponder and pray about it. 

 

We have been warned!  What are you going to do about it?  Just get ready...........just do it now!

 

 

Blueberry Sausage Cake

This is going up on my other blog soon...but I thought I would post it here first.  (lucky you!)  This is a yummy breakfast type food we tried the other night for dinner.  I tweaked the recipe some, but the original is found here.

Blueberry Sausage Cake

3 C Flour
2 tsp Baking Powder
3/4 tsp Baking Soda
11/4 C Sugar
3/4 C Brown Sugar, Packed
11/4 C Butter
3 Eggs
3/4 C Sour Milk
1 package of Pork Sausage, Cooked (mine was about 1 lb)
2 C Blueberries

Cream Butter and Sugars together.  Add eggs and mix well.  Add all the dry ingredients and mix for a bit until most is mixed in then pour in the sour milk.  Mix until just mixed together.

Grease 9X13 pan and pour half of the mixture into the pan, spreading out to cover the bottom.  Top with blueberries and pork sausage.  Pour the rest of the batter on top of the berries and spread to cover.

Bake in 350F oven for 30-40 min until browned and cooked through.  Top with Blueberry sauce before serving.

Blueberry Sauce

3 C Blueberries
1/2 C Flour
1/2 C Sugar
1 tsp Lemon juice

Mix all ingredients in a medium saucepan.  Heat over Med heat until boils and thickens.  Serve over cake.

Enjoy
Cheers