I got my dehydrator a lifetime ago...I had the mistaken idea that I would save money with it and quickly realized that there isn't a savings over grocery bought dried fruits unless you have trees. But there is a much better reason to drying your own than saving money. Drying your own gives you access to fruit and veggies with no preservatives and saves a ton of space as you will see in the attached photos.
Of course the fruit can be eaten right out of the bag, but no one really tells you how to use fruit and veggies to cook. Here's what I do. Mid day I figure out how much I'm going to need for the dish that I am making, put it in a nalgene and cover with water. check and shake gently every couple of hours to make sure that the water is absorbed and if you need more water in it. If you are hiking the very act of walking will gently agitate. By dinner time your recipe addition will be re-hydrated and ready to cook.
Home dehydrated foods that are properly stored will last 6 months and if frozen a couple of years. Your main danger is mold. Always examine your dehydrated food for mold issues and dispose if it gets hit. Otherwise, Bon Appetit!
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| Drying can reduce storage size to 1/4 of original packaging. ©Marcia Mauskopf 2011 |
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| #10 cans of peaches are less than $4 at Costco and peas are on sale for as little as 33¢ ©Marcia Mauskopf 2011 |
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| You can even dry lemons to flavor your fresh caught trout! This is 11 lemons from my tree. ©Marcia Mauskopf @2011 |
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