Dehydrating

hearlady

hearlady

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Location
N Carolina
All morning I've been bringing in veggies to process. Cabbage, Swiss chard, spinach, snow and snap peas.
One hassle is when you process and wash the veggies the salad spinner doesn't get them totally dry enough to freeze in bags so I usually spread them on dry pads. Maybe use paper towels.Takes a lot of room and time.
I keep a dehydrator in the kitchen all summer to dry various herbs, veggies, etc. My eye caught it and thought why not? I put the spinach in on lowest setting and in five minutes -totally dry then bagged. The blanched snow peas dried then spread on a bamboo tray to freeze before bagging.
Yay!
 

Wow, I'm still working on preparing my ground for planting in the garden & your getting veggies.

We don't dehydrate, but freeze dry our veggies along with canning. It works out well & they will keep years longer than if canned. I'm finding out that using freeze dried fruit in pies have the same flavor as the fresh. Since we just started to do this with fruit. It's great to eat as is, like candy. I just re-hydrate it with water & drain off the excess. I think I drained it too long the last time & I'll not do it quite as long the next.

I wouldn't have thought about the dehydrator, but it sounds like you found another use for it!
 
I worry about staying hydrated and you’re dehydrating. I drink 60 ounces a day of water, Gatorade, milk and/or iced tea (sugar-free). It’s very rare to see me without a bottle of water, bottle of iced tea or Gatorade nearby. I had a fellow ask me how often did I have to use the rest room. I told him not as much as you think.
 

Lilac said:
Wow, I'm still working on preparing my ground for planting in the garden & your getting veggies.

We don't dehydrate, but freeze dry our veggies along with canning. It works out well & they will keep years longer than if canned. I'm finding out that using freeze dried fruit in pies have the same flavor as the fresh. Since we just started to do this with fruit. It's great to eat as is, like candy. I just re-hydrate it with water & drain off the excess. I think I drained it too long the last time & I'll not do it quite as long the next.

I wouldn't have thought about the dehydrator, but it sounds like you found another use for it!
Click to expand...
That's good to know. I haven't dried fruit yet. I have wondered about a freeze dryer. I think things come out better that way.
 
Been There said:
I worry about staying hydrated and you’re dehydrating. I drink 60 ounces a day of water, Gatorade, milk and/or iced tea (sugar-free). It’s very rare to see me without a bottle of water, bottle of iced tea or Gatorade nearby. I had a fellow ask me how often did I have to use the rest room. I told him not as much as you think.
Click to expand...
Good to stay hydrated!
 
hearlady said:
That's good to know. I haven't dried fruit yet. I have wondered about a freeze dryer. I think things come out better that way.
Click to expand...
We had a small dehydrator years ago & the plastic trays didn't last long so we didn't replace it.

A while back my husband kept looking at freeze dryers & we bought a Harvest Right. At that time, they only made the one size which is now their medium. Now they have three sizes: S, M & L. We love it we can do veggies, fruits, meats and fully cooked meals. I'll fill canning jars for most things we use all the time & draw out the air using the seal-a-meal. If you want to keep it a real long time you need to use mylar bags & oxygen absorbers.

Makes preserving food easy & gives me another option besides canning. I'll always do my tomatoes, homemade ketchup, jams, pickles & a few other things the old way.
 
I'm on my fourth Food Saver after wearing out the others & won't have any other brands, unless I could afford a pro-model which I have been looking at off & on. Not sure if that one will do jars or not which would be a deal breaker.

I have both the regular & large mouth jar sealer. The only thing I had problems sealing were fine-powdered foods because it was sucked up into the machine. I put a piece of saran wrap on top & pressed it to the sides & that seemed to stop it. I don't do a lot of that, but sometimes I've had too much to just toss out.

I've seen some people use oxygen absorbers to seal up their jars which will draw the lid on, but I haven't tried that. I think that could work for fine powdered foods.
 
A little off topic but here goes. I do not have a food saver. I use the ziploc freezer bags.

I find with the freezer bags they slip and slide so are hard to keep stacked.

Are the food saver sealers slippery? Or more of a friction coating?
 
Lee said:
A little off topic but here goes. I do not have a food saver. I use the ziploc freezer bags.

I find with the freezer bags they slip and slide so are hard to keep stacked.

Are the food saver sealers slippery? Or more of a friction coating?
Click to expand...
It's a heavier plastic, but still slide. When I was buying burger in bulk, I froze 1# packages in sandwich size zips, squeezed out the air, flattened them (1" thick x width of bag x 3" tall) & stuffed them in the 1-gal zips. It kept them together.

My kitchen fridge has the freezer in the bottom drawer (love it). The divider in it doesn't keep everything together so I got heavier Sterlite baskets (w/little silver handles that can be stacked) to hold things together & has worked well. In the top sliding drawer I use smaller 3" tall baskets to hold items.

th-374681454.jpgth-11096198.jpg
 
Lilac said:
I'm on my fourth Food Saver after wearing out the others & won't have any other brands, unless I could afford a pro-model which I have been looking at off & on. Not sure if that one will do jars or not which would be a deal breaker.

I have both the regular & large mouth jar sealer. The only thing I had problems sealing were fine-powdered foods because it was sucked up into the machine. I put a piece of saran wrap on top & pressed it to the sides & that seemed to stop it. I don't do a lot of that, but sometimes I've had too much to just toss out.

I've seen some people use oxygen absorbers to seal up their jars which will draw the lid on, but I haven't tried that. I think that could work for fine powdered foods.
Click to expand...
I find I use the lid sealer to draw out air from jars. I sealed some flour (just remembered it's in the back of one of my cabinets) but it was a pain. I used coffee filters. I think I had to keep wiping the
seal with damp cloth to get it to seal. I also sealed some oatmeal. That wasn't as bad.
I'll have to check oxygen absorbers.
 
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Lilac said:
I'm on my fourth Food Saver after wearing out the others & won't have any other brands, unless I could afford a pro-model which I have been looking at off & on. Not sure if that one will do jars or not which would be a deal breaker.

I have both the regular & large mouth jar sealer. The only thing I had problems sealing were fine-powdered foods because it was sucked up into the machine. I put a piece of saran wrap on top & pressed it to the sides & that seemed to stop it. I don't do a lot of that, but sometimes I've had too much to just toss out.

I've seen some people use oxygen absorbers to seal up their jars which will draw the lid on, but I haven't tried that. I think that could work for fine powdered foods.
Click to expand...
I ruined my first one because I didn't pre freeze the food and juice was getting sucked up in it. Gross 😊
I now save those fruit/veggie bags from the grocery store and put meat in there, freeze overnight then seal in food saver bags.
 
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hearlady said:
I find I use the lid sealer to draw out air from jars. I sealed some flour (just remembered it's in the back of one of my cabinets) but it was a pain. I used coffee filters. I think I had to keep wiping the
seal with damp cloth to get it to seal. I also sealed some oatmeal. That wasn't as bad.
I'll have to check oxygen absorbers.
Click to expand...
Pack Fresh USA has been good to deal with & I like their products. https://packfreshusa.com/

Large pieces aren't a problem, just the fine powder that I had problems with. I'll try the coffee filter next time if I'm using powder, too.
 
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hearlady said:
I ruined my first one because I didn't pre freeze the food and juice was getting sucked up in it. Gross 😊
I now save those fruit/veggie bags from the grocery store and put meat in there, freeze overnight then seal in food saver bags.
Click to expand...
I don't freeze my food prior to sealing in the plastic bags & any liquid from the bags went in the little reservoir. I've gotten good over the years hitting the "seal" button when the liquid starts to get near the seal area 😊.

The only thing I seal up in jars are dried foods like the freeze dried veggies, herbs, oatmeal, etc.

I love these machines! 💕
 
I like the heavier plastic for a longer freezing time, but I still use ziplock for short term. Food Saver bags come in
8"W x 20'L or 11"W x 16'L rolls that you cut to the size you need which is what I use. You can also buy pre-cut bags, but I think they cost more & you don't have the option of changing the size. When I bought mine, they had some samples in the box. I think you'll like it.
 

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