Prepping Tips: Drying or Dehydrating Food

Dehydrating Food Tips

In addition to food preservation methods such as freezing or canning, dehydrating or drying food is a time-tested and natural way to preserve fresh food.

Unfortunately, most folks think it is not easy and don’t know where or how to start. Below you’ll find some recommended resources to help you on your way.

Like Those Before Us

Long before the modern conveniences of freezers or pressure canners, people, from early American settlers to military members, relied on healthy, nutritious dried foods to supplement their diets. Dried or dehydrated foods have a long shelf life, take up little space, and are easy to carry in a backpack or emergency survival kit.

Many believe that the nutritional value of dried foods is greater than that of canned or frozen foods. Various methods can dry foods without expensive equipment, such as canning jars, storage shelves, chest freezers, or pressure or water-bath canners.

Dehydrating or drying foods removes excess moisture that promotes bacterial or mold growth. Once foods are dried, keeping them in airtight packaging is vital.

A vacuum sealer, such as a Food Saver machine (we just got one of these, and it is a one-trick machine!), is a handy appliance for packaging dried foods for long-term storage or use while hiking or camping.

Drying is an economical way to preserve fresh produce in season. Vegetables, fruits, beef jerky, herbs, dried soup mixes, or grains are just a few things that can be successfully dried at home.

Here are some books recommended by friends who do a lot of this kind of stuff:

And don’t forget jerky! A good friend is big into making jerky, and I plan on giving some of his recipes a whirl.