Dehydrating to Save Money & Freezer Space
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
To see the Excalibur dehydrator I currently use, click here. For a complete collection of dehydrators offered by Amazon, click here.
In this video I’ll show you how to use a dehydrator to preserve frozen mixed vegetables for long period of time without taking up precious freezer space! At the end of the video, I also show you what the dehydrated vegetables look like once you reconstitute them and how easy that is to do!
I typed up the captioning for this video myself in order to make it closed captioned so be sure and click the little button in the bottom right if you’d like to “read” the video. For the record, in a ten minute time span, I spoke over 1879 words 🙂
Here is a link to my dehydrator since many of you have asked.
My family has really cut out tv a lot lately, almost down to nothing at all. In it’s place, we find interesting channels to subscribe to on Youtube! There is a lot of great educational and enriching material out there (not to mention cute cat videos), and it’s free! Be sure to subscribe to my Youtube channel by clicking here. If you have young ones, check out my story time videos!
To see the Excalibur dehydrator I currently use, click here. For a complete collection of dehydrators offered by Amazon, click here.
My garage has wonderful shelving for [potentially] storing jars of food….dehydrated or repackaged etc.
I panicked when the summer here in AL got so hot and I brought some inside thinking that the heat would not be good….and of course for some things it would not be even if able to ‘take’ the cold.
So my question is: will dehydrated food stand up to temp changes if stored in my garage. I really have filled my ‘interior’ storage space to capacity. ‘Help’!!!
I always wondered what to do with my zucchini that got too large. I shredded some and put it in the freezer, but as you said, it takes us a lot of space so I started making zucchini chips out of my large zucchini. I slice them thinly and sprinkle them with a mixture of garlic powder, oregano, and Old Bay seafood seasoning. I have had many compliments on my carb free chips and trust me they are delicious! Thanks for sharing your dehydrating ideas. You have broadened my horizons.
Thank you Pam, I am so glad you are enjoying your dehydrator!! Fabulous machines!
don’t have a dehydrator, can you use the oven instead
Not sure if my previous question went through. Last year I dried some corn from our garden. I kept it in a plastic container with a tight-fitting lid. After a couple of months the container was full of mold. What did I do wrong? Was it not dry enough? How do I know when it is dry enough?
Hey Mary! Yes, it sounds like you found the culprit right off. Here is what I do to ensure my food is dry enough:
Put my food in a glass jar or plastic bag and seal it completely. Then I keep an eye on it for 2-3 days to see if moisture droplets form. If they do, I simply return it to the dehydrator for another hour or two, depending on what setting it is on. I am especially careful with fruit as it seems to be the main culprit for this in my own life but it can happen to any item.
Thanks. I have a bumper crop of corn this year so I will try that!
I dehydrated some corn last year from our garden and after a couple of months the container was full of mold. I assume I just did not dry it enough? Is there something else I did incorrectly? How do I know when it is dry enough?
Thanks for your help.
Can you do fresh green beans ? How long to keep them in ?
Yes but blanch them first by dropping into boiling water for a few minutes and then putting in ice water for a minute. Just dry them on the vegetable setting according to the manufacturers suggestion for your machine. They call those leather britches when they are dry 🙂
Christy, can you please tell how long you can store these dehydrated items? Do you use oxygen absorbers to keep them longer? I am new to this and how tone able to put up some things like tomatoes and fruits.
You’ll have to use your own judgement but most books say to use them within six months to a year. I go a longer than that on some things but that is just me. If you freeze them I’d say indefinitely (personal opinion, although I just store mine in a cool dark place such as a closet). I don’t use O2 absorbers in mine. I do recommend putting them in plastic bags or glass jars for a few days after dehydrating so that you can watch and makes sure no moisture is present before putting them away for longer term storage.