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5 Great Benefits of Drying Food

Featured Content, Homesteading & Self-Sufficiency

Dehydrating Foods – My Favourite Method of Food Storage

With or without a Dehydrator, drying your own food has many advantages…

Are you thinking about drying foods to preserve them?

Just about every season has some food you can dry, and the variety of dried foods is significant… While many choose to dehydrate animal foods, and you can certainly do that, whether it is your more common beef and chicken to wild game jerky in the fall.

My preference is to store Vegan foods, so what I will be covering are almost any and all vegetables from corn to green beans. I will also be looking at drying all sorts of fruits – including bananas & apples which are available pretty much year-round in most grocery stores to berries you can grow or even harvest wild.

Of course the other things that I want to focus on are drying fresh herbs… not just for use in cooking but also for medicinal purposes, and herbs are great dried and stored providing it is done correctly.

But why bother? Are there any benefits to dried foods?

Most definitely!

Here are some of the benefits of drying foods.

1. It’s Economical

Have you taken note at the prices of dried fruits and vegetables in your grocery or health food store? You might have had to look twice – they’re expensive. They are particularly pricey if they are healthful versions, such as organic or free of preservatives, artificial colors and flavors.

Drying your own wholesome food is much less expensive, especially if you dry foods that are in season and/or on sale and you can buy bulk… Local produce markets are good for this. And of course don’t forget you can grow your own, and make sure you grow extra so you can dehydrate some.

Also, when you go on car trips and family vacations, bringing along some of your own dried foods can save you a lot of money on snacks and meals while traveling. Especially good if you enjoy camping or hiking

2. Long Shelf Life

Dehydrated food is perfect to store for use in an emergency situation. Because it can last such a long time, when stored correctly, you should include it in any emergency kits you may have for yourself and your family. Or in your general food storage, especially if you are Prepping for anything unexpected that might happen.

Even if you are just storing food for short emergency situations, such as if the power goes out during a summer storm or due to some other act of nature… Having a stash of dehydrated foods along with other life necessities like fresh water or other items you might need, means you can still have fruit, vegetables, and meats (if you choose) available to prepare meals.

As I already mentioned, if you like hiking and camping, dehydrated food makes a great addition to your packs – as well as being high in nutrition, it’s lightweight and can last for an extended period of time because there is no need for refrigeration.

3. Convenience

I think it is probably obvious, from just what I have already mentioned that dried foods are very convenient.

They are really good if you have children and need to grab something quick on the way out the door. There are many situations that can occur in life unexpectedly, especially when you have children, such as if one of them needs to go to the ER, and you don’t know how long you’ll be waiting there? You and the other children will likely need something to eat at some point, so it is great to have some dried snacks on hand.

Even when you are out running errands, it’s nice to have some food in the car just in case something unexpected causes your trip to be longer than expected. In fact, you can have a take-along bag with dried foods that you always take with you in the car and in addition to the fact that you have available quick and easy healthy food, it also saves you money buying from fast food outlets.

Dried food is also convenient when you can’t get to the store, such as during a bad storm, and in the US there were some really good examples of this during some record breaking snowstorms over the past winter.

It’s also nice to be able to have dried produce on hand for soups and stews and other recipes, it can save having to go out to buy produce at the time, and end up having some go to waste in your refrigerator.

Don’t forget having ‘out of season’ treats… During winter you can serve up a fresh-tasting raspberry sauce or have on hand some other vegetables that would normally only be easily accessible during spring or summer months.

4. Healthy

Dried food retains most of the nutrients, except those that depend on the presence of water. All of the fiber remains intact and providing you know how it has been grown, it’s chemical free, devoid of preservatives and artificial flavors and colors.

Think of being able to reap the health benefits when, for example, you feel a cold coming on and you can treat yourself with your own dried herbs and even foods that can help ward off colds and flu.

5. Easy and Inexpensive to Prepare

Dehydrating food is relatively simple to do… There’s no need to fuss over sterilizing jars, or using a pressure canner, not to mention spending money on extra ingredients like sugar and vinegar which are not healthy anyway.

You start and end with just the food, only in a more concentrated form – it’s simple, and most of the food can be restored to a ‘fresh’ state by the addition of water, or water and heat.

Check out Dehydrators on Amazon… I own the 9 Tray Excalibur Below:

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Get Started Dehydrating!

So there you have just some of the many advantages of using dehydration as a way of preserving and storing fresh foods. If you have not tried it for yourself, then I encourage you to start, even if it is just using an air drying method to dry some fresh herbs. If might surprise you just how easy it can be…

How to Dry Fresh Food

Featured Content, Homesteading & Self-Sufficiency

Step by Step Dehydrating Food

An introduction to drying your own fresh food

Dehydrating food is something that I am keen to learn more about. It opens up a whole new world where you can store fresh produce and even make up your own camping recipes… If this is something you would also like to do, then you need to just make a start and that’s what I wanted to do here… Help people make a start!

Generalized articles and recipes are fine, but sometimes you really just need some basic information that breaks a process down into doable steps. It’s also helpful to learn more than one technique for drying foods. Here’s a how-to guide for drying foods step by step, focusing on fruits and vegetables.

You will need to look up specific instructions for each specific food you are wanting to dry, however, have a read through these steps before embarking on your venture, to get a general idea of the process and some tips I have discovered…

Step 1: Obtain Your Produce

Ok… so this probably goes without saying…

Your produce may come from your own garden, a friend/neighbor’s garden, a local farmers’ market, grocery store, etc. The main thing is that you have fresh produce that is at its peak. Even though you’ll be drying it, you don’t want shriveled, dried-up produce to start with.

(However, fruit that is somewhat overripe can still be dried if you use it to make fruit leather.)

Look for fruits and vegetables that do not have soft or mushy spots, and avoid hard, green, under-ripe fruit as well. The food does not have to look perfect; it just needs to be ripe and free of decay.

Step 2: Prepare Your Produce – Wash and Blanch

If possible, obtain your produce and dry it on the same day. Wash it well and pat it dry.

Some foods can be dried without blanching, however, others will need to be blanched or will dry a lot quicker if blanched first.

To blanch your produce, bring a large pot of water to a boil and fill a large bowl or pot with ice water. You will also need a slotted spoon or steamer basket to get the produce out of the water quickly. You are preparing to blanch your produce – dip it quickly in boiling water, and then plunge it in cold water to stop the cooking.

Sources recommend that you do not skip this step, because it will make all the difference in the quality and shelf life of your foods. This is because blanching kills bacteria that cause decay. The exceptions to the blanching rule are mushrooms, which should just be wiped clean, and bananas, which will soften too much in boiling water.

Blanch vegetables for 3-5 minutes and fruits for 2-3 minutes.

Step 3: Pat Dry and Spread on Drying Sheets

After blanching, place your produce on trays or cookie sheets, cover with several layers of paper towels, and then pat it dry.

Step 4: Slice and Cut Food

Slice fruits like strawberries, bananas, pineapples and apples into thin slices. Cut corn kernels off the cob. Halve stone fruits and remove the stones (pits).

Step 5: Place Food in Dehydrator (if you don’t have one, skip to Step 6)

Place the food on the dryer trays with space between the pieces with no overlaps (for some things, like chopped onions having overlap won’t be a problem). Turn the dehydrator to the setting recommended by the manufacturer, set your timer.

If you don’t have a Dehydrator machine…

Step 6: OR Place Food on Cloth-Covered Screens or String with Thread

Using old window screens (as long as they are lead-free) is fine, and so is stapling screening to a plain wood frame. Cover with cloth, place food on the cloth (close together but not touching), and cover with another cloth. Place outside in a dry, shady area and bring in at night (before any dew settles). Repeat for several days.

[Reminds me of years ago when I was living on a farm, we had large tray’s with screen, and would cut up fruit; apricots, peaches, plums etc. and put out on timber stands in the sun to dry…]

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If you string your food on thread, as with green beans or whole, small mushrooms, you’ll need to hang it in a dry, shady area as well and bring it inside at night. Both methods can be done indoors in a dry attic, as well.

So there are a few dehydrating tips to hopefully get you started… it is really not all that difficult, and when you have your own freshly dehydrated food then there is a whole new set of lessons… How to store it short and long term, how you can use these foods in dry mixes etc.

One other thing I would also be interested in, is learning more about dehydrating already prepared meals…

Maybe another day 🙂

My Summer Garden Disasters

Problems I’ve had in my garden this Summer

Short garden tour outlining some of my disappointments and challenges.

Well here in Australia summer has just ended so we are just getting into autumn. And if I wasn’t busy sitting here working on my computer I would be out working in the garden getting it ready for winter!!

Lol… Seriously, we have had a shocker with fruit fly this year. I have no doubt that the weather has been ‘perfect’ for them (that is usually the case here over summer), and apparently, according to the ‘powers that be’, they have banned a chemical that would normally be used to control their population growth.

Now, being the person that I am… I’m really glad they have banned that chemical (it must be pretty bad if they have actually banned it… and there are plenty more that should be relegated to the same fate… however… I digress), even if it does mean I didn’t really get any good fruit this year!

If that chemical being removed from the market has made such a difference, then it certainly highlights just how bad the fruit fly problem really is.

And I don’t think ‘chemicals’ are the answer anyway… at least not when it’s sprayed all over your tree and fruit.
There must be some other more eco-friendly solutions I figured… And so I bought baits and for the most part that helped but not enough to really improve my harvest.

Here is a short video giving you a tour of my little Urban Garden.

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Virtually all my lemons and tomatoes were ruined with fruit fly infestation, however, I didn’t use any physical barrier’s and clearly, this is something that I should have done.

There are a few other ideas I have to see if I can improve on the situation next year so thought I would share them here.

Dealing With Fruit Fly Naturally

Use baits – either the commercial varieties or homemade ones, just remember if some of these have potentially harmful chemicals to dispose of them very thoughtfully.
Use physical barriers – You can buy little net bags that you can put over your fruit or you can buy large netting to cover your whole tree. There are some issues here though… when you cover your whole tree you are also keeping out beneficial insects like bees and butterflies. Plus they can be a hazard to these insects or even to small birds if they happen to get caught up in the netting or inside and not be able to get out.
Meticulous attention to garden hygiene – always pick up any fruit that has dropped to the ground. Fruit fly reproduce in the ground… the maggots crawl out of their ‘fruity cocoon’ and bury themselves in the ground to hatch into mature flies next season. So removing infected fruit from the trees and certainly picking them up from the ground as soon as possible it definitely critical in controlling these pests.
Dispose of affected fruit by cutting open and putting into a bucket of water, and leave for a day or two – eventually, just strain off liquid and dispose of the fruit remains.

Some other things I want to try is improving the health of the soil… Along with compost, organic matter and mulching I want to try some bio-char and also rock mineral dust.

I believe the healthier the plants the less likely they will have pest and disease problems… Not sure how well this theory will work with something like fruit fly but there is certainly nothing to lose by experimenting with this idea some more.

The other thing is, I have just started studying Permaculture, and I am sure if I was in a position to be able to apply these principles, it would have to make a difference…. That won’t really happen totally here, however, it is certainly something that I will be applying to any future property, should we be able to move back to a more rural setting…

My other summer garden problem… Root Knot Nematode!

These are little pests… also called eel worm they cause growths on the roots of your plants that make the roots not function as they should and eventually it just causes the plants to wilt and die… Tomatoes and other plants are very susceptible.

This has definitely been another ‘developing’ problem which has become more noticeable over the past few years.
No doubt due to my ‘neglect’ of my garden… and a lack of ‘practicing what I preach’, however, that is just the way things are at the moment while I am looking after my Father and trying to work online at home.

There is never enough time in the day to get everything done, so some things suffer (well probably a lot of things to be honest).
Despite root-knot nematodes being a problem when they get out of hand, not all nematodes are bad, and providing you manage your garden well, then they should not be a big problem.

If you want to get a good run-down on these nasty nematodes then you can check out Jerry Coleby-Williams post over on Gardening Australia.

Ways to Attack a Nematode Problem:

Resting the garden beds and rotating crops
Solarising the beds – using a black plastic cover
Planting a covering of marigolds and mustard greens and digging them into the soil
Building up the health of the soil as mentioned earlier

So growing your own food can have it’s challenges, however, it is really worthwhile to learn how to deal with problems, and of course, ideally to learn how to avoid problems where possible. This is one reason I have decided to formally start a course in Permaculture Design. It is something I have skirted around for some years… I have mostly focused on chemical free and organic gardening, however, recently learning more about Permaculture, I can see why using this approach can not only save a person a ton of unnecessary work, but it is way more eco-friendly, and has a good chance of having less issues with bugs and diseases.

I will keep you posted with my progress with the course, and also you can expect me to be sharing more about Permaculture systems from here on.

As for my garden challenges this year, if you happen to be experiencing similar problems then I encourage you to consider some of the solutions and points I’ve mentioned.

Also, please comment below if you have some of your own suggestions or experiences to share… I would love to hear about them…

Happy Gardening 🙂

Say No to GMO

Genetically Modified Foods a Growing Concerns

Processed and GMO foods is becoming a critical health issue, worldwide.

I guess it is no surprise that we have reached this point where so many foods on our supermarket shelves are just getting worse and worse. Almost all of them should have a label saying ‘Unfit for Human (or animal) Consumption’!

When you consider all the added ‘non-food’ chemicals; the artificial preservatives, colours & flavours, the processed ingredients and then you add the genetically altered foods that are also being added to these so-called foods, you can begin to realize the potential catastrophic threat to the survival of the human race.

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Now that might sound dramatic, and clearly, as biological organisms we are able to stand a lot of ‘less than ideal’ foods and conditions, very few of these GMO and otherwise adulterated foods do damage that is immediately evident… Hence the insidious nature of this problem.

When it all boils down, the only way anything is going to change is if people start to ‘care’; they wake up and become educated and then vote with their wallets. It seems that it is primarily the ‘dollar’ that drives this whole movement… Companies whose only concern is their profit margins and who show what can only be described as contempt for human and animal health and well-being, are really only going to respond if it starts to hurt where they feel it most.

Personally, I don’t think I would require studies or any ‘proof’ that genetically modified ‘anything’ is not going to be good for you. Even if there were conclusive studies to support GMO foods as causing no harm whatsoever, I would still rather trust what has been proven through the ages, to not only be safe but to provide superior taste and nutrition… and that is using organic methods.

Organic methods in agriculture and food production, while initially appearing to be more labour intensive, more costs and perhaps more time intensive… are or should be the way of the future. No matter how much of that ‘future’ we have left. At least that is my opinion.

While it is becoming increasingly more difficult, to get back to producing food as close as possible to the way the Creator made things in the beginning, it just seems to be the most logical and common sense approach, and for me, that would be my goal. Working with nature and in accordance with God’s creation is always going to be a far better approach, than starting to genetically modify something that has already been proved to work just fine, so long as the natural laws are upheld and applied.

As time goes on the folly of modern farming methods are proving to be not just non-sustainable but damaging to our environment at large and to the health of animals and human kind.

A controversial 2 year study of the health effects of GMO corn sprayed with Roundup, the Seralini Study, showed, despite the results being ‘retracted’, enough evidence to cause some grave concerns…

And at the very least I would have to ask the question, would it not be better to err on the side of caution rather than just heading off down a path that is fraught with all sorts of problems and concerns?

I found a good article listing the top 10 worst GMO foods for you… It is definitely worth a read.

The foods listed include some of my personal favourite ‘foods’ to hate!

Here are my top 4 Danger Foods:

Canola Oil (an abomination, and lately is being put into just about every food out there… read the labels).
Aspartame (should be banned, along with all artificial sweeteners).
Sugar (referring to that derived from genetically modified sugar beets, although virtually any processed sugar is responsible for a huge number of chronic health problems throughout society… adding a GMO version is just adding insult to injury… literally!).
Soy (frequently seen as a ‘healthy’ alternative, if you do some more research you find that it is not only not healthy, it is an extreme problem and when you throw GMO into the mix).

Check out the other’s listed… Some may surprise you.

How Do You Avoid GMO

Well… if you buy any sort of processed food via a supermarket, in fast-food outlets or even in a lot of restaurants then you are likely getting a large dose already, so that is the place to start.

Start replacing ‘done-for-you’ meals with ones that you make yourself from scratch and make sure that the ingredients are as natural as possible, and certified organic or from a local growers market at least.

This one thing will definitely cut down by a huge percentage your intake of GMO foods.

Don’t forget things like Breads and Dairy either, because breads most often contain way too many unnecessary additives and unhealthy fats including canola oils and Dairy is being sourced from animals that are being fed GMO foods, so we are getting the ‘effects’ second hand which might even be worse!

Read labels and start to become a lot more aware of what it is you are taking into your body in the way of foods.

Don’t just take the ‘easy’ path… Make sure you educate yourself for the sake of your own and your family’s health.

Buy Certified Organic products (as previously mentioned), buy from local growers markets and start your own Organic Garden to grow as much as you can of your own fresh fruit and veggies, using Heirloom Seeds.

There seems to be increasing threats that potentially will impact on our future and the future of our children. Changes in weather patterns, increasing natural disasters and growing social unrest are all things that contribute to concern and the need to be better prepared. The threat to our environment through the excessive use of chemicals combine with the contamination and abomination of our food supplies are also just as much, maybe even more of a concern.

Clearly, being prepared for emergencies is not just for the acute events but also for the more insidious and chronic damage that is being inflicted upon the planet and all that live on it!

Episode 2 – 10 Popular Veggies to Grow in your Urban Garden Pt 1

10 Popular Veggies to Grow in your Urban Garden – Part 1

Growing tips, health information as well as some storage suggestions, for some of our favourite vegetables and fruits…

If you would like to listen to the audio podcast, just click on the play button below, and if you would prefer, you can also download the podcast to your computer to listen to later.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

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Podcast (mp3 file) length is 32 mins (File size: 21.9 MB)

If you would rather watch the video version… then you should see that on this page, just below. Also, down below the video you can read the show notes which will fill you in on the general details covered in this episode.

Please take a minute to leave a comment down below… And thanks for visiting 🙂

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Episode 2 Show Notes

Today, we go through the first 5 Veggies or Fruits that are popular to grow in your Urban Garden (or any garden you might have)…

We look at Tomatoes, Lettuce, Peas/Beans/Legumes, Carrots & Potatoes.

For each of these I go over some growing tips, their culinary uses, health benefits and also discuss how you can use them in your survival plan…

What to Expect in Episode 3

Coming up in Episode 3 we will look at the last 5 in our series…. “10 Popular Veggies/Fruits you can Grow in your Urban Garden”.

Thanks for dropping by…

Please tell me a little about your garden, or any plans you might have for growing your own fruit and veggies…

About The Urban Garden Survival Podcast Series

The Urban Garden Survival Show is a podcast series all about improving your quality of life through growing your own organic fruit, veggies & herbs, becoming more self-sufficient, being prepared for emergencies, natural health including herbal and home remedies. Come along for the journey as I share tips and strategies as well as interview some special guests!