There's nothing like the taste of fresh, homemade food. And when you dehydrate your own food, you can enjoy that delicious flavor all year round! In this how-to guide, we will walk you through six simple steps to dehydrate food at home. With a little preparation and some basic supplies, you'll be on your way to creating healthy and delicious snacks and meals. So let's get started!
All it takes are six simple steps to dehydrate food.
1. Buy It!
2. Prep It!
3. Dehydrate It!
4. Condition It!
5. Vacuum-Seal It!
6. Store It!
NOTE: The fourth step, 'conditioning,' is an oft-missed step by beginners.
Do these steps in order and you're bound to succeed. Don’t forget to stock up on vacuum-sealer bags and 100cc oxygen absorbers.
If you enjoyed listening to this episode, please share it with someone else you think might enjoy it too! See how easy it is to dehydrate food, whatever the reason or the season!
Visit Easy Food Dehydrating for all things dehydrating!
As a "Thank You" for listening, please pick up a copy of "How to Grow and Dehydrate Herbs" on Susan's website at Dehydrate Herbs free eBook.
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00:07
Hello and welcome to Easy Food Dehydrating, the show that teaches you how to safely dehydrate and store fresh (or frozen) fruits and vegetables, along with cooked meats. I’m your host, Susan Gast.
00:24
In today’s episode, I’ll discuss my Six Simple Steps to safely dehydrate food for long-term storage.
1: Buy It!
2: Prep It!
3: Dehydrate It!
4: Condition It!
5: Vacuum-Seal It!
6: Store It!
…and the fourth step - conditioning - is an often-missed step by beginners.
00:54
Hi and welcome to Six Simple Steps, a “how-to” guide for dehydrating food safely. Look, there's nothing like the taste of fresh homemade food. And when you dehydrate your own food, you can enjoy that delicious flavor all year round. In this “how-to” guide, I'll walk you through the six simple steps to dehydrate food at home. With a little preparation and some basic supplies, you'll be on your way to creating healthy and delicious snacks and meals. So let’s get started.
01:27
So, Step 1: Buy It! Yeah. The first step to dehydrating food is, of course, to go buy the food you want to dehydrate. You can purchase fruits, vegetables, and meats from your local grocery store or stop by those handy-dandy roadside farmers’ markets.
01:45
Step 2: Prep It! The second step is to prep your food for dehydrating. This involves washing and chopping the food into uniform pieces and in some instances you will be using lemon juice to deter oxidation. That's known as the browning of the foods, such as bananas - they tend to go brown… and apples. They also need the lemon juice treatment. The commercial plants use ascorbic acid. Sounds scary, but lemon juice does the same thing.
02:21
Step 3: Dehydrate It! Now it's time to dehydrate your food. There are a variety of ways to do this, but the most common method is of course, using an electric dehydrator. My go-to brands are Nesco and Excalibur. Both companies sell starter models and they are usually four trays.
02:45
Step 4: Condition It! The fourth step - conditioning - is often missed by beginners, as I said earlier. Conditioning simply means having your food sit around to “air out” inside a Ziploc bag, or similar. If you live in a hot climate like I do in Florida, zip up the dehydrated food in a plastic bag and put it in the refrigerator for safekeeping. Check it out the day after to see if it's uniformly dry. If it isn't, just stick it back on the dehydrator for another go around. This won't take as long as the initial drying, of course. Check on it, say, after an hour.
03:29
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04:13
Step 5: Vacuum-Seal It! The fifth step is to vacuum seal your dehydrated food. This is the fun part and the most important step for long-term food storage. It's also a noisy part, and the kids love this. They love noise, don't they? This is the time and place to add your 100cc oxygen absorber to the vacuum sealer bag prior to hitting the vacuum and seal function. Don't forget that.
04:43
Step 6: Store It! The final step is to store your dehydrated food in a cool, dark place. I like to use Mason jars and the vacuum sealer bags themselves. I then swaddle them in plastic wrap. These bundled packages are then placed inside a Mylar bag. I wrap them in plastic wrap because sometimes dehydrated food can be very sharp and they can accidentally puncture another bag that's snuggled up in that Mylar bag right next to it. So that's a tip. Wrap it in plastic wrap.
05:21
Note: Please do not attempt to draw the air out of a Mylar bag. It's pretty much an impossible task. Why? Both of the inner sides of the bag are smooth, so when you place the Mylar bag on the Foodsaver vacuum-sealer machine, it clamps the bag shut - tight - so you can't draw the air out. You only draw the air out of the vacuum sealer bags only.
05:47
To repeat here, add your dehydrated foods to a vacuum-sealer bag. Pop in the 100cc oxygen absorber. Next, clamp that bag tight in the Foodsaver machine, then draw the air out. The machine automatically switches over to ‘seal’ function. Pretty neat, huh? At this point, get a black felt tip pen and write the date and the bag's contents on it. Sometimes cauliflower can be mistaken for potatoes. Ask me how I know.
06:21
I then wrap these vacuum-sealed bags in cling wrap (plastic wrap). Store three or four packages inside a Mylar bag. As I said before, store your newly-dehydrated food packages inside a Mylar bag. Seal it only. Go grab that black felt marker pen again and write on the date and the contents on the lower part of the bag. Why not the top? Because you'll end up cutting off the top to gain access to one or two packages, and you'd have to write out the details again.
06:58
Why use my Mylar bags? Mylar bags keep out the oxygen and light. They are also moisture resistant, so if one of your packages does happen to have a small hole in it, the rest of the food will stay dry. You can purchase Mylar bags in various sizes: quart or gallon size, at most survivalist prepper websites, or yes, of course, Amazon.com.
07:22
What is a Mylar bag, you're wondering? A Mylar bag is a plastic aluminum laminate pouch and it's used for long term food storage. It's gray in color. The bags are made of a high density polyethylene material (HDPE), and coated with an aluminum foil layer. Mylar bags are often used in the packaging of dried goods such as cereals, nuts and pulses because they keep out moisture, oxygen and light. The bags can also be used to store fresh produce, meat, and fish.
08:00
#2 food-grade feed buckets. Lidded buckets are another option for storing your food. I use the five-gallon size. You can find these buckets at most feed stores, or Amazon.com, and even your local hardware stores. The lids of these buckets are airtight, but over at Amazon, they have some really neat bucket lids that you hammer on gently. The sweet part is that the center of the lid screws out. One of the Amazon buyers in her review said that it kept her flour in perfect condition. In other words, no bugs. Also, it helps your fingers and fingernails from not hurting when you try to pry off those lids.
08:48
Lastly, big bins with lids. These are fine for storing your filled and sealed Mylar bags. In a previous episode [Episode 2], I talked about how to create more food storage room out of thin air. This secret system - ha ha - trying to make you go check out that podcast episode…. it’s great for storing these big bins.
09:12
So there you have it, the six simple steps necessary to keep your dehydrated food safely stored. Let's keep your food pantry full. Hey, if you enjoyed listening to this episode, please share it with someone else you think might enjoy it too. See how easy it is to dehydrate food, whatever the reason or the season.
09:36
Closing:
Thanks for listening to the Easy Food Dehydrating podcast. Visit EasyFoodDehydrating.com for much more information on how to dehydrate food and the best way to safely store it.