# Dehydrating food question - how to store it



## gringogigante (Jul 12, 2010)

Hello all,

This is my first post on this forum.

When I dehydrate some fruit and veggies, how can i store them without canning?

Here're my thoughts:

1. put dehydrated food in a ziplock freezer bag with a 100cc oxygen absorber.
2. put that bag in a mylar bag (to block light) with another 100cc oxygen absorber.
3. Store the whole shootin' match in a cool, dry place.

Does that sound adequate? I'm trying to avoid having to buy a vaccuum sealer and a ton of vaccuum bags.

thoughts?


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## horseman09 (Mar 2, 2010)

******, I've never seen a zip lock bag that will hold a vacuum. 

You can use canning jars with 02 absorbers or even plastic peanut butter jars, mayo jars, etc. We use the party size plastic peanut jars from WalMart. Nice because they have a wide mouth and will seal. You'll want to be sure there is not too much airspace in the jar that the absorber reaches max absorbtion with 02 still remaining. Very gradually, the plastic will leach 02 but if your absorber has lots of excess capacity you'll still be good for years.

As for light, keep your containers in a dark area such as dark colored plastic storage tubs.


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## gringogigante (Jul 12, 2010)

horseman09 said:


> ******, I've never seen a zip lock bag that will hold a vacuum.
> 
> You can use canning jars with 02 absorbers or even plastic peanut butter jars, mayo jars, etc. We use the party size plastic peanut jars from WalMart. Nice because they have a wide mouth and will seal. You'll want to be sure there is not too much airspace in the jar that the absorber reaches max absorbtion with 02 still remaining. Very gradually, the plastic will leach 02 but if your absorber has lots of excess capacity you'll still be good for years.
> 
> As for light, keep your containers in a dark area such as dark colored plastic storage tubs.


What if i bypassed the ziplock baggies and just put the food in the mylar bag?


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## horseman09 (Mar 2, 2010)

******, I've never used mylar bags, but 2 questions come to mind: 1, can you seal them? 2. can you prevent them from being punctured when the bag is squeezed against the contents?


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## Genevieve (Sep 21, 2009)

I store my dried foods in mason jars. I have a vacuum sealer that came with a jar sealer, so I can use it and vacuum out the air. I then keep my jars in a dark cool hallway or pantry. I even have some vacuum sealed bags of fruits and veggies and spaghetti sauces.


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## UncleJoe (Jan 11, 2009)

Genevieve said:


> I even have some vacuum sealed bags of fruits and veggies and spaghetti sauces.


Do you freeze the sauce first? We tried doing blackberries last year and the juice was sucked through before the bag could seal making it hard to get a good seal. We ended up freezing them first, then vacuum seal, then back in the freezer.


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## NotSoFast (Jun 9, 2009)

I bought the vacuum sealer, and the lid adapters so I could put it in quart or half gallon jars and vacuum seal them. They have both large mouth and small mouth adapters.

Amazon.com: FoodSaver T03-0006-01 Regular-Mouth Jar Sealer: Kitchen & Dining

Amazon.com: FoodSaver T03-0023-01 Wide-Mouth Jar Sealer: Kitchen &&#8230;

It just takes a few seconds to seal a jar and then I store them in a cool dry place -- my closet.


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## Genevieve (Sep 21, 2009)

No hun, I dehydrate the sauce using the fruit leather trays that came with the dehydrator and then I roll the dried sauce up and put it in a jar or I'll vacuum seal them for LTS. Then when you want to use the sauce you only need to add enough water to turn it back into a thick or thin sauce ( however you like your sauce).


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## OldCootHillbilly (Jul 9, 2010)

How long will home dehydrated foods keep in a vac bag in a dark cool enviroment? Not ta hijack the thread er nothing.


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## Emerald (Jun 14, 2010)

OldCootHillbilly said:


> How long will home dehydrated foods keep in a vac bag in a dark cool environment? Not ta hijack the thread er nothing.


As long as you got most of the water out of them and they are crispy dry and you vac-packed them and they are stored in the dark cool environment then they should last for at least 2 to 5 years and longer- but you should use and rotate every year if you can.
I also use my Foodsaver vac-packer with the mason jar sealer and since I got the wide mouth one with my packer I want to buy the small mouth one, but if you look in the threads here you will find that Bunkerbob uses his pressure cooker and vac-packer to vacuum out many jars at once. 
http://www.preparedsociety.com/forum/f2/storing-rice-beans-mason-jars-buckets-3526/#post31762
I will be trying this later this year to pack up some of the bulk herbs and spices that I buy- especially the garlic and onion powders they absorb moisture very quickly.

And if you have never dehydrated veggies before don't be upset at what happens--three pounds of nice fresh from the garden green beans, blanched and dehydrated will not even fill a pint sized mason jar! But they pop right back up to size when you put them in stew or soup.. lol

Genevieve--have you taken your dried spaghetti sauce(and pizza sauce) and dried it as crispy as possible and then powder it and sprinkle it on some fresh hot popcorn with maybe a bit of Parmigiana cheese? Best treat ever! and calorie wise it is probably better than other snacks.

Powdered plain tomato sauce makes a great soup enhancer and sauce enhancer, really adds zing to any dish.
I have been thinking about making my own sour cream dip mixes too, by putting the powdered up sauces and herbs and stuff together- they cost tons of cash here and are all the "big" thing at the craft shows. Best thing is-- no MSG.


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## Genevieve (Sep 21, 2009)

Yea. straight tomato sauce and I've dried thin slices of fresh tomatoes crispy and then powdered them in the food processor.
I've made up some small bags of "instant" soups for our BOBs and then vacuumed sealed them.
Some chicken bullion,some frozen rice that I dried in the dehydrator,some dried veggies just a pinch of the tomato powder, some dried herbs, seal it up, good to go! Just add boiling water or add water and cook in the pot till it's all cooked thru.
You can do the same with beef bullion.


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## nj_m715 (Oct 31, 2008)

My vac sealer came with a couple large square containers for holding things like left overs or prezle rods. I can use it to seal any jar that fits inside like doing the pressure cooker method.


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## Emerald (Jun 14, 2010)

nj_m715 said:


> My vac sealer came with a couple large square containers for holding things like left overs or prezle rods. I can use it to seal any jar that fits inside like doing the pressure cooker method.


I've got the two small round ones and the one big round one that came with my set, and have been thinking about the big square containers for doing my marinades. You have just given me another reason to bug the Hubby for it! Thanks!:2thumb:


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## Genevieve (Sep 21, 2009)

I've heard from other people that you can use the round canisters to vacuum seal jars if you don't have the attachments. You put the jar inside the canister and then use the hose on the canister and it apparently seals the jar. I haven't tried this because I have both jar sealing attachments. So I don't know if it works or not.


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## Emerald (Jun 14, 2010)

Maybe I will take my brown sugar out of the big one and try a few of my herb jars and spice jars that have the small mouth. I will let ya'll know if it works good or not.


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## bunkerbob (Sep 29, 2009)

Genevieve said:


> I've heard from other people that you can use the round canisters to vacuum seal jars if you don't have the attachments. You put the jar inside the canister and then use the hose on the canister and it apparently seals the jar. I haven't tried this because I have both jar sealing attachments. So I don't know if it works or not.


I posted this awhile ago...
"This may sound different, but I use my large *pressure* cooker to vac seal quart size mason jars. Just place food item, beans, rice or pretty much anything dry into jars with O2 absorbers, then put on lids and rings, tighten, place jars in *pressure* *canner*, remove or cover the rubber safety button on lid using heavy tape. Now seal lid on cooker, hook up vac hose(I have a refer vac pump) or from your vac sealing machine to the vent pipe that the *pressure* regulator sits on and draw a vacuum. Let the jars sit in there for a few minutes, now release the vacuum. Open the *canner* lid and check the jars, the lids should be concave similar to canning in the conventional manner. Take off rings and check the lids with your fingernail, if they resist they should be good to go". 
I've been doing this for quite a while and have had no problems with lid failures. 
Some vac sealers come with an attachment that will do small mouth jars in the same way, my method will do just about any jar with a good sealing lid.
I leave the jar rings on for extra protection. 
BB


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## SEWisconsin (Jul 27, 2010)

Here is a site that discusses dehydrating. It is the most detailed and complete site on the topic. Check out all of your youtube video's--that should get you motivated.

If dried and packaged right you should have many, many years of shelf-life.

Dehydrate2Store.com | Welcome - Educating and Helping Those Who Want To Learn About Dehydration


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## nj_m715 (Oct 31, 2008)

I'll be sure to check it out. I was thinking of getting a couple book from th library, but I'm a lazy American. I love getting info from youtube vids. Seeing and hearing helps me absorb the info. 

I just picked up a dehydrator froom HF. I want to get back and grab a 2nd unit before the sale is over. I hear you can stack extra shelves to get more food done for the same cost. 

HF also has a cheap looking deli slicer on sale that might help slice up the fruit. I'm not emril, so the prep work will slow me down the most.


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## Emerald (Jun 14, 2010)

nj_m715 said:


> I'll be sure to check it out. I was thinking of getting a couple book from th library, but I'm a lazy American. I love getting info from youtube vids. Seeing and hearing helps me absorb the info.
> 
> I just picked up a dehydrator from HF. I want to get back and grab a 2nd unit before the sale is over. I hear you can stack extra shelves to get more food done for the same cost.
> 
> HF also has a cheap looking deli slicer on sale that might help slice up the fruit. I'm not emril, so the prep work will slow me down the most.


I bought a 



 at a yard sale/or it was given to me I can't remember which and it was unopened and I never thought I would use it and so just opened it this last weekend, and it works great! Makes shreds, big shreds(more like french fry size) and a big spiral that you cut down one side and you have slices. very easy to clean and use, I was quite pleasantly shocked and surprised. I'll bet that you might be able to find one while out yard sale-ing or out at a flea market. for someone without chef skills(I worked in restaurants for too many years, so can do most of my cut work faster with a knife than a machine!) They do work well.
I'm thinking of getting some more taters and using the small shred blades and shredding them up, steam blanching (I have the big set up) and then dehydrating like those Betty Crocker boxed kind. If I vac-pack them they will last for a long time. You just grab a handful of the dried taters and pour boiling water over them and let them sit for about 1/2 hour to hour and then drain well and fry up.
I live quite close to Tater growing land here and they will be quite cheap soon, and we can never eat a whole bag up before they grow. (root cellar is being discussed with the hubby, but he keeps rolling his eyes and shaking his head, but I will WEAR HIM DOWN!)


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## nj_m715 (Oct 31, 2008)

Genevieve said:


> I've heard from other people that you can use the round canisters to vacuum seal jars if you don't have the attachments. You put the jar inside the canister and then use the hose on the canister and it apparently seals the jar. I haven't tried this because I have both jar sealing attachments. So I don't know if it works or not.


That's how I do it ( and that's what I meant by my last Post) sometimes what I think and what I type just don't match up too well.

I fill the canning jar put on the lid and make the sealing ring finger tight to fairly loose. Just turn it until it gives a little friction. Put it into the plastic vac. container and run the machine. It will suck down the canning jar and pop in the lid. You can remove the sealing ring, but I normally snug it up and leave it in place.


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## MyBackAchers (Jul 28, 2010)

*making a food de-hydrator from an old refrigerator*

I prefer dried food (stored in Mason Jars) as the flavor is as fresh as the day it was dried - even years later.

So our problem was- those little food dryers you buy in stores wasn't big enough and the old refrig looked like it could handle a fire under it - so one thing led to another and presto - a 3 bushel* wood fired* food dehydrator.

The biggest chore was grinding off the bottom and finding stainless steel shelving but we also have some make-shift shelves when we need them.

Since it sits outside - it doesn't heat the house up and because we use wood - it doesn't even need power (my biggest issue with store bought food driers is the amount of power they use).

I'll get pictures in our podcasts on MyBackAchers.com in the next week or so. 

It could double as a smoker too . . .but then it would need to be cleaned out.


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