We bought a Food Saver and the jar sealer accessories and today I sealed all the jars of dehydrated foods that I've been able to put up this year. Until I got it all organized, I had no idea how much there is and I'm very grateful! Can you imagine how much this would be if the foods had not been dried? A Lot. It covers the bottom shelf in this cupboard and there are 3 rows of jars on the second shelf.
Other than herbs I don't dry too much. I mostly just dry them in the oven. I'll borrow a dehydrator from various relatives if I want need it. I will dry celery because we use so much of it and especially in soups for the cold months, which we just entered. Sometimes banana chips and fruit leather. But we have plenty of storage space for canned items so I don't take that into consideration. Also we have a root cellar that keeps many of our root vegetables, squash and pumpkins, apples way into the new year. I can see how dehydrating though really saves space with your example.
ReplyDeleteBefore we moved to our trailer, I had a whole bedroom for my food storage and nearly everything was canned. Before we lived here, we also use to have a wonderful cellar. I just have had to adjust to my current situation. :)
DeleteMy old house next door that daughter Elli and family lives in now has the real root cellar and cold rooms. We built ours in the basement of our ranch house getting directions off Mother Earth News. It has worked well.
ReplyDeleteHow I wish! We don't have a basement. I have kept my potatoes in the back of my closet, and that worked pretty well last winter.
DeleteYes, keeping potatoes in the dark helps.
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