I'm confused...Why do my own dehydrating when I can buy it for cheap?

I think its fine to do either -- but do something! When you are hungry you wont care so much what is in your food but if you failed to prepare you will be kicking yourself!:gaah:

 

Like Dean, I can control what goes into my food. I like to be able to pronounce what Im eating. A lot of the junk that gos into pre packaged food makes me sick for two or three days.

 

I think it is important to learn all types of preservation as we will probably need to pass this on to our yungins! I can food, roll my own cigars, and make my own beer, and continue to improve my skills for survival when SHTF. We need to know all avenues of self sufficeincy. Espicially the beer and cigar part!:beercheer:

 

Very simply......
A) you know where it came from (hopefully your organic garden, farm or your organic market)
B) You haven't added any artificial anything i.e. colour, flavour etc
C) There are no added chemicals, antibiotics, growth hormones or highly processed items
Period in a nutshell.....I rest my case. Find some time

 

I dehydrate either what I grow or get really cheap. So, for example, when I have tomatoes coming out my ears, I put them on the dehydrator to preserve them & store them in recycled glass jars from applesauce, pizza sauce, bacon bits, etc. It doesn't get much cheaper than that.

Some things are significantly better homegrown than store bought, like tomatoes & bell peppers & that holds true even when they're dehydrated.

I like to store individual dried fruits & veggies instead of already mixed. As tasty as 500 meals of hamburger helper sounds, we prefer variety. The same ingredients, cooked & seasoned differently, make a completely different meal.

The nutritional content of all food degrades over time. It will still give you calories but not the vitamins & minerals necessary to maintain health. Most of my dehydrated food goes from garden to dehydrator the same day, locking in the flavor & nutritional value. I use what I dry, so nothing I have stored is more than a few years old.

Plus drying strawberries makes the house smell wonderful!:2thumb:

 

Welcome to the forum and great question.

It all boils down to personal choices.

Many other have already pointed out being about to control your food source and other great point.

We take a little different approach to things, but still have the natural food at the top of the list.

All of our preps and the lifestyle we live today is based on becoming self-sufficient as possible.

When we have expendable money available to us, we threw money at whatever we desired to spend it on. Sure, you could spend money on preps such as dehydrated product, but doing it your self also provides you skills you may need if TSHTF. If money becomes of no value, how would you resupply in the long run?

We try to experiment with a variety of self-sufficient skills and practice these skills as often as possible. By practicing these skills, you learn your shortcomings and shortfalls and adapt your plan to improve on your deficiencies.

 

I can dry my own lots cheaper then buyin it. Plus nobody can track what I'm dryin in my own home (paranoid? eh, maybe) cause I'm payin with cash what be hard ta do when orderin stuff.

I control my portions an what goes inta my own bags an jars.

Best ta be deversafied an now how ta do lots a things an have the tools an equipment ta do so. Plus, some a there portions really take 2 ta 3 a them servins ifin yer gonna have somethin ta eat.

We also can meats an other things like cheese an butter. Make beer, wine an other things ta boot. The more we can do fer ourselves the better. Plus the money we save on doin our own we can spend on stuff what we can't make ourselves.

 

Echo all sentiments above.
You control whats in it. Now when SHTF, youll be happy for the food, no matter where it comes from. $70 totally worth it, even if its of questionable/unknown nutritional value.
Theres also a lot to be said for doing it yourself. I have yet to do it, I am waiting to get a dehydrator and sealer for free.
Coot also brings up a great point. Paranoia.
Maybe its over the top, but 'they' could track your purchases, but at least in theory if it comes down to that then the first place they will be checking is this kind of site and that point would be moot. But I for one would rather be as under the radar as possible.

 

For me, it's not so much about having dehydrated food on hand (although that is nice) but about having another method of preserving the bounty.

I have an Excalibur dehydrator (thinking of buying a second, actually) which is going non-stop pretty much from July through November. The quantity of food I preserve for winter -- we provide for about 90% of our own food needs -- requires that I take advantage of every method possible to store food. My dehydrated food is simply one part of that.

I canned over 1000 jars last year, filled three freezers, and have probably 100 quart and gallon sized jars full of dehydrated fruit and vegetables. I like "overlapping" processes in order to get more processed each day.

 

It is easy to pick up the phone and order stuff on the credit-card and have delivery 2 weeks later, its also easy to visit Walmart and fill up a shopping cart with pasta, rice and sauces. Six weeks later the supplies at home are gone, the store is closed and you have no easy way to replenish your food-stocks ...

Knowing now how to do it and perfecting your skills in canning, dehydrating, smoking, etc is the best choice. I am still learning those skills, and I am still doing things the easy way - combining multiple methods of getting food / water to the home gives you backup-plans to the backup-plans ...

Good luck with your quest

 

I priced dehydrated hash browns and oh wow. A bag of frozen hash browns are $1.99 US. Thaw and dehydrate, a lot cheaper. I thin slice onions on my slicer, dehydrate and crush into flakes with my hands. Combine the two and you have the makings for a fine breakfast...or supper.

 

I am most impressed with your food preserving.

 

Thank you It's an 18 hour a day job from the beginning of August until November or so, at which point, I sleep until Christmas

 

the way you go depends on how much cash you have. if you are just starting buying some things will start you off quicker but when the stores close where will you be . buy a bow of pre-done food, but start a garden now and experiment with ways YOU can keep it. such as canning,drying, freezing, salting, smoking, and seed saving for the next year. I have had trouble starting seeds but am trying different things to get better results. Did the best this year and think I found out what i was doing wrong. if I had waited until the skill was needed then I would be up the river without my paddle (food). Do what you can but practice everything now when you can go to the store and buy.

 

I looked at your link. A "serving" does not equal a meal.

For example, they say a serving of soup is one bowl. A bowl of soup has 100-200 calories. So it would actually take 3-4 "servings" of their soup to provide enough calories for a meal.

A 150lb man needs about 1850 calories a day to maintain his body weight if he is sedentary. 1850 calories/3 meals = 617 calories per meal.

Now if he is working outside most of the day, around a campsite, hunting, sawing wood he prob needs 2500+ calories per day or about 12 servings of that soup. So 500 servings would last about 42 days. For one person.

 

BTW admin is this not spam?

 

I looked, too. You can buy the same beans, lentils and rice (and bullion cubes) locally.

I don't see the savings in buying from them.