[NotAGrasshopper]

Hi Folks,

I'm brand new here, just registered. I hope it isn't too early for me to jump right in with this type of post, but here goes...

A good portion of my long-term storage is in place. I buy wheat, rice, beans, etc. from a local LDS home storage center and for things I can't get there, I have several can sealers that seal cans up to #10. I bought empty cans from the cannery and sealed up a variety of legumes and pasta that we enjoy but aren't sold by LDS.

I'd like to gauge interest in a group buy of dehydrated potato dices, slices and shreds (hash browns). My personal interest isn't to profit at all, but isn't completely unselfish: I'd like to save some money by spreading the cost of shipping among a few people, preferably from TX, OK, AR or LA.

A quick glance at a couple of food storage sites shows diced potato prices like these:

Emergency Essentials: $8.95
The Ready Store: $17.75
Walton Feed: $8.60

Each of the cans above holds approximately 2.25 pounds of diced potatoes. Diced potatoes are the most dense of the potato cuts. A can of sliced potatoes weighs barely over a pound but is still a $7 purchase. Ouch!

Here's the deal. I contacted an Idaho company that produces dehydrated potatoes. They don't have any distributors near me but they are willing to sell to me direct for $1.02* per pound in cases of 25 pounds. The problem is shipping... I only need about $200 worth of potatoes but shipping will be $175!

Whether I buy 200 pounds or 500 pounds, shipping is gonig to stay pretty much the same, but will start inching up above 500 pounds.

My plan is to buy the taters and then buy cans and O2 absorbers from the LDS cannery and can them myself. I am going to can *my* potatoes. I do not want to can *your* potatoes. You can go to the cannery and get your own cans and borrow a sealer - or seal in 5 gallon buckets - or get some cans and come to my house and seal 'em up. Sealed w/ O2 absorbers they should have a shelf life of at least 20 years.

So the bottom line is that including the cost of a can from LDS, we're looking at three bucks a can instead of eight - plus a pro-rata share of the shipping for the bulk potatoes.

Anyone interested? This would obviously be best for those within an easy drive of Dallas, otherwise there is even more shipping to be considered.

Like I said I'm just trying to gauge interest right now. No order is imminent and we can hammer out the details later.

On the same note: I want to do a similar deal with Bob's Red Mill grain products. They have very reasonably priced 25# bags of product but with the same shipping hurdle.

Thanks!!

*When I last talked to them. This could very well have changed but I'd be surprised if it has changed too much.

 

[SnakeDoc]

They are tricking you! We don't grow potatoes here in Idaho! Just had to, sorry!

 

[gypsysue]

They are tricking you! We don't grow potatoes here in Idaho! Just had to, sorry!

Yeah...they're made at a factory in China, aren't they? Then shipped to Idaho and distributed! lol

 

[UncleJoe]

I dry my own potatoes so I guess I won't be much help.

 

[Emerald]

I dry my own taters too, sorry.

 

[gypsysue]

Not only do I dry my own potatoes, I put some of the dried taters in the blender and make my own "instant mashed potatoes"! Very handy. Though I could just rehydrate, cook, and then mash the slices or cubes...

 

[Emerald]

Gypsysue- I just dried some potatoes using my "potato ricer" I just steamed them till done and put my "fruit leather" trays in the dehydrator and ran the steamed potatoes thru the ricer onto the trays, leaving them fluffy on the trays and not mushing them down. They dried and looked quite a bit like the cous-cous that I buy and they re-hydrated very well.
The only thing I can say is-I dried wax type potatoes and they re-hydrated not as "creamy" as the boxed dry mashed potatoes(I am sure that they have special equipment to do that with) so I might try it with Russet types next.
But I am very happy with the flavor of the "riced" potatoes-very yummy and they have also been nice to add to soups and baked cheesy type potatoes to add thickness when I "oops-ed" and put in too much milk the other day.
I have also dried hash browns and thicker sliced shreds or " Julienned" potatoes and they turned out very nice. Cubed are next on the drying agenda!- I don't like doing just sliced potatoes-- takes too much room and I am too lazy to lay them out like that to dry nicely!

 

[The_Blob]

to the OP, have you considered picking them up at a shipping distribution point? I have found that any time I buy something on a pallet(s) that the shipping is < 1/2 if I do it that way, your vendor &/or their shipper should be able to help you in figuring that out

 

[gypsysue]

Gypsysue- I just dried some potatoes using my "potato ricer" I just steamed them till done and put my "fruit leather" trays in the dehydrator and ran the steamed potatoes thru the ricer onto the trays, leaving them fluffy on the trays and not mushing them down. They dried and looked quite a bit like the cous-cous that I buy and they re-hydrated very well.
The only thing I can say is-I dried wax type potatoes and they re-hydrated not as "creamy" as the boxed dry mashed potatoes(I am sure that they have special equipment to do that with) so I might try it with Russet types next.
But I am very happy with the flavor of the "riced" potatoes-very yummy and they have also been nice to add to soups and baked cheesy type potatoes to add thickness when I "oops-ed" and put in too much milk the other day.
I have also dried hash browns and thicker sliced shreds or " Julienned" potatoes and they turned out very nice. Cubed are next on the drying agenda!- I don't like doing just sliced potatoes-- takes too much room and I am too lazy to lay them out like that to dry nicely!

I shred some of my potatoes, cook them until they're almost done, then run them through my dehydrator. Some of them go into jars like that, for hash browns, and some into the blender for mashed potatoes, which come out really good when I re-hydrate them.

I use my meat slicer to slice potatoes, cook those too, until they're almost done, then dry them for fried potatoes or scalloped potatoes. It IS pain to spread out all those slices and it DOES take tons of room on the drying racks, but my hubby really likes them, so I do at least some like that each year.

When we head south for 3 months after Christmas we take primarily dried foods because they're more compact and don't take up so much room. We also take home-canned meat, cheese, and butter. We can stay weeks in the desert without ever going to town. Just have to make sure we have all the water we'll need.

Our camper is a uhaul truck built into a "BOV". Rugged and solid, built to last, and able to carry/store enough for several months.