Okay I will start the discussion.
I have been dehydrating anything that I can think of. I bought a 9 tray Excalibur food dehydrator ( the Cadillac of food dehydrators) about a year ago and have been going crazy with drying home grown and store bought fruits and vegetables.
We had a small garden last year but I dried tomatoes, peppers, squash, strawberries, black berries, blue berries, apples and more. This year I hopefully will have a much larger garden. We have the space but water is the lacking point for me and I will need to figure something out for that.

I have also been drying store bought fresh and frozen fruits and vegetables.
Fresh: Green onions, ginger, oranges, lemons, apples, celery, bananas, etc
Frozen: carrots, broccoli, mixed vegetables, etc

The reason that I dry the frozen vegetables is because they are inexpensive and are already cleaned and blanched so it takes much less time for me to prepare and load the drier. I watch the sales at the super markets but most of my stuff comes from Cash-n-Carry or Costco.

I then store the dehydrated items in mason jars with on O2 absorber and I also vacuum the air out with a Food Saver. Or I have packaged them in Mylar and O2 absorbers and sealed in buckets.

I have looked at the #10 cans of dehydrated foods and I think that with a little effort on my part I am saving money doing it my self.

I found this lady when I was researching dehydrators. She had some youtube videos and then put this website together, http://www.dehydrate2store.com/
The reason I chose the Excalibur was because the fan in on the back of the unit and it blows across the trays and the food dries evenly.

Anyone else drying their fruits and vegetables?

d80bill wrote: We have the space but water is the lacking point for me and I will need to figure something out for that.

Could you do a rain catch like what i did in the house in fl?
viewtopic.php?p=12375#p12375

I found the dehydrate2store lady also. I got the excalebur and have been drying stuff like crazy (until cold weather really set in). I did my herbs, my flowers for wreaths, onions, fresh veggies and frozen veggies. I LOVED the frozen beg. It takes a packet of veg that is on sale and would last a year in the frzer and makes it last 10-15 years. Not bad, and much cheaper than buying the freeze dried on line.
I did dried potatoes and it was so good that I have rethought growing potatoes again. A friend shreds his taters and does them that way.
Very good investment for food preservation!

Johnny wrote:

d80bill wrote: We have the space but water is the lacking point for me and I will need to figure something out for that.

Could you do a rain catch like what i did in the house in fl?
viewtopic.php?p=12375#p12375

I have a new pole building shop/garage/man cave that I put up, 36'x36' w/16'eves. It has a metal roof and I have been thinking of catching the rain off of it. But the thing is that in the summer when I need the water we don't get much rain if any. We are on community water but my water pressure is really low. I have been wanting to put in a booster pump and that is what I will eventually do now that I have the shop up. There was no place in the house to put it. I also have an old well that was never filled in when they went to city water but its at the bottom of the property and my garden space is at the top with the house cutting the property in half. My thoughts are to use the city water when I put a booster pump in or get a water tank of sorts on wheels and pump out of the well and move it up to the garden with the tractor and either gravity feed the water or put a PV and pump system on a timer. But this may not all happen this year since I am still working on the insides of the shop.

Herbalpagan wrote:I found the dehydrate2store lady also. I got the excalebur and have been drying stuff like crazy (until cold weather really set in). I did my herbs, my flowers for wreaths, onions, fresh veggies and frozen veggies. I LOVED the frozen beg. It takes a packet of veg that is on sale and would last a year in the frzer and makes it last 10-15 years. Not bad, and much cheaper than buying the freeze dried on line.
I did dried potatoes and it was so good that I have rethought growing potatoes again. A friend shreds his taters and does them that way.
Very good investment for food preservation!

Does your friend shred the blanch or blanch then shred the potatoes before drying.
Right now with food in the stores, I can buy a 50# bag of potatoes for around $7 at Cash-n-Carry. I may not grow potatoes until need arises.

he blanches them but shreds before the blanching. When I do sliced, I cook them, then put them in the fridge over night, then slice and dry.
You do have a point about buying local and waiting till needed to grow your own. I actually could do that and save the effort and space for something more important.

And would you mind if i moved this to Survival Basics > Foods & Food Preparations ?

Johnny wrote:And would you mind if i moved this to Survival Basics > Foods & Food Preparations ?

Johnny, Please move it if you would like to.

I am fairly new to dehydrating and i have found store bought frozen vegies to have one advantage for a beginner...with the bag, you know how much you will get when it is rehydrated. Say a 2 lb bag of frozen corn, dry it, vacumn pack it in a half portion, then when it comes time to use it, simple to know that each bag is equal to `1 lbs of corn. Don't have to worry about how much to rehydrate. At least it is keeping it simple for me.