One of the smartest survival ideas that will every pro-pepper tell you is dehydrating your food. It gives you the opportunity to preserve it for a long time. That way you will add some nutritional variation to what you have stockpiled and increase the volume of your food supply.
Before you start drying anything you can get your hand on, you need to know some rules about the food you can and cannot dehydrate. Not every edible thing is a possible candidate for this process. Some meals take too long to be prepared without providing great results, some can make you sick, some become inedible, and some will lose their nutritional value.
After doing some research, we made a list of the food that should not be dehydrated. Of course, not every meal we mention cannot be dehydrated; we just say that it is better no to try it. It will take too much effort and time, and it will provide almost no good results.
Keep reading to know more about the food you should not dehydrate.
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Food to Not Dehydrate
1. Avocados
This is not one of those fruits which you can dehydrate and store. It is super high in fat, so it is not a good idea to dry it. This fruit will go rancid very quickly after the dehydration process.
2. Soda, water, juices
When it comes to liquid preservation, the best way to do that is to canned or jellied them. We don’t recommend trying it, because it can get really messy.
3. Store-bought condiments
It may sound appealing having stored ketchup at home, but think again. Having store-bought condiments you want to dehydrate is really a bad idea. These products are full of fats, chemicals, and sugar. So it is a little bit risky, to store them and place on your shelf.
4. Non-lean meats
They are full of fats, and it will take you a long time to dehydrate them. And they can be stored for only a week or two.
5. Butter
As you already know this product is mostly fat. And when it comes to fat, it just doesn’t like to be dehydrated. It is better to spend your money on the commercially preserved powdered butter than to make one on your own. It takes too much time and effort for something that doesn’t give good results.
6. Milk
Unless you are doing it with a non-fat or 1 percent fat milk, you shouldn’t bother at all. After all, there is almost no nutritional value in these products, so there is no point in dehydrating them. You could always buy powdered milk in the store.
Food You Should Not Dehydrate
Most of the foods we will mention here can be dehydrated, but it is not recommended for long-term storage. Don’t try preparing them at home unless you have studied the storage techniques and proper procedure for these foods. If you want to know more about what we are talking about, all you have to do is read on.
- Eggs – When you create a slurry, in general eggs dehydrate well. You can then re-hydrate them for scrambled eggs, but not to replace in most cooking/baking needs. Forget trying to make an omelet or sunny-side-up egg from your home dehydrated ones.
- Nuts – The fat content in nuts makes them a short shelf item. You can try to dehydrate and store them, but you won’t be happy with the result.
- Fruit Leather – As for the fruit leather, you need to be careful how you are dehydrating them. They can be dried properly, but if you don’t know how to do that, you will get some bad results. You should check our recipe and see how you can make them without making any mess. And one more thing – bear in mind that they don’t have a long shelf life.
Food That Needs Special Attention to Dehydrate
- Pears, apples, and bananas – Before dehydrating them, make sure to spray a little bit of lemon juice on them. That way you will retain the color of the fruit before it becomes scorched.
- Leafy Greens – Many consumers have mentioned that leafy greens are way better and more beneficial when it is steamed or blanched before the dehydration process. That way you will get all of the vitamins and minerals from the greens.
- Mushrooms – Make sure to dry the mushroom before the dehydration process begins. That way you will be able to preserve their natural color. To remove that residual growing medium from them, you should rinse them in water. Bear in mind that mushrooms tends to be darker after the process but also very delicious.
- Blueberries – To get your perfect dried blueberries, you should put them into the boiling water to crack their skin and then quickly pulled them out. That shouldn’t take longer than 15 to 30 seconds. Also, the berries darken up when they are mixed with water.
- Low-acid vegetables and fruits – Some consumers said that these foods need to be blanched or steamed before dehydrating. Well, nobody wants a dehydrated, raw beet. That is why it is essential to follow all the steps that we wrote in this article.
Foods that are Best to Dehydrate
- Legumes of all kind
- Fruits such as pears, plums, grapes, rhubarb, cherries, apples, and peaches
- Berries such as raspberry, strawberry, blueberry and cranberry
- Vegetables such as onions, tomatoes, squash and zucchini
- Citrus fruit in slices
- Lettuce and Cabbage
Conclusion
The dehydration process varies depending on the edible item. Some food will require a prepping method that involves drying, blanching, and soaking, while other ones are ready to dehydrate as it supposed to. In order to avoid breeding bacteria and contamination, be sure to do proper research beforehand. And what is essential; get yourself a reliable dehydrator which will make your task enjoyable, efficient and easy.
