Please advise: dehydrator or canning? I have looked at both and can't decide! I think I'm in overload. Can you all help? Thanks!

-- nurse (rtf5653@ccp.com), March 06, 1999

Answers

Why not do both? I am. I am canning fruits and veggies, and some meat. I have dehydrated fruits, veggies, and have made some jerky, but that got eaten up way to quickly. With canning, you will not rely on any more water to cook your food. With dehydrating, you will require water to reconstitute the food before you cook it. All in all, I guess it all depends upon how much water you are planning on storing.

PS - kids love homemade fruit leathers. :)

-- (donna@home.now), March 06, 1999.

YES

-- Chuck, night driver (rienzoo@en.com), March 06, 1999.

YES And now for the serious answer::

Each has its own strengths. We plan on doing both in the Driver household.

Chuck

-- Chuck, night driver (rienzoo@en.com), March 06, 1999.

Hi nurse,

All three. Pressure canning, dehydrating and vacuum sealing.

Vacuum sealing is for 'meal size' packages of dry or dehydrated foods, so oxygen doesn't deteriorate them.

Pressure canners allow all sorts of foods to be canned, meats and fruits as well as veggies. You can also use a pressure canner as part of a water distillation system.

Overall, I'd say the pressure canner is the most important food preserving and processing appliance.

BTW, the supply of pressure canners seems to be getting tighter (it took over a month before we got ours, 2 months ago).

-- Dean -- from (almost) Duh Moines (dtmiller@nevia.net), March 07, 1999.

I've TRIED to do both. :-) I have much better luck with my canning and my family has asked me to quit trying to use my dehydrator!! Guess they think the yukky looking results aren't worth trying to eat.

-- Flagirl (Filterlady@aol.com), March 07, 1999.

Well, what about lots and lots of cans of SPAM?? heh heh

Seriously though, we are canning for home use and dehydrating for our bug out kits. Dried fruit, jerkey, fruit leather etc is perfect for traveling if we have to leave our home. Also, this is where we will keep our small supply of MRE's. Don't underestimate the importance of bug out kits. If you need further info regarding them, go to www.survival-center.com/guide/bugout.htm. No it's not my site and no I don't even know the guy, but he has some great info.

Another piece of advice, keep a notebook. When you find stuff on the net, print it out and three hole punch it and file it. We are planning on copying all the info we have collected and giving a copy to dear friends and family who think the Y2K thing is a huge joke. At least our conscience will be clear that we have warned them and provided them with as much info as we could gather.

Best of luck to you all and God Bless.

pamela ;)

-- pamela (pamela4@hotmail.com), March 07, 1999.

I bought a pressure canner last summer at K-Mart, and was really quite intimidated by the level of precision called for in making it work right. I got told one thing by Mirro (dang, or was it Presto?) customer service and quite opposite stuff at rec.food.preserving. So I took the canner back and haven't missed it. I have done applesauce, etc, in a boiling water bath canner, and feel fine about that.

I bought Excalibur's cheapest (about $100) and smallest dehydrator and keep on my kitchen counter. Much happier with it, doing lots of veggies. The $19 dehydrator I got at Wal-Mart was better than nothing but I'm much happier with this.

Best wishes!

-- Rosie (infodigger@dejanews.com), March 10, 1999.

I am doing all three also..... dehydrating many of my vegetables and some fruit. Waterbathing fruit, juice and tomatoes, pressure canning meats, veges, etc. I have made pickles, sauerkraut, etc. vaccum sealing in mylar bags many grains or beans that ai do n9ot have enough to put in a 5 gallon bucket. Just doing my thing to add a variety of foods in my emergency pantry. twila

-- twila (twilap@hotmail.com), August 20, 1999.