Dehyrating canned veggies,test in progress
 

I just opened a can of canned corn,green bean and green peas.
Will let you know as it progresses thru the drying.
Can say this,if it works,we have a real weight and space savings here.

Spuds:sheep:

Re: Dehyrating canned veggies,test in progress
 

Re: Dehyrating canned veggies,test in progress
 

Wouldn't it be better to start with fresh, or fresh frozen, veggies? Canned food has been cooked and won't be the same?

That said, your experiment is worth doing and I await the outcome.

Ragnarok

Re: Dehyrating canned veggies,test in progress
 

Well,the peas,half of em,already 1/2 size,corn is probably 1/3 dry(sticks to your teeth when chewed) beans 1/4 dry.

I read somewhere you can dehydrate canned veggies,we buy a lot that way on sale.Your frozen veggies,might be a plan there,thanks for the idea.

I want to see what I can do to the weight and volume.I will take a can to the post office and weigh it,then have them weigh the dehydrated baggie worth of one can.Then I will see how many dehydrated cans worth I can get into a former can before dehydrated.

Looking for max storage,minimum weight for the veggies.Like pack a drum sized can with veggies,that would be nice maybe? Dont really know,may be better off just getting what I can at Winco of their bulk stuff?

We shall see,so far I like how its going.

Spuds:sheep:

Re: Dehyrating canned veggies,test in progress
 

Soudsm i woudl venture a guess that caned veggies are already low on nutrition, when you dry them again, they would get even lower

if it is dry corn you want go to Sams club and buy a 50 lb bag of popcorn. other vegies may be best gotten freeze dried. potatoes, yams and sweet potatoes you can keep in the cellar for a long time.

Re: Dehyrating canned veggies,test in progress
 

OK,frozen veggies,just took a cup of mixed frozen corn,carrots,peas,green beans and lima beans.Just poured em out,frozen,onto 1 of the trays.

Wife thinks that would be the equivalent of blanched veggies like the link posted by Zhucker suggests.

Good idea Ragnarok,thanks for the excellent thought!

Spuds:sheep:

Re: Dehyrating canned veggies,test in progress
 

Spuds, I do not mean buy frozen veggies and dehydrate them, I mean buy freeze dried veggies, they keep like 5 years. from Walton.

Re: Dehyrating canned veggies,test in progress
 

We are talking survival food for storage.I eat a lot of canned veggies,nutrionally must have something going for it.I dont think you lose much nutrition by dehydration,especially if properly packed with minimal oxygen to degrade it.

I dont want a root cellars worth of potatoes,I want SMALL,light, and compact,so I can store a lot,for a much longer term.

Freeze dried,can you say BIG BUCKS? Another reason I want to take out the processors and do it myself,can be done on whatever scale fits your particular needs or capabilities or BUDGET?

I think popcorn is a different critter from eating corn.

Lets see what happens,Im betting I can dehydrate as well as any comercial outfit can,I have before.Fresh stuff,never tried canned or frozen,but really seems to be working well so far.

Spuds:sheep:

Re: Dehyrating canned veggies,test in progress
 

Cost.Im going to try to dehydrate them myself.Sometimes frozen veggies are downright cheap.
I agree with Waltonfeed being a great source,nothing wrong but the price and shipping costs.

BTW.fresh tomatoes sliced, dehydrated ,are excellent,thats a goody for sure.

How about dehydrated soup?Take out the veggies after blanched,boil down the stock,freeze,pull off any fat from stock,dehydrate seperate trays,man,this has some possibilities!

Now I need to get a bottle of nitrogen and pack in that,why not? IE,vacuum packing?Can see that as yet another home processing possibility.

Spuds:sheep:

Re: Dehyrating canned veggies,test in progress
 

Mightyspuds, I take it you are shooting for zero/minimal moisture here (crunchy dry), as in freeze-drying, for longest shelf life? It will be interesting to see what the differences are between canned/frozen when reconstituted.
Cool thread. I love experiments! :albertein

Ragnarok

Re: Dehyrating canned veggies,test in progress
 

Exactly! It will be interesting to see how it reconstitutes.

Spuds

Re: Dehyrating canned veggies,test in progress
 

Very interesting,the frozen veggies are already crunchy dry,the canned peas,crunchy,canned green beans just about done,canned corn,still chewy,takes quite a bit to knock the moisture out of them.

Tonight I will rehydrate the frozen veggies and see what we get.

Spuds:sheep:

Re: Dehyrating canned veggies,test in progress
 

I can of peas came out to 2 fingers in a ziplock baggie.
Tomorrow to the post office to weigh a can and the baggie.

Spuds

Re: Dehyrating canned veggies,test in progress
 

Less than a lid.:cool2:

Re: Dehyrating canned veggies,test in progress
 

My misguided youth :smokin:

Spuds:sheep:

Re: Dehyrating canned veggies,test in progress
 

SUCCESS!

Did the dehydrated frozen mixed veggies in a bowl,15 minutes later they are good to eat,green beans not as before(kinda chewy duds,actually),peas,corn,carrots,lima beans,all just fine.Texture a smidge off,taste is fine.Would do just fine in soups or stews.

I would have to call the dehydration space savings a success,would call edibility after rehydration a success.

will get actual wt. savings tomorrow,next week will do up a bunch and see how many formerly canned veggies will fit in one can after dehydration.

Think its safe to say,this is a viable storage method.

Havent rehydrated the canned ones yet,let me go try

Spuds:sheep:

Re: Dehyrating canned veggies,test in progress
 

OK,canned peas rehydrated into canned peas.They work just fine.Did 15 minutes after covering with boiling water,could use a little more hot water time to finish rehydrating.

Im thinking the frozen veggies are the best ones for dehydration,they come pre blanched before processing,seems to be a real winner,but canned works too.My canned corn still isnt crunchy hard yet,so its pending.

Spuds

Re: Dehyrating canned veggies,test in progress
 

No I call those the good old days!

Re: Dehyrating canned veggies,test in progress
 

ok,the upshot.

You can dehydrate canned veggies,but there really isnt any point,they arent all that special when you are done.The reyhdrated can corn wasnt bad at all,but again,no point in it really.

Frozen veggies,this is a goody.They rehydrate nicely,and have better texture and flavor.
You can get 5 lbs mixed veggies or corn for 5 dollars frozen,good price.The mixed veggies seem to be the best,currently have 5 lbs mixed and 5 lbs corn and 1 lb broccoli in the dehydrator.I will be trying all the frozen veggies and report back as I do.

Bottom line,I think the frozen veggies dehydrated is pretty useful.

Not going to weigh the canned dehydrated stuff unless someone wants to know,just doesnt seem that useful.

Spuds

Re: Dehyrating canned veggies,test in progress
 

5 lbs frozen corn or mixed veggies,1 dollar pound.
5 lbs dehydrated fits in a .94liter,7 inch by 8 inch ziplock bag.

So,a 1 gallon sized container would hold 20 lbs of dried frozen veggies.

If 2 people eat 1/3 pounds total of frozen veggies/day,a years supply would fit in a 5 gallon container or so.Do these numbers per your consumption.

100 dollars would put up enough veggies for a year.Again,my results,yours may vary.

Rehydration.......
I used the thermos of boiling water and soaked 1 hour,the results were good,not as good as frozen,but very close.Added a dash of salt and a pat of butter,they were more than satisfactory.

So thats it.

It works
Its cheap!Can be done with most any budget.
Its light.
It takes up minimal space.
Should store well without refrigeration.

Spuds:sheep:

Re: Dehyrating canned veggies,test in progress
 

You can buy dehydrated canned food and its pretty cheap. Lasts 10-15 years (except dairy).

Here is on place http://waltonfeed.com/

They have about everything you can imagine.

Re: Dehyrating canned veggies,test in progress
 

Thank you for posting those inspiring results. :beer: This thread should never be deleted. That is just excellent, Spuds! :thumbs up:thumbs up This means people won't have to fully depend on the (too) busy freeze-dry food manufacturers.

Ragnarok

Re: Dehyrating canned veggies,test in progress
 

spuds,

Hate to admit my bias here but, I thought dehydrators were for the tree hugger crowd along with $5 coffees at starbucks and fruit smoothies.

I'm impressed with your results. Thanks for sharing. What type of drier do you use ? Would one be as good as any other? How long would it take to dry a 1lb bag of frozen?

I like the storage aspects of this for a long term food cache. could use at a hunting cabin etc.

I love this type of experimentation keep up the good work.

Re: Dehyrating canned veggies,test in progress
 

From what I hear,this is currently the best dehydrator out there,its 179.00 and up depending on size,google for prices.

http://www.excaliburdehydrator.com/

Mine is a 1970's 20 drawer,no brand name on it,never seen one like it before or since.
You want a model with a fan and thermostat.
However the cheapy Ronco round style with trays you rotate will work too.
Hit the thrift stores,they can be had for 5-10 dollars.Not as fancy,but they do work.
Mixed veggies take 2-3 days in mine,I'd say thats probably average time for most.

You know,this was a brainstorm collective idea here.First I read something about dehydrating canned veggies,I have lots of cans so that sounded good.Then a mention of blanching fresh veggies and dehydrating,someone mentioned frozen(which are conveniently pre blanched) then a thread on hay boxes with thermos cooking and there you have it,

Dehydrated frozen veggies,reconstituted with boiling water poured over them in a thermos.Is that just too cool or what,great work and ideas from a team effort,I thank you guys too for the great results.

BTW,up to this time the only thing I ever made was beef jerky,never saw it being used as a survival food storage system either.

Spuds:sheep:

Re: Dehyrating canned veggies,test in progress
 

Im doing green beans,french cut and regular cut;corn, and mixed veggies, and peas right now.

Im rehydrating the canned mushroom soup I smeared on saran wrap on a tray.I added some cold water and powdered milk in thermos,poured in the soup flakes,boiling water and capped,will know in an hour if that works.

Frozen broccoli was a dud,came out mushy no matter what I tried to rehydrate.

Spuds:sheep:

Re: Dehyrating canned veggies,test in progress
 

That's about right. I buy corn from the feed stores (already dehydrated but not debugged) and seal in 5 gallon buckets, 25 lbs each - purged twice with CO2 (hot ice). It's been two years and no weivels.

I put away pop corn too.

Steam rolled oats from the feed store is a great cereal at about 15 lbs per bucket, purged with CO2. These are the large flake steam rolled and dried oats - not regular feed oats.

Rice keeps forever. So does pasta. Very cheap carbos.

Beans I buy from the local Quakers/Minonites. Red beans, kidney beans dried and ready - super cheap protien. Just remember to purge the contents with CO2. Same with WalMart dried beans and peas. I sort my beans by color. Pintos are super cheap.

For about 300 dollars I've put up enough dried goods to feed a family of four the basics for about two years.

Gardening does the rest. Canning veggies is easy too.

I like dried goods because I don't have to worry about freezing mason jars in the garage.

I like canning because it taste so much better. And even leftovers can be canned.

.

Re: Dehyrating canned veggies,test in progress
 

Yep,the vacuum sealer,the wife wants one.
About the C02,sounds good.Please elaborate on that,OK?I was looking at nitrogen too,looks a little involved though.

Amazing how much can be put up for so little an outlay.

Dont you know it about tomatoes,they are great.Banana chips easy.Watermelon sounds pretty interesting.Its just I dont get enough light in my yard to garden here,Im dependent right now on purchased produce.

We have the white rice too,and pasta,and Nissan soup packages.Hey,not great,this is survival food,Ive been hungry,even junk food is GOOD if youre hungry.

Going to stockup on various legumes when we get to Winco if the local store does bulk like the ones in Idaho did.Havent been there yet.

Spuds:sheep:

Re: Dehyrating canned veggies,test in progress
 

Having a problem getting the mushroom soup to rehydrate,getting little clumps that just wont mix up.Maybe I should powder it first(definitely will make it dryer),or add a little hot water at a time like you do when first mixing the canned soup?
Dont know yet,but pretty sure I can work it out.Tastes fine though....

Edit,30 seconds in the blender its perfect,cant tell any difference from canned.Going to take more experimentation,maybe next week....

Threw on some crushed pineapple and pineapple chunks from cans,rinsed em first and on a saran wrap,then on tray into dehydrator.

Spuds:sheep:

Re: Dehyrating canned veggies,test in progress
 

Can you dehydrate pototoes ok? It seems that they would turn all brown after even an hour being exposed to air, no?

I think dehydrated hash browns are pretty good. I could almost live of potatoes.

Re: Dehyrating canned veggies,test in progress
 

I've dehydrated sliced potatoes and used them to make scalloped/augratin potatoes with dehydrated onion slices. Dehydrating potatoes works fine if you slice them thinly and evenly. Look at the dehydrated products Betty Crocker sells in a box. You can do that. The sliced potatoes need to be blanched in boiling water for 5 or 6 minutes though. Don't over-do the blanching. I package 3 cups of dehydrated potato slices in a Ball canning jar with a small ziplock bag with powdered milk, salt, pepper, corn starch. No need to pay a premium for the Betty Crocker brand and they should store well (oh, well, the powdered milk might limit shelf life here). Vacuum seal the whole thing. It's a great way to salvage garden potatoes that are beginning to sprout during the winter -- much better than letting them go bad and throwing them out.

Re: Dehyrating canned veggies,test in progress
 

OK i get it, blanching them keeps them from turning brown. Thanks for the tip!

Re: Dehyrating canned veggies,test in progress
 

Blanching deactivates enzymes that would otherwise cause the food quality to deteriorate even after they have been dehydrated. Not all foods require blanching (though many do); but potatoes are among those that should be blanched. If you blanch them too long, they will be fully cooked (not the objective) and prone to fall apart when you try to arrange the slices on the drying tray. I've seen instructions that say to blanch potato slices for as much as 8 minutes. IMHO, that's too long.

Your home dehydrated potatoes will never be as white as the commercially prepared product simply because the commercial process includes bleaching to improve eye appeal. I'm looking now at a jar of sliced potatoes that I put up a couple of months ago. They are a very pale yellow color, but certainly not brown. Buy yourself a gadget called a "mandolin slicer." They're cheap (less than $20) and enable you to quickly slice lots of different veggies thinly and evenly.

Re: Dehyrating canned veggies,test in progress
 

48 lbs apples,peeled,cored and sliced,dehydrated into 2 and a half (1 liter) plastic bags.
Soak 3 minutes in 2 cups water with 3 grams vitamin C tabs,very nice color,nice and white.

Spuds:sheep:

Re: Dehyrating canned veggies,test in progress
 

SPUDS

Are they chrispy like chips or are they spongy? Man that is some serious space saveing!

Re: Dehyrating canned veggies,test in progress
 

Sorta spongy.
You know whats cool? Im not much of an apple eater,but 8 little slices,and I got an apple down.

This is good stuff!

Spuds:sheep:

Re: Dehyrating canned veggies,test in progress
 

I might add,running those dehydrators ran up my electric bill an extra hundred bucks last month.When you add electric charges,those predone canned dried foods looks more reasonable each time.

Then again,we did dehydrate a LOT of food.

Spuds:sheep:

Re: Dehyrating canned veggies,test in progress
 

Nitrogen displaces oxygen that ruins dried foods but CO2 works better.

Purchase a few pounds of dry ice locally. Break up the ice in hocky puck size chunks. Wrap in brown paper and set in the bottom of five gallon plastic buckets. Pour in your dried goods over the dry ice, fill the bucket. Drill a 1/4 inch hole in the bucket lid and seal the lid. As the dry ice vaporizes it outgasses the contents of the bucket. Wait for about 30 minutes and seal the hole with clear packing tape. You're done.

Not only does CO2 displace oxygen it kills wievels and bugs that commonly infest grains and beans.


.

Re: Dehyrating canned veggies,test in progress
 

Sounds like a fine plan.Just find my local dry ice supplier and we are set.

Thanks a lot.

Spuds:sheep:

Re: Dehyrating canned veggies,test in progress
 

Well Spuds, I just made the plunge and bought a nice large dehydrator. I have one of those cheap plastic Magic Chef round jobbers, but capacity is a real problem and the heat (only 250 watts) isn't enough for to do squat.

I looked at the Excalibers, they have a nice 9 tray model for about $200 plus shipping but the new models are made of plastic too. Grrrrr ....... I hate plastic.

What I found was an older commercial model 10 tray Equi-Flow metal cabinet model. They say the fan is kind of loud so I'll park it in the garage.

It's used but in great condition. I'm gonna try my hand at this food drying stuff and report back later ...