I bought a book at a garage sale a few years back, titled Dried Gifts in a Jar. Mostly it contains soups, stews, and chilies. I read through and ogled a few of the recipes. I didn’t make any because I couldn’t find dried vegetable flakes in the spice section at the grocery store. I finally went online to several of the organic bulk spice sites. Guess what? Dried vegetable flake are the simple triad of soups and stews. It’s dried carrots, celery, and onions. You can also get variations on combinations of dried vegetables. I got all excited reading through some of the more “exotic” combinations and had finely settled on 1 oz Mediterranean, 6 oz original and 6 oz of the Italian. With shipping it would have come to $24.00. I nearly fainted! When I had my breath back I thought… wait a minute! I have a food dehydrator. After a little trial and error I learned some veggies need to be blanched (dropped in boiling water for 45 second to 2 minutes after brought back to a boil). Potatoes will turn a weird purplish black but taste OK. Which did better drying and cooking? Very thin? and which did better thicker cut, albeit longer drying time? The answer… it depends LOL. Stews did better thicker. Most soups thinner cut. I dried green pepper, carrots, celery, potatoes, garlic, and so on. I also learned I like them better stored solo. Sometimes I want more carrots in an individual recipe, sometimes none.
I went on to create many dried soup recipes.
Not only do they store and keep well (better than 18 months), they do indeed make a wonderful gift.
Thanks to LunnaKitty3 for participating in the [Grow] Network Writing Contest. We have over $1,500 in prizes lined up for the current writing contest, with more to come. Here is a list of the current pot of prizes:
– A 21.5 quart pressure canner from All American, a $380 value
– A Survival Still emergency water purification still, a $279 value
– 1 year of free membership in the [Grow] Network Core Community, a $240 value
– A copy of The Summer of Survival Complete Collection from Life Changes Be Ready, a $127 value
– 2 copies of the complete Home Grown Food Summit, valued at $67 each
– 3 free 3 month memberships in the [Grow] Network Core Community, valued at $60 each
– The complete 2014 Grow Your Own Food Summit interview series, a $47 value
– 4 copies of the Grow Your Own Groceries DVD video set, valued at $42 each
– A Bug Out Seed Kit from the Sustainable Seed Company, a $40 value
– 4 copies of the Alternatives To Dentists DVD video, valued at $32 each
COMMENTS(0)
This reads more like a pre-sales pitch. No useful information here.
Hi Michael – I’m not sure what you mean. This is an entry in our writing contest, sent in by a reader. I thought it was helpful info. Gave me some ideas about how to get more mileage out of my own dehydrator & how to share the bounty with others.
I was hoping for some recipes, lol. She’s right on–having dried veggies in the pantry is a great, quick way to make soups and stews. I LOVE having onions, celery, and carrots ready to go! Here’s a tip on the potatoes–to avoid them them going purple/black you must cook them first. Cut them to the size and shape you want and then cook them. The first time I did potatoes I did that but trimmed a few that were a tad too thick – and everywhere I trimmed the dried potatoes went black.
Very Innovative