Vacpak, Dehydrate, Freeze, Best practices?

[jennyjj01]

Hi,
Mods, please move this if in wrong sub-forum.

I've recently bought vacuum packer and dehydrator and now I'm seeking advice on how to use those, along with existing stash space and freezer space to get best bang for my buck.

E.g. Some foods like carrots can be bought fresh, chopped up and frozen... Or they can be bought already chopped and frozen, Or could be chopped up, or even bought frozen and then dehydrated and vac-packed and maybe NOT re-frozen. Similarly, Garden peas, would seem cheapest to buy frozen, but is it an idea to defrost and dehydrate some and store them in a jar without wasting freezer space?

What about dehydrating some of my own cooked foods rather than freezing? What would work? Same with vac-packing? Should I maybe vac-pack my flour to keep damp out ( and flash freeze to kill off critters )

Basically, What I'm after is some tips to make best value food purchases and then use these tools to make best use of my available cupboard space and freezer space. I'm inclined to want to use my freezers primarily for meat and store as much as I can at ambient temperatures.

Any good resources, or best practice hints and tips.

Thanks.

[pseudonym]

E.g. Some foods like carrots can be bought fresh, chopped up and frozen... Or they can be bought already chopped and frozen, Or could be chopped up, or even bought frozen and then dehydrated and vac-packed and maybe NOT re-frozen. Similarly, Garden peas, would seem cheapest to buy frozen, but is it an idea to defrost and dehydrate some and store them in a jar without wasting freezer space?

What about dehydrating some of my own cooked foods rather than freezing? What would work? Same with vac-packing? Should I maybe vac-pack my flour to keep damp out ( and flash freeze to kill off critters )

I'm inclined to want to use my freezers primarily for meat and store as much as I can at ambient temperatures

Yes yes and yes.

Not Much help am I?

I started with frozen, defrosted then dehydrated and stored in KIlner jars.

Moved onto reduced items and dehydrated and stored them.

My freezer is all fish and meat with one frozen veg packet as an emergency.

Best to experiment with dehydrating - here's a great channel I use a lot

https://www.youtube.com/user/TheMrsVolf ... =dehydrate

And as a back up if power goes down and my vacuum sealer can't work:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lGfUwEf810g

[hedgerowpete]

i brought the Ball- Blue book to start with, its still my go to book

[Deeps]

Jenny, have a look on youtube, type in "dehydrating XXXXX" and you'll see how others do it, I found it really helpful at the start. As Pseud has said, you can do frozen, fresh etc but it can be a bit daunting so get your ass on youtube.

[Jamesey1981]

Couple of tips for cooking for the dehydrator, use as little fat as possible, use lean meat and as little oil as you can get away with, it will last longer as the fat goes rancid.

Get yourself a mandolin for cutting things to go in it, the smaller and more even your pieces of food are the quicker they will dry, Lidl often have cheap ones in that do the job fine.

If you're doing veg it dries better if you blanch it quickly first.

I do fruit and veg at about 35 degrees, meat you want at above 70 to stop bacteria growing.

Finally there's a YouTube channel called the hungry hammock hanger, he makes camping meals to dehydrate and there's some very good ideas in his videos, the Cajun red beans and rice he makes is a real favourite of mine, it's delicious. He hasn't made a video in a long time, or he hadn't last time I looked, but the ones he did are great.

[jennyjj01]

get your ass on youtube.

Lol. Thanks. Members wouldn't want to see that, especially in widescreen.

I'll get my coat

[Deeps]

get your ass on youtube.

Lol. Thanks. Members wouldn't want to see that, especially in widescreen.

I'll get my coat

There's a market for everything.

[Stonecarver]

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=XPx9WMGH-uc

This is a video for powdered milk but I have used same technique for different flours. Still sealed tight. Of course other stuff on his site is good too