Prepping, homesteading and living the simple, green, independent life.

Sunday, March 13, 2011

Nobody Dead So Far

A Bulk Barn opened up in my home town and I've been having lots of fun messing around with new ingredients and recipes for our dehydrated food.

The other night I made scalloped potatoes using sliced potatoes that I dehydrated back in September and everybody is still breathing.

I just rehydrated them in boiling water for a few minutes, mixed in some powdered cheese from Bulk Barn, a little bit of dehydrated onions, little milk and some margarine.  After being in the oven for 20 minutes they came out better than the big-name boxed brand!

I'm gonna start making these a lot more often and next time I think I'll mix in some broccoli and/or bacon bits!

I've also experimented with dehydrating frozen hash-browns and corn.  I've read that dehydrating frozen veggies is easy because they're already chopped up and blanched.  I've also read that the hash-browns rehdyrate well and taste great.

From left to right: corn, cheese powder, hashbrowns, sliced potatoes


I'd like to report that what I've read is correct.

I'm especially impressed by the hash-browns.  You have to be careful not to rehydrate them too much because they can get mushy but they do rehydrate well and taste exactly like the non-dehydrated ones.  I fried them up in a pan with some dehydrated onions and they were really good.

This experiment has made me wonder if I could dehydrate french fries?  I suspect the hashbrowns are actually the french fry bits that fell on the factory floor so I suspect it'll work.

The corn turned out well too but I found it difficult to rehydrate properly.  At first I just pour boiling water in a bowl with them but I was unable to get them to fully rehydrate so they were a little chewier than normal.  On the other hand, they tasted great!  I think the dehydration concentrated their sugars.  I figured that to properly rehydrate them you'll need to boil them in water for a few minutes.

With that in mind, last week when I made a slow-cooker stew and threw the corn in they rehydrated perfectly.  This seems to confirm that boiling them will work.

So after all this I think I'll try other frozen veggies and maybe some frozen berries.  Only thing that's holding me back is waiting for them to go on sale!