Learn All About Fruit, Vegetables, Meats, and Seafood!

Here's a short list of the basics: An electric dehydrator such as a Nesco or an Excalibur Dehydrator and a food vacuum sealer like my FoodSaver Vacuum Sealer, plus Oxygen Absorbers.

Shown below are my favorite dehydrators: The Nesco brand and the Excalibur brand and both have their strong points.

The Nesco is ideal if you want to stack a lot of trays and dry more in one sitting. With the Excalibur model, you can slide out a tray easily without having to "dismantle" the whole thing!

I couldn't make my mind up which one I wanted, so I got one of each! And no, they aren't too expensive; I reckon I got both for the price of one "fancier" model. Yep, two for the price of one 😊

The FoodSaver food vacuum sealer you see has been with me since 2010. We've been through a lot. Read about hurricanes Frances and Jeanne here.

We use a food vacuum sealer to draw the air out of the bags, plus they do a fantastic job of sealing the bag tight... air-tight, that is!

Our job when preserving food is to keep the three enemies at bay:

Use the Right Dried Food Containers for Long- or Short-Term Storage

For long-term storage, you should use Oxygen Absorbers to help protect your dehydrated goodies.

They slow oxidation (that's when fruits 'n' veggies turn brown) and they regulate moisture because they absorb it. And that in turn inhibits mold.

Plus oxygen absorbers take care of pesky pests. (Try saying that five times fast).

Food vacuum sealer bags can be bought in a variety of sizes, and thicknesses.

Use Mason jars to store your dried goods. They not only look nice and can be vacuum-sealed, but you can easily see what's inside them!

For serious storage needs: Use Mylar bags. These un-tearable, sturdy, tough, waterproof and light-shielding bags are perfect.

All you do is add inside the Mylar bag a bigger 300cc oxygen absorber - along with your vacuum-sealed bags of dried foods - and seal the Mylar bag. There is no need to draw the air out! See which size oxygen absorber to use here.

and many more recipes!

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