Prepper's Dehydrator Handbook - Book Review

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I’ve just finished reading the Prepper’s Dehydrator Handbook, written by Shelle Wells. I was hoping to pick up some tips AND find some great recipes and mixes.

And I DID. If you need a book geared towards dehydrating for beginners, this book works!

And if you have experience drying foods but want some great recipes, this book works for that too.

Dehydrating for Beginners:

Drying your own food is a great way to build your pantry supplies for several reasons:

Dehydrating is EASY to learn to do.

Dehydrated foods take up less pantry room than canned foods – great for those living in smaller homes.

You never have to worry about power failure.

Everything you need to know about getting started dehydrating and building up your food supply is in this book.

Solar drying, oven drying, dehydrator drying and microwave drying are all covered.

Herbs are one of the easiest foods to dry – pick them right before they flower and you will get the optimum flavour.

After they are dry, store them in pretty mason jars and tuck them away to use all winter long.

But you can dry far more than herbs! Dry your own fruits, vegetables and even meat by making jerky.

Not every vegetable needs to be blanched before drying – did you know that?

Want a list of which veggies need to be blanched and which ones don’t? It’s included in the book, along with instructions on setting up a blanching station.

READ Growing Lovage - A Perennial Herb

So, start dehydrating your own peas, beans, carrots, potatoes and any other vegetable your family loves to eat.

Then start filling up your pantry, knowing that if an emergency hits (environmental, medical, financial) you have food on hand to feed your family.

Home canning, freezing and dehydrating each have processes that need to be followed to prepare and preserve food.

The Prepper’s Dehydrator Handbook outlines each step and focuses on safely drying your food.

The Prepper’s Dehydrator Handbook

Here’s just a partial list of the different chapters in the book. You will see there is lots of great info about:

Food Storage

Fruit and Vegetable Leathers

Make your own Meat Jerky

Make your own Soups and Powders

Dry and Store your own Herbs

plus

Specific instructions for Dehydrating 50 common Fruits and Vegetables – this is a very detailed section of the book.

Each food is listed as to how to clean and prepare it for drying, suggested thicknesses of slices, drying time, temperature, consistency you are looking for (to tell when it is dry), blanching requirements, oxidizing (if needed), rehydration methods and the yield.

All GREAT information you need when dehydrating food.