It's time to learn how to store dehydrated food. It's important to pay attention to how you handle it before it's safely packed away.
Wear latex gloves to keep your germs off the dehydrated food! Getting the right equipment pays off in the end.
Wear Latex Gloves so that you don't transfer germs from your hands to the food. (There are latex-free gloves available if you're allergic to latex).
I use these latex gloves more than once; I wash my hands while wearing them in the kitchen sink, dry them off on a clean towel, and then drape them over my dish draining rack—so the latex gloves are ready for another use.
We're almost ready for storing your dehydrated food! When the dehydrating is done and after a day - or overnight - of conditioning, it's time to vacuum seal your fruits, vegetables, and meats!
It's important when food vacuum-sealing your fruit and vegetables that you have an 'oxygen absorber' tucked inside your food vacuum-sealer bag or jar. The little oxygen packs absorb oxygen and are readily available in different sizes, such as the 100cc, 300cc, and up.
The reason for different sized oxygen packs depends upon what size container your dehydrated foods will finally be stored in.
After Vacuum-Sealing Individual Packages:
If you're going to store your vacuum-packed foods in Mylar bags, the first thing to do is vacuum seal your dehydrated fruits and vegetables in the food vacuum sealer bags.
Then those vacuum-sealed packages are stored inside the Mylar bags. We do not vacuum the air from the Mylar bags, we simply seal the Mylar bag.
It's only necessary to remove the air from the vacuum-sealed bags that contain the oxygen absorbers and dehydrated food.
There are ready-made food vacuum sealer bags—there are even food-vacuum-sealer-rolls available to make the perfect-length-bag to suit!
For storing your dehydrated fruit and vegetables for daily or weekly use, try using different sized airtight mason jars which sit nicely on your upper kitchen cabinet shelves.
Remember to add an oxygen absorber into each jar, then screw the lid on. Read about different sized oxygen absorbers too.
Below the Amazon Mason Jar links coming up, is a great tip on how to prevent punctured bags. Read on to find out!
* As an Amazon Associate, I earn a small commission from qualifying purchases. The price you pay doesn't increase.
Safely Store Dehydrated Food in Spare Closets, or the Garage!
This is the tip I referred to earlier, about lessening punctured bags: I choose to wrap up my vacuum-packed packages with cheap plastic wrap, to keep sharp edges from puncturing our packets—and then they go into the Mylar bags.
Mylar bags are made from a polyester film and are very shiny in appearance; they are very tough and tear-resistant and are ideal for long-term food packaging. They provide an extra layer of protection to our individual food packets.
And for final storage in a garage, for instance, you can then put the Mylar bags in plastic lidded bins or feed buckets with lids. Easy to move, water-proof, bug-proof, and air-tight!
This is how you create space where there is none! Click this link to see progress on our 8' span of shelving! shown in the photo.
Just the ticket! Don't forget to check out our optional way of protecting our dehydrated food vacuum sealed packages by reading the Plastic Wrap Guide.
Now you know how to store dehydrated food, and pretty much all the items mentioned are at Amazon.com—(so no worries there!) For those of you who have written in asking about storing dry goods, read this page for how to store flour, salt, and sugar.
Check out Susan's PODCAST here called "Create Food Storage Space out of Thin Air!"
Susan Gast began Easy Food Dehydrating in December 2010. Read Susan's story of what sparked her interest in all things related to "food dehydrating."
She is featured on Mother Earth News blog, and on Solo Build It (SBI) who host this site. Read her first SBI interview, and her second SBI interview.
Since 1980, Susan's involvement in publishing - in one form or another - led her to create a "review site" of products related to the publishing industry. Visit ePubTechReviews today, also hosted by Solo Build It. Susan also runs her namesake site SusanGast.com on Solo Build It that showcases the books she has written since 2010.
Do you want to send Susan a quick message? Visit her contact page here. She'd love to hear from you!