I've heard there is evidence Cro-Magnon Man preserved meat by smoking and drying it. Certainly, drying foods was common since history began being recorded. Phoenicians and other fishermen dried their catches in the sun, and the Chinese dried their tea leaves in the open air. Native Americans taught early settlersd how to dry corn and grind it into meal; jerky was made from buffalo, deer, elk, and even bear.

today, with high-priced pre-packaged foods cramming the shelves of grocery and convenience stores, preserving the harvest is no longer a matter of survival for the average family. there is still a good reason why you should, though; to save money. If you're trying to set aside emergency foods and supplies, this is almost a necessity. The fact that you're own foods are probably better-tasting and healthier than that pre-packaged crap are both secondary benefits.

Unfortunately, you're not going to save much money by purchasing produce in you're local grocery store and drying it. Instead, look for country roadside stands and farmer's markets, where you can often find substantial savings. Don't be afraid to haggle--you can often save even more near the end of the day.

I don't know who came up with the idea of "pick you're own" farms, but i think they're the best idea since sliced bread. Our family acquires bushels of fruit, gallons of berries, and even a few vegetables and peppers this way. I'm happy and grateful the big corporate farms haven't discovered this concept yet.

We do gather some foods in the wild, like wild onions and berries. It would be tough to find enough berries to satisfy the grandkids, but nuts, acorns, and onions are plentiful.

Of course, the cheapest way to get food is to grow your own. A well-planned garden, even one sitting quietly in a vacant lot, can save hundreds of dollars.

Sun drying foods is the cheapest method of drying food but, unless you're blessed with 100 F. days with low humidity, results are apt to be disappointing. If you try this method, pre-treating is definitely a good idea.

You can also dry foods in the oven. Commercial drying trays are available, but you can make your own from wood and nylon screen. Keep about an inch of separation between trays, and keep the oven door slightly ajar. Today, electric dehydrators are so inexpensive that this is really the best way to go. If you plan on doing a lot of drying, it is a good idea to spend the money for a good one with temperature controls.

Generally, the faster the food is dried the better--but the temperature must not be hot enough to cook the food. Try to keep as much surface area as possible exposed to the air. this is done by chopping or slicing the foods as small and thinly as possible.

After drying, foods should be cooled, tested for moisture, and stored and labeled with the date.

Testing Dried Foods

Well-dried foods will vary in moisture content from about 5% for leafy green vegetables like spinach, to about 25% for juicy, acidic fruits like apricots. Most fruits should have about 25% moisture content, while vegetables will have about 10%.

All dried foods should be allowed to cool before testing for dryness. Generally, dried foods should feel dry when squeezed.

All root vegetables, as well as squash and pumpkin, are dry when they are tough and leathery, but still pliable, with no moisture in the center.

Cabbage, celery, and broccoli should be hard and brittle. Take a bite to test.

Green beans should be dark green with a leathery appearance. Greens should be brittle enough to crumble in your hand.

Corn, peas, and beans should be dry enough to shatter or split in two when hit with a hammer.

Most fruits like apples, plums, and pears, should remain bendable. Take a bite; there should be no crispness in the center. Other fruits like berries, rhubarb, and orange peels, should be crisp. Bananas may be either, depending on the thickness of the slices and the temperature at which they were dried. Fruit leathers should be dried until they are no longer sticky.

Meats should be dry enough to form sharp points at the corners when bent. Jerky should be so firm that it is very hard to chew.

Herb leaves should crumble easily in your hands. Grain cereals and crackers should taste crisp and nutty and have a brittle texture. Noodles should be brittle enough to break in your hand.

Pretreating

There is quite a bit of debate as to whether pretreatment is even necessary. Most agree, however, that some form of pretreatment will increase storage time and hold flavors longer. For the record, we have always pretreated most of our fruits and vegetables.

Many cookbooks over half a century old will contain instructions for sulfuring. It is sstill the method recommended by the USDA for drying fruits, and is most often used in commercial dehydrators. It is no longer recommended for home use.

Steam blanching is the method we use for most vegetables. Bring a couple inches of water to a boil in a steamer or blanching kettle. Place the vegetables loosely in the basket, one layer deep. Place the basket in the pot so it is above water level and air can circulate freely. Cover, and steam for the length of time recommended for each vegetable (4 minutes for carrots, 8 minutes for potatoes, etc.), while keeping the water at a rolling boil. Cut up the vegetables and chill in ice water. Drain, pat dry, and place in the drying trays. (For high elevations, add 1 minute of blanching time for every 2000 feet of elevation.)

Water blanching was the method most often used by settlers, and probably your grandparents as well. Fill a pot about 2/3 full of water; use about 1 gallon of water to 1 pound of vegetables. Place the vegetables in a wire basket or cheesecloth bag and place directly in the boiling water for the length of time recommended for each vegetable. Cut up, chill, drain, and pat dry, and place on drying trays. Add 30 seconds of boiling time for each 2000 feet of altitude.

Salt water dip is an old-time method used for pretreating fruits. Dissolve 6 tablespoons of pickling salt in one gallon of lukewarm water. Slice or chop the fruit directly into the water, and allow to soak for no longer than five minutes, or it will acquire an unpleasant salty taste. Drain, and load trays.

Ascorbic acid dip is another method used for fruits. Dissolve 2 tablespoons of ascorbic acid crystals, 2 tablespoons ascorbic acid powder, or 5,000 milligrams of vitamin C tablets in one quart of lukewarm water. Slice or chop 1 or 2 cups of fruit directly into the water, stir, and remove the fruit. Drain, and place in the drying trays.

Pectin dip is used to prepare syrups for both freezing and drying of berries, cherries, and peaches. Combine one box of pectin with one cup of water, stir, and boil for one minute. Stir in ½ cup of sugar and dissolve. Remove from heat and add enough cold water to make 2 cups of syrup. Put clean and prepared fruit into a bowl and add enough syrup to coat all with a thin film. Stir and fold gently until all pieces are evenly coated. Drain well and load trays.

A fruit juice dip may be used for apples, peaches, or banana slices. Dip fruit in one quart of pineapple juice, or a mixture of one quart water and ¼ cup lemon juice. Fruits should remain in the dip for no longer than 10 minutes. Drain and load trays.

A honey dip is sometimes used for pineapples, peaches, and bananas. Dissolce one cup sugar into three cups hot water. Cool to lukewarm and add one cup honey. Dip fruit in small batches, drain well, and load trays.

Drying Meats

Only very fresh and lean beef, venison, ham, poultry, rabbit, squirrel, and fish should be dried for storage. Other critters or cuts with high fat content will soon turn rancid. With the exception of jerky, all meats should be fully cooked before drying.

Beef and Venison

Select a lean, tender roasting cut and trim off all fat. Simmer in a small amount of water for two hours, or pressure cook at 15 lbs for 35 minutes. Cool, and cut into ½” cubes. Spread loosely on trays.

Dry at 140 F for 6 hours, stirring the cubes occasionally. Reduce heat to 130 F and continue until the cubes are hard and dry throughout. Test by cooling a cube and cutting with a knife; it should be too hard to cut easily, with no moisture in the center.

Ham

Use only very lean, well-cured ham. Cut into verythin slices about 2” wide. Spread the slices one layer deep over trays and dry at 140 F for 4 hours, stirring occasionally and rotating trays. Reduce heat to 130 F and continue until dried.

Poultry, Rabbit, and Squirrel

Do not dry duck or goose meat; it is too fatty. Simmer until tender and meat falls off the bone. Remove any skin and fat. Cut meat into ¼” or ½” cubes and load trays loosely. Dry at 140 F for 4 hours, stirring occasionally and rotating trays. Reduce heat to 130 F and continue until hard and dry throughout.

Lamb

Select a lean roasting cut of young lamb, and trim off all fat. Steam until tender or cook in a pressure cooker at 15 lbs for 20 minutes. Cool and cut into ½” cubes. Place cubes loosely into trays and dry at 140 F for 6 hours. Reduce to 130 F and continue until hard and no moisture remains in the center.

Fish

Clean and scale fish. Dissolve ¼ cup flake salt into 1 quart water and soak fist for 30 minutes. Drain well and cut into small pieces. Steam pieces and fillets for ten minutes, whole fish and steaks for 15 to 20 minutes, or until tender and flaky.

Dry at 140 F for2 hours, stirring pieces occasionally and rotating trays once or twice. Reduce heat to 130 F and continue until hard.

Beef Jerky

2 pounds very lean chuck or round
¼ cup worcestershire sauce
¼ cup soy sauce
1 tablespoon tomato sauce
1 tablespoon white vinegar
1 teaspoon sugar
¼ teaspoon chopped dried garlic or wild onion
¼ teaspoon chopped dried onion
1 teaspoon salt

Trim all fat from meat. Freeze until solid enough to slice easily. Cut across the grain into 1/8” slices then cut slices into strips about 1” to 2” wide. Combine other ingredients and pour over meat strips, arranged in rows in a shallow baking pan. Refrigerate overnight, then drain.

Dry at 140 F for 10 to 12 hours, turning strips and rotating trays once. Jerky should be dark and brittle enough to splinter when bent.

Campfire Stew

1 cup dried beef cubes
½ cup dried potato slices
½ cup dried carrot slices
½ cup dried onion slices
2 tablespoons flour
3 beef bouillion cubes
salt and pepper to taste

Combine all ingredients in a sealable freezer bag. Add to two quarts water in a kettle. Simmer over hot coals or a camp stove for 1 to 1 ½ hours, or until dried foods are tender. Season with salt and pepper, and serve.


As always, your questions, comments, and suggestions are welcome. If there is another subject you would like to see covered in this series, I will be happy to do so.

Onward and upward,
airforce

Airforce, I found this article to be highly valuable, and have copied it as a resource for our use at home.

If you would be so kind, may I have your permission to post it on other like-minded forums which I frequent? If not, well, that's OK too.

I would very much enjoy more articles/posts in this vein.

Best regards, -FNR.

Excellent article. Thank you very much for sharing. I'm already doing a lot of this and when we move back out to the country this winter I plan on doing the rest.

One concept that will be of great interest also I think is the concept of "geurilla gardening" where you plant foodstuffs on vacant lots, or even on public lands. Who would even notice if there was a nice fat blackberry bramble growing along a roadside ditch? Plant stuff like this throughout your AO and along patrol routes to have nice convenient trail food as you go. And also a nice variety of produce to collect and preserve using these methods.

We've already been doing a lot of canning but with the recent addition of a pressure canner I expect our menu of canned foods to expand substantially.

When we move, I plan to add a dehydrator and by springtime to have a small smokehouse going.

This year was our first with a garden, I just had the ground graded last fall. I personally hadn't messed with one since I was a young teenager. As this was that first year, I let wife experiment with different crops to get an idea of what does well here, and what doesn't. Next year will probably be "experimentation round two."

Tomatoes, jalapeno peppers, radishes, cucumbers did very well. Beans and peas were acceptable. Watermelon didn't do well (would have done better at lesser altitude/warmer summer climate), wife's potato sets (of commercial potato eyes) didn't do all that well (so far anyhow). Her lettuce was simply food for the japanese beetles (unusually heavy this year). Carrots are tbd. Artichokes tbd.

Haven't tried onions yet. Nor sweet corn.

"Guerilla gardening" is something that I hadn't thought of. The blackberry crop 'round here was quite good though.

Wife has done some good canning this year. But, she needs to get a bit more imaginative (hint hint from me).

The garden very early on proved successful enough that I bought a new tiller.

Airforce's dehydrating article is quite welcome with me. I already have a dehydrator, use it for jerky. -FNR.

I don't mind at all. In fact, I encourage it.

If you look through this forum, you will find several articles in my "Family Preparedness" series. I do have others in mind but, since I'm currently writing a novel, this series has been placed on the back burner for a little while. (Yes, my novel will have a little information on preparedeness and survival also, but this is not the real focus of it.)

Glad you liked the article. I always appreciate comments and, especially, other ideas and recipes.

Onward and upward,
airforce

I will selectively post such articles that you offer then, with due credit given of course. Thank you, and I'm sure that others would agree. -FNR.

Excellent article. For years I have been stockpiling food for whatever emergency. I have found a product you all might be interested in. http://www.ofd.com/

The "shelf-life" on commercially made freeze-dried foods is from 25 to 35 years. That's the best bang for the buck I have found in my years of research on the subject. I have MRE's for short term storage and freeze dried for long term.

Use your head and do your homework. Most importantly, BE PREPARED my brothers in arms!

-UPDATE: 01-19-07
I just received some more for my cache and they're actually stamping expiration dates on em now. The latest said; "Expires 2031"

All ya need is water and a heating source. Two sticks can make a fire, and a good portable water purifier will get ya the liquid necessary to have a good meal. BEING READY is crucial!!!

~DeOpressoLiber~