It was my birthday over the weekend and NoKey bought me a Foodsaver vacuum sealing system to go along with the purchase of my dehydrator.  With the Foodsaver, we’ll be able to prepackage meals when the ingredients are in season (read: cheaper!)  

My first experiment with dehydrating was a total success.  We did pineapple (which is only costing us $1.49 per entire pineapple at Aldi right now!) and it turned out crunchy and sweet, like a sweet chip.  I’m totally in love.  We have also done banana chips, which came out leathery and chewy, which is very different than the fried and crunchy way you buy them at the store.  Our next attempt at fruit will be Cortland apples, which are local to us and only .89 cents per pound at our Mennonite grocery store.  

Sometime early this summer we’ll start to experiment with drying leftover meals since we’ll be doing some backpacking this summer.  I’m really looking forward to drying my own produce as well.  Spring comes late in Central New York, so our garden is just now starting to sprout and isn’t yet planted.  The dehydrator/Foodsaver system will also help us take our own organic food on the trail straight from our backyard!