I have gotten interested in this as well. I have not thought of dehydrating. I have mainly thought of canning a lot of food. I am going to plant a large garden this year and can as much as I can. (That is if I can keep my marriage together :-()We have a large basement for storage. I don't think the dehydrating itself is difficult as long as you get a good quality machine. I don't know much about it though. For grains, pastas, flours, beans, etc., what I have found to be the best idea is buying mylar food storage bags, putting the food in them, putting those silica preservative pouches in with the food, sealing them with an iron, and then storing the bags in food grade sealed plastic buckets. Stuff will keep for years as long as no moisture is allowed to get in. Store bought canned items are good for years after the expiration date says it is, just as long as they have been stored in a cool place and never been opened.

I don't know anything about dehydrating food. I just wanted your home address so I can live with you in case of an emergency.

Wow. That is impressive that you're taking these precautions.

I don't freeze or dehydrate my own food, but mountain house has fantastic long term "prepper" food. I usually keep some on hand. It's not cheap by any means, but if u are just prepping for a rainy day so to speak, it doesn't seen worth it to dehydrate yourself. Canning is sooo expensive, just to by the boiler.

Mountain house is great, u add water, and eat it right out of the bag. I stock basics, like powdered milk, bottled water and rice etc and propane for my camp stove.

My ex's mom used to dehydrate and can foods all the time. It wasn't very hard, and once you get the hang out it, it's really easy. We used to make our own raisins all the time. It was nice to dehydrate fruits and make your own trail mix. She canned tomatoes, beef, chicken, green beans, carrots, etc. I would say, don't ever leave your dehydrator on if you aren't watching it...she left the house and it caught fire!!! Thank goodness only her kitchen was affected, but it could have been really bad. I would assume she didn't have a high quality machine though.

I dehydrate. Unfortunately, the machines we get these days are not powerful enough to completely remove the moisture (like when something is freeze dried) so it doesn't last super long.

BUT It's fun and great to do for when you buy too much groceries or your tomatoes all come in at once.

If you dehydrate and then freeze or can, I imagine that would last a lot longer.

I dehydrated some extra cherry tomatoes, and then turned it into a pesto. Super tasty.

DH LOVED the dehydrated strawberries, especially in his cereal. I also did apples, which was quite tasty. Only thing is, even though I have 5 tiers on the machine, filling the entire thing only makes 5 zip lock bag fulls.

Dehydrating potato pieces, celery, herbs, carrots, and onions,a and storing it in plastic bags makes for an easy ready at your fingertips stew base.

Canning without dehydration is like any other prepping type activity. You need to be using it and replacing it. You aren't adding the same amount of salt or acid necessarily, and you can make yourself really sick if you go years before using something. I feed our family of three on an average of $40/week by canning. If you want to do meat, you need a pressure canner/cooker. They can be $200-300. It is expensive up front, but in the long run, cheaper. I haven't started playing with dehydration yet. That will probably be a fall or next year project.