Food Dehydrators That Are Suited For Long Term Storage

Ever wanted to try dehydrating things for long term food storage?

You will need a food dehydrators of some sort. I recommend starting with a pretty basic one when you first try your hand at this. You do not need anything terribly fancy.

The basics of food dehydration are simple. You need equipment that allows you to effectively remove all moisture from your food so it will store optimally.

Why would I want to Food dehydrators, anyway?

Food dehydrations or drying has been around for centuries. It is one of the oldest methods of preserving food.

Canning and freezing foods will retain more nutrition than dehydrated foods, but dehydrated foods are space efficient and weigh far less. I find it much easier to dehydrate foods than it is to can them.

Dehydrating food is great for people who like to hike and camp because it often reduces the weight of a given food from 50 to 90 percent.

Dehydrated fruits and vegetables make great healthy snacks. I like to use them in recipes as well.

I did not know you could easily dry herbs in a dehydrator. I had been hanging my herbs to dry for years. Now, I can just clip them from the garden and toss them right in the dehydrator trays.

What can you dehydrate or dry?

So far, I have dried beef jerky, chocolate chia survival bars,  strawberries, blueberries, tomatoes and some herbs from my garden. All were simple to do. You just turn the machine on for the time specified in the instructions, and turn off when finished. I was quite pleasantly surprised to see how easy it was to dry and dehydrate food.

Do you have a starter model you recommend?

Yes. The Presto Dehydro food dehydrator is the simplest basic version I found that I really like. It was by far the easiest to use out of the box. The instructions that come with it make set up simple, directions as well as uses are clearly spelled out with nicely presented instructions.
I think this food dehydrator is perfect for those just starting with drying and dehydrating food for survival food storage.

This is the box for the product, and I like the way it is packaged. This is a basic dehydrator that you can easily set up and use in minutes.

Easy Set Up

This dehydrator has clearly labeled parts and clear instructions that accompany the kit. I really appreciated the paper insert that was in the dehydrator when I opened it. This provided a quick set up guide, with an easy to follow diagram.

This handy diagram comes with the machine, showing you how to quickly and easily set up the trays to dry food.

You simply load the dehydrator trays with food, stack them, and plug the machine in to turn it on

Clear Instructions

The instructions that come with the Presto Dehydro Food Dehydrator not only tell you how to use the machine, they tell you what you can make with it. A chart with drying times for a wide variety of foods is included, as are instructions for drying particular foods.

This is what comes with the Presto Dehydro Food Dehydrator. The round insert included with it makes set up easy.

The instructions tell you how to use the machine, and also how to prepare a variety of foods in it.

For example, the instructions explain how to prepare fruits before drying. It turns out you need to put blueberries in boiling water briefly before you dry them. Without these instructions, I would have thrown my blueberries right in.

The dehydrator comes with stacking trays, so you can dry several layers of food at one time.

Multitude of Uses

I was happy to read this model also accommodates different trays, so that you can use it to dry fruit rolls and other specialty items. You order these separately, which I plan to do soon.

I used this dehydrator to dry my homemade beef jerky. (Recipe and instruction link below)

Try DIY Ready's homemade beef jerky in your dehydrator:

How to Make Beef Jerky

Also try the DIY Ready recipe for Chocolate Chia Survival Bars that you can dehydrate:

Survival Bar Recipe and Instructions: Chocolate Chia Survival Bars

Want to try this dehydrator?

Here is where you can get one:
Presto 06300 Dehydro Electric Food Dehydrator

There are also cool accessories for this product, like trays that allow you make fruit rolls:

Nonstick screens for small food items like berries, or ones that might stick:

Want to know more? Check out these related articles on our site:

• The Groundfridge: Changing the Face of Food Storage
• How to Store Food Using Oxygen Absorbers
• Food Storage Solutions: Buckets, Lids and Gamma Seals

For awesome survival gear you can’t make at home, check out the Survival Life Store!

Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, and Tumblr!

**Disclaimer: All content on this site is for informational purposes only. Please read our full disclaimer .**

Editor’s Note: This post was originally published on February 21, 2014, and has been updated for quality and relevancy.