Freeze drying, dehydrating, and more…..

 After seeing a post in a PKU group about freeze drying it really got me thinking…..I have never been one of those doomsday people…..never ever, but that being said after everything shut down and food was hard to get at the beginning of COVID it isn’t something that I can simply say will never happen.  Now Monkey Pox is in the United States.  What if stuff shuts down due to that?  Will we be right where we were a few years ago?  Not to mention war……war is a real possibility, and what do you think will happen if we ever enter a war?  Yes….you got it……food shortage.  I never want to feel that vulnerable or terrified again.  I think I was most terrified for Genavieve (and my other girls with PKU) because they simply can’t eat anything.  

So, I ordered my freeze drying machine and must wait 8-10 weeks for it to come.  Some people say they get it earlier, so I am hoping.  I also decided I am going to work on dehydrating food.  I looked at our dehydrator and it really is a piece of crap…..it is a cheap plastic little one that won’t do much of anything, so I bought a new one.  The new one has 8 trays, and the machine seems rather larger.  I don’t know because it isn’t set to arrive until Friday, so we will see.  

My goal is to freeze dry and dehydrate foods for storage (and of course to eat).  I want to have a stock pile of food.  I know some will say that is stupid, but after the last few years I cannot help, but worry.  

I decided that today I am going to go to Menards and see if I can find the potato growing bags, and if I can I am going to try and grow potatoes, onions, and maybe carrots.  I know it is late in the season, but according to online you can still get a late harvest so that is what I am hoping for.  

I also plan on making Brad put up his green house.  Next year my plan is to use that green house to start seedlings, and then I am going to have him create raised flower beds for me to plant my garden in.  I am going to really try hard to give it a go, and then what I harvest from the garden I plan on dehydrating and/or freeze drying.  I am also going to go apple picking, and strawberry picking, and picking anything else I can find to make it cheaper for us and easier to keep a stock pile of food just in case.  

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