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[<eureka AT hctc.net>]

We dehydrate peppers and a lot of other veggies if we 
can't eat them fast enough. They all make great soup, 
stew, and casserole additions later. I figure it costs 
less energy to dehydrate something and keep in on the 
shelf than in the freezer. We don't have much freezer 
space anyway, and I don't like the taste of freezer burn. 
I use a Harvest Maid dehydrator I bought over two decades 
ago (still works fine). My few attempts at sun dried 
anything has mostly attracted ants. According to raw food 
books if you dehydrate something at or below 115 degrees 
you do not destroy the enzymes. That's what I keep the 
thermostat set at on it.

I got into dehydrating food because of the lack of 
vegetarian choices in available backpacking meals. Once I 
dehydrated an entire watermelon (this took a long, long 
time) and the contents could fit in half a sandwich bag. 
It was the best "candy" ever tasted! Broccoli is truly 
amazing, it rehydrates in a little boiling water to almost 
its original form. I remember backpacking and eating 
broccoli with hollandaise sauce (and other wonderful food 
I'd dehydrated) when others were eating macaroni and 
cheese. Could have sold my meals for a fortune up on the 
Continental Divide! The Sierra Club has a great cookbook 
called Simple Foods for the Pack which is great for ideas 
of what to do with dehydrated veggies.

We avoid WalMart most of the time, but ocassionally it is 
unavoidable. It's amazing you can get a soldering iron, 
veggie burger, and evening bra in one place. Too bad their 
ethics are so deplorable.

--Sage
Way Out in Texas

On Fri, 30 May 2008 10:11:21 -0400
 "Lisa K.V. Perry" <lisakvperry AT gmail.com> wrote:
> On Fri, May 30, 2008 at 7:58 AM, Gene GeRue 
> <genegerue AT ruralize.com> wrote:
>
> > On May 29, 2008, at 8:06 PM, Clansgian AT wmconnect.com 
> > wrote:
> >
> > > So I ain't buyin' the 30% blather.
> >
> > Nor I.
>
>
> I haven't set foot in a WalMart in close to two years, 
> and even then it was
> only one or two times per year. I was never a WalMart 
> grocery shopper, so I
> haven't checked out their prices recently.
>
> Well, I can report that inferior coffee at WalMart costs 
> substantially more
> > than superior coffee at Trader Joe's in Phoenix, which 
> > is not a place
> > where poor families go to buy their groceries.
>
> Based on this, I will happily continue living my life 
> without visits to
> WalMart.
>
> > And after viewing the fresh veggie prices I bought not a 
> > single thing.
> > Has anyone ever seen higher prices for bell peppers? 
> > Grow, garden!
>
>
> For the first time since we've lived here (8 years) the 
> deer got into my
> older fenced garden, I lost 3 bell pepper plants a 
> couple days ago. We
> repaired or shored up weaker areas of the fence to keep 
> them out until we
> can put up a new fence. Hope that does the trick.
>
> Since it's not too late, I'll get another 4-pack and 
> replant those lost
> pepper plants. I'll bet peppers are easy to dehydrate. I 
> usually diced and
> froze them to put into soups and stews.
>
> Lisa
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