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DEHYDRATED .VS. FREEZE DRIED FOOD

A lot of people are unsure about the differences between dehydrated foods and freeze dried foods. Both foods are optimum for long term storage.

Dehydrated foods are without any seasoning or additional ingredients (usually). Dehydrated foods are usually single ingredients. You can mix any dehydrated food with any other food product for a combination of tastes, textures and varieties.

Dehydrated foods require cooking and seasoning. Cooking times vary, but most are added to hot boiling water. You can also do "thermos cooking" by adding boiling water to a thermos, adding ingredients and letting it sit for a couple of hours. Just forget about it, it will cook itself. This will cook the food slowly using the minimum amount of energy.

By adding water, you're rehydrating the food back into it's original natural state before dehydration, but it's still "raw". It still needs to be cooked until tender. Most dehydrated food will benefit from adding seasoning.

Freeze dried foods, on the other hand, are usually foods containing a multitude of ingredients and seasonings. Nothing more is needed, just a little cook time in hot water to rehydrated them and have them ready to eat. They are pre-seasoned, pre-cooked and pre-mixed with other ingredients, making them the fastest, easiest and tastiest foods available.

Freeze dried food is usually an "entree", containing multiple items for a complete meal. Most dishes have several items included within them and you don't need to do any other cooking or adding ingredients to make a complete meal. Because it's freeze dried, you simply add hot water, and cook for about 10 minutes. This rehydrates the food completely and it's ready to eat! (In a pinch you can use clean cold water to rehydrate your Freeze Dried Food.)