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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.)
 

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100-year Ice Storm

How Did You Survive?

Here is How These People Survived Their Disaster!

 

"100-year Ice Storm" in Northern Arkansas.

 

Just a few words about the "100-year Ice Storm" in Northern Arkansas.
It hit hard on January 21, 2009 taking down trees by the hundreds, electrical power poles and power lines by the miles. Trees fell on roof tops, fences, cars, partially blocked entries and exits into homes.

 

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At our ranch, our entry road is one-half mile, down a tree lined road from a state highway. We had a large number of all size trees down across our road. We used a tractor, dozer, manpower and two chain saws sawing nearly solid for two days to get it passable out to the state highway. Our electrical power was knocked out for eleven days.

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When the storm hit, my wife's brother from Indianola, Oklahoma and her sister from Aurora, Missouri both had arrived that day to visit a few days. So we had extra good help, played cards by candle-oil lamp light and a lot of good visiting. We also had extra flashlights and batteries. ( Being storm ready from Texas had prepared us somewhat for Arkansas)
                                                                       

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The cooking brought back a combination of camping out and back in the "olden times". We had a little portable propane 2 burner cook top and our outside gas grill. Needless to say no one went hungry!
Our heat was from a wood fireplace and a propane (decorator but fully capable) fireplace. the sweaters and sweats helped.
We did have phone service on our one land line, the portable phones that needed electricity were dead in the (ice water)!! The ice even took out most cell towers.

 

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We are very fortunate that our home water supply is furnished by a large spring, coming from out of the mountain, so we had plenty of fresh water. We had one portable power unit and it kept the refrigerator and two freezers going, so our frozen food supply was adequate. After a few days a truck load of generators arrived and we purchased the second generator and that gave us more power for lighting etc.
                                                                     

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All in all it was an eye opening experience that we could manage without the "modern convinces" but life is so much easier with them and we thank the good Lord for all he generously does for us......