There's so much fruit this year I need to make a start on getting stuff stored away for the winter.
A great use of early apples (which won't store) is to dehydrate them.
I think it's fair to say we got our money back on this dehydrator a few times over, the amount we've used it over the years.
The children are so helpful with this. They understand that they eat most of it, so they need to help. In fact they encourage me to do it (especially the middle child who loves to take dried fruit every day to school).
So this weekend we've started on the apples, a complete dehydrator full of them and it's currently full of damsons, which will take longer to dry out.
Think it's worth the cost and effort?
I'm of the opinion that anything dealing with gardening or preservation of food is not worth the cost, not even close. But it is worth the effort. Spending time growing food and preserving it is a lot less expensive than alternative hobbies and you can't beat the health aspects of eating your own naturally preserved food. I could probably buy a bag of dehydrated apples at our local bulk food store for a few dollars. But spending time with my kids talking as we preserve the apples and smelling the aroma of dehydrating apples for days is nearly priceless in my opinion.
ReplyDeleteKev, I am with Ed. I have scarcely ever "saved" money by doing gardening or preserving or making dairy products, but the pride of doing it myself and the interesting conversations it has created with people is 100% worth it.
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