Well, thanks to Craig’s List and Ebay… I have two new food storage toys to learn and fool with. One is this Ronco 7 tray dehydrator. I did a bunch of research and there are mixed reviews about this beast. Apparently some people LOVE it and some people don’t. There are some middle of the road fans, but pretty much it’s either one or the other extreme. I have to find a manual online, but apparently it can be done. As I look at it, I spent $10 from a local guy. That’s not bad at all. And as I read most of the reviews, the biggest issue is that this does not have a fan, so you have to be very careful not to overload it, and it helps greatly to move the trays throughout the day. Since I’m home and all, I don’t that will make it too hard for me. I can just rotate the trays as I move in and out of my day.

I’m excited for a couple reasons to try this thing. The biggest one is to make dog treats. Yep. Dog Treats. I was looking at doggy goodies and I have always bought them for my girl, Gypsy. And I was standing there at the pet store and I realized that I am paying about $12-$15 a pound for junk. Haha…. yep, corn byproduct and junk mostly. Filler. A 5 ounce bag of bacon byproduct strips was $3.99. And mind you, this was MOSTLY bacon flavored wheat and corn junk. Heck, I can get a pound of good thick strip bacon for $4 a pound at the butcher! And she would go nuts for it. Somewhere in my research I found people taking beef liver and dehydrating it as good healthy dog treats and it was less than $5 a pound. Heck, at that price you could get a good beef roast when they have them on sale, $4-$5 dollars a pound, slice it thin and dehydrate it for a BUNCH of bite side snacks for Fido.

And I would love to dehydrate my own onions, green onion, garlic and maybe like carrots and potato bits. Something that you could then store and shake into rice and noodle single servings when you are boiling them up. And try to make some of our own meat jerky. That sounds kind of good, and fun in a weird way. So I hope that my $10 cheapie find will help to introduce us to the world of dehydration as a means of food storage.

And then, I went and scored on eBay, a Foodsaver vacuum food bag sealer that is like BRAND NEW… it still had all the stickers, parts, warrenty and a bunch of bags and a whole new roll of adjustable size bags as well. What a deal. Oh, did I mention… it was only $14! (Plus shipping, but that was only $10) This model retails for like $80. I’m tell you, if you don’t shop eBay and watch your local Craig’s list, you are missing out on some great deals on things that can really help you as you simply and try to live lighter on the land. Don’t pay full price for anything… get yourself free of the whole commercial need cycle. Besides, it’s a fun way to meet you UPS and mail man during the week!