Is a Dehydrator Worth It?

A dehydrator takes the water out of food, creating a way to lighten your load or space. It helps spices to remain almost forever, backpackers to carry weeks worth of waterless meals in their backpacks, and water out of fruit and meat for snacks.

An average dehydrator costs around $30. Is it really worth it? Well, let's look at the cost of spices at the grocery store. Let's take basil for example. I bought a fresh basil plant in early March. We're halfway through April and it's still producing leaves. We bought a sweet basil plant at a local nursery for $2.50.

Granted, the pot, soil, and water costs money, but its a small enough amount that it really doesn't add to much since the plant is so small. It's not like we're using enough water to fill a bathtub or anything. I'm a huge fan of gardening and when you plant even just one plant, like spices, it's well worth the money.

Any old dehydrator will get the job done :)

After cutting off the leaves, you should wash them (and make sure there are no bugs or insects on them).

Put a plastic tray (usually for fruit leather) on the bottom tray. This will catch all the crumbs when they are dehydrated

Place the leaves in an even layer on your dehydrator tray.

Wait 3-4 hours, but check them once in awhile. I tried dehydrating fresh strawberries one time and I actually burned them! So keep an eye on your special leaves.

When will they be done? I don't have fancy buttons on my dehydrator, but when they crumple when you touch them, they're done. Kind of like bacon.  Place them in a ziploc and have a kid crumple them to the size you want them.

Fresh organic basil

Back to the original question: is a dehydrator worth it? A regular container spice container of basil is minimum $3.00 around here. I bought the basil plant for $1.99 and have gotten at least 2 spice containers full from just one basil plant without adding any miracle grow or anything.

So the answer is yes. Over time, you can dehydrate many things...for mucho cheaper than the grocery store. Plus, who needs to keep buying the same spice container? Although they are handy...

Other uses for a regular $30 dehydrator:

Sunflower or Pumpkin Seeds
Dried Fruit (Grapes-Raisins)
Meat Jerky
Spices (Basil, Parsley, etc)
Flowers (who knew?)
Chips

A great website for more dehydrator uses: http://www.stacymakescents.com/40-uses-for-a-dehydrator 

Definitely a kitchen investment! You can use all that extra money towards your debt and create some kitchen or craft experiments :)

April's First Half Grocery Bill

The month of April I had to buy household cleaners, snack foods for my daughter's class, and get ready for a birthday party this Saturday. How am I going to do that with $400 this month? Well, in reality, I only have $200 until the 15th (second paycheck).

Did I make it to the second paycheck before running out of money? Nope. But I have learned a few things along the way.

We did have to skip on getting party favors (bag of marshmallows, carrot, raisins, and pretzel sticks) to make an Olaf. We can't afford to get small waters for kids ("melted snow"), but we do have two pitchers that we can make Kool-Aid in one and another for water, so we can do the "melted snow" thing!

What did we buy? I can hear everyone asking.
Winco: Gluten Free Chocolate Cereal (for the kids) $3.57 Kid's breakfast
             Organic 1/2 gallon mik                                 $3.48
Fresh & Easy: Green Enchilada Sauce                      $2.39 (should really learn how to make it)
             Organic Apples 4pack                                  $3.99 snack
             Sour Cream                                                   $2.79
             Red Onions (4 or 5 pack)                              $2.49
             Tortillas    (not sprouted or wheat)                $2.69
             Avocados <3 <3 <3  Too many                     $7.78
             Annie's Snack Mix (Clearance)                    $2.00
             Vine Tomatoes                                              $1.99
              Dried Fruit Cherries                                     $6.59
              Dried Fruit Apricots                                     $5.49
              Snickerdoodle Cookies                                $ 2.69
Trader Joe's
              Ground Beef, Grass Fed    1 lb.                    $6.99
              Pork Sausage, Sweet Italian                         $3.99
And Sam's Club
              Jimmy Dean Egg Sandwiches                     $10.78
              Mexican Cheese Shredded 5lbs                   $15.12
              Canned Anaheims 2 Cans                            $4.86
              Parsley Flakes                                              $3.88
              Nutty Bars (Daughter's School Snack)        $3.48
              Brown Eggs, Cage Free   18pack                $3.98 (probably only thing organic in my cart)
              Snap Peas                                                     $4.78 (snack and birthday party)
              Colby Jack Cheese Block                            $8.98 (snack, cooking, and birthday party)
              Bananas                                                        $1.36
                                                       Grand Total:     $116.14

Wow. What a difference compared to last week! Daddy and Daughter were complaining there are no snacks for school and work. *rolls eyes* Hubby was also complaining how empty the fridge looked when he opened it. It was the day before I went shopping and creating a meal plan before going really, really helped. I was able to get what I needed- minus junk food for the party.

 Sam's Club was the biggest money sucker of them all. It may look like I spent a lot there, but I was able to find items for Saturday night's dinner, plus some food for other Mexican food dinner nights (that can be frozen). I know I should have gone there in the first place- shame on me! I'm suppose to be buying healthy and organic. What the heck happened? A

Next week we will be heading somewhere...can I buy organic on my weekly allotment? Can Jenn get back on track?

It should be easier now that the birthday party is done, out of town guests are gone, and household supplies are made. Whew. Yay vacation time!

Another Day at the Bako Depot

Another day has come and gone. Still in the lovely fall weather, they are actually talking about an actual thunderstorm tomorrow! We haven't had a good t-storm in a LONG time, so I'm very excited. This cooler weather is making me want to drink hot chocolate already. Living in the midwest for 15+ years, I got use to the snow and do I miss it? I miss looking at it. That's about it. If I want to bundle up, the mountains are about thirty minutes away. Good enough for me!

Today, hubby and I went for a walk in the wee hours of the morning. It wasn't until halfway through that the rooster crowed. He's been later than usual. The kids woke after hubby left for work so I made them some eggs with diced jalapenos (whoops) and then dumped that out so I could cook canned chilies (Anaheims), which instead of opening the can to dump in diced chilies, they turned out to be whole chilies. So I diced them and put them in the skillet with the mushrooms. I can't tell you how much my three year old hates mushrooms. I've showed him a little snippet on YouTube about Mario eating mushrooms and growing biger. It unfortunately didn't work!

After that, I read a book (Little Blue Truck) to the kids and they are actually picking up more and more words. I had them paint on a large piece of paper before they decided it would be more fun to paint each other. Another shower for them...

We baked red velvet cupcakes, brownies, and made grilled a whole chicken for dinner (with other stuff). Plus, we made bread in the machine. Nothing beats homemade bread.

Like I said, the weather has been great, so the kids can go outside and I don't have to worry about sunburns anymore. Now it's climbing trees and fighting with sticks. I'm hoping I get a chance to deflate the pool now that summer is over.

I got more weeds pulled in the garden, filled up the yard waste bin, and found the peppercinis and tomatillos are still producing like crazy! We will definitely be planting more of those next year. I also found I need to put a net over the grapes and tomato plants next year. The birds attacked with a vengeance for my fruit.

Overall, it was a productive day. I still have lots more to finish: laundry, cleaning the kitchen (never-ending), filing (sitting on my table for a month now), and general fall cleaning. Did I mention I want to get a few projects done in case we need to move? I swear the list never ends.

And as for the kids, I've decided I'm going to homeschool Lizzy during her kindergarten year. I'm going to try it and see what she thinks of mommy teaching her. I'm trying my best to stay calm and patient, but I'll write more about that later.

Thanks for reading!