time, time, time

[JustMe]

A thought just occurred to me. When dehyrdating things, some stuff can take up to 10 hours even. So I'm thinking planning ahead is a must especially if your making entrees that you want to have ready the next day or so. Alissa says in her book that she wants you to make all of this food, but how do you store the deydrated items that you make for entrees? And can anyone give an example of how they prepare ahead of time for soaking nuts, seeds, etc. Do you have like a planner or something :confused: Sorry if i'm a little confusing here :o

[Rawkinlocs]

Hey JustMe!

Well, it does take some planning for some things, especially when you need to soak, sprout or dehydrate.

What I've started doing (when not being lazy or too overburdened with other things), once I buy my nuts, I'll go ahead and get some on soak right away. They'll soak overnight and halfway into the next day and then onto the dehydrator they go! Dehydrate til dry and seal up in a container or bag (whatever you use) and then when a recipe you want calls for soaked nuts, you have them, if they need to be soft, then just soak for a few hours or so to rehydrate them.

I had done the same with some grains too...but not sure how well that works out. I have some sprouted/dehydrated grains stored too...but not sure how fresh or how well they'll "perform".

As for dehydrating, if I want to make something and know it will take a day and a half or so to finish, I'll try and map out in my mind what time I need to start it in order to have it ready for dinner or lunch or breakfast, etc.

Like, I've been really wanting to try the barley burgers that RawPriestess raves about (which is Alissa's meatloaf made into patties) so, I have barley sprouting and I started them 2 days ago and they're ready now...were actually ready yesterday BUT...didn't have sundried tomatoes on hand, so I put some tomatoes on the dehydrator yesterday and they're about ready now as I don't plan to dry them all the way only to have to soak them to reconstitute anyway...so I'll dry them part way and use them that way!

As you do this more and more, you'll learn little tricks and things along the way ;)

With having food left over, Rawpriestess says she freezes any leftovers and just puts on the dehydrator when ready to eat later on. Someone else (can't recall who right now) mentioned drying out leftover pate' and other things on the dehydrator and making crackers and that they're delicious!

Hope some of this helps! :D

[RawTruth]

Rachel -- yes, a "planner" in the form of some type of calendar (even just you writing it on lined paper) can be the key to keeping control of this at first ... and for a while, actually. I can't imagine succeeding without doing that now. Otherwise, I'm stuck with nothing but salads and fruit (not that that's bad, mind you -- I do want to eventually get away from prepared stuff) and feeling deprived. So, the trick is in the planning. Decide what you want to try and then plan backward so you'll know that in order to have X on Saturday, you'll need to do Y and Z today and tomorrow. I even write a list for each day -- yeah, I know that may seem a little over the top, but otherwise, I'll forget or get sidetracked and just not be prepared. Advance planning and preparation is everything, I think. It takes a little while to get used to this, but, after a while it becomes second nature ... and it's so worthwhile.