Well, I finished my 28 day menu plan with many thanks to KathyinFL for the many recipes I used that she provided. I am now working on the shopping list that corresponds with the plan and a problem I’m having is knowing how to specify quantities of dried foods, i.e. dried carrots, onions, etc. Many of the recipes I’m using specify the fresh ingredient like two carrots, or 1/2 cup chopped onions. What I can’t find is how to equate that to their dried counterparts. I looked all over the Honeyville Grain site and the Survival Acres site, but did not see a conversion chart. Any ideas, anyone? I was able to figure out the correlation between butter powder and fresh butter and the fact that three TBS of powdered eggs is equal to one fresh, but gleaning this information seems to be exception.
Felicia: At Survival Acres, if you click on the item you are interested in, you go to a new screen with more ordering information. There is usually a More Details thingie you can click on which provides the information you are looking for, as well as nutritional data. I’ve spoken with the man at Survival Acres, who also posts here occasionally, and he is quite helpful. Most of the survival foods websites offer a reasonably priced cookbook called, Cooking With Home Storage; I’ve read positive comments about it, but don’t have it yet. I would imagine it would be very useful. If all else fails….I have stockpiled a number of dehydrated foods for my dire emergency needs and I’d be glad to give you the information that’s printed on the can labels, if you are ordering the same things I have on hand.
One of the best general books on food storage and emergency preparedness is:
“Emergency Food Storage & Survival Handbook” by Peggy Layton
I originally found the book at my local library. I loved it so much I bought my own copy through Amazon and it is already getting a bit tattered from use. On Page 185 and 186 is a nice table that shows product reconstitutions - dried food - water to add and the yield when rehydrated. It is two full pages and there are more conversions throughout the book but just to give you some info from it (excerpts)
Apple Slices - 1 cup dried + 1 1/2 cups boiling water = 2 cups of sliced apples beans & legumes - 1 cup dried + 3 cups boiling water and 2 teaspoons salt = 4 cups Bell peppers - 1 cup dried + 1 1/2 cups boiling water = 2 cups of bell peppers broccoli - 1 cup dried + 2 cups boiling water = 1 1/2 cups of brocolli butter (powder) - 1 cup powder + 2 tablespoons water = 3/4 cup of butter carrots - 1 cup dried + 2 cups boiling water = 2 cups Eggs - 2 1/2 tablespoons dried + 2 1/2 tablespoons water = 1 egg Milk, non-instant - 1 cup milk powder + 4 cups water = 4 cups Onions - 1 cup dried +1 cup boiling water = 1 1/2 cups onions Peas - 1 cup dried+ 2 1/2 cups of boiling water = 2 1/2 cups of peas Potatoe dices - 1 cup dried + 3 cups boiling water = 2 cups potatoes Spinach flakes - 1 cup dried + 1 1/2 cups boiling water = 1 cup of spinach Tomatoe Powder - 1 cup powder + 1 1/2 cups boiling water = 1 3/4 cup of tomatoe sauce Wheat & Grains - 1 cup grain + 2 cups boiling water and 1 teaspoon salt = 3 cups grain
Lots more - those are just the ones I use alot and found helpful.
Sorry about hwo the formatting came out on that. Yuck it all ran together. Oh well… the real point was that you should get your hands on a copy of that book.
Thank you both for the helpful information! I really appreciate it!
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Rehydrate, then measure ?
University of Georgia has a pretty good table of equivalents for dried foods a http://www.agen.ufl.edu/~foodsaf/he536.html
If you are buying your dried items prepackaged, there should be some information on the container.
There are several food preservation books that you should be able to get through your local library that will also give you this information. “Stocking Up III” has one I believe as do several others that I have on my own shelves.
Is there any particular item that you are looking for an equivalent for?
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