Quest for Carrots A Great Bargain! Day 1 – Sliced ‘n Cooked

Last Tuesday Mike was our Senior Center Bus Driver. He took a busload of us for our monthly trip to Riverton, fondly referred to as "Down Below". (So named because it is 2,000 feet lower in altitude than our home in Dubois.)

We went shopping in a grocery store I don’t frequent and I made an exciting discovery.  They had a huge bag of “juicing carrots” for $7.99. Twenty-five pounds of carrots for 31¢ a pound! 

How could I resist?

Now why should I pay $1 per pound for something

when I can buy it for 1/3 of the price?

My concern was finding a way to use them all before they spoiled.  We definitely don’t have a refrigerator large enough to hold that many carrots for several weeks.  On the two-hour drive home, I planned my strategy for dehydrating them.

Day One – the first batch

 First thing in the morning, I took a large colander of carrots from the top and scrubbed them with a brush.

Sliced Diagonally

Carrots and Squash in the crock-pot

 Economy tip - There was still some room in the top, so I sliced an acorn squash and tucked in for supper.  Why not? If the flavors of foods are compatible, and you have room, go ahead and cook several things in the same pot.  It doesn’t take any more fuel to heat a full pot than a  partially full one.

• No seasonings, just plain. 
• The reason I precooked these carrots is because precooked things are rather like convenience food. They rehydrate faster and make it more convenient to use them.  Especially when I didn’t plan to allow for rehydrating time.

That evening, I racked the cooked carrots.  These will be easy to rehydrate and use…

4 Racks Cooked Carrot Slices

These are hard and leathery. They may not look pretty, but they taste just fine.