Dehydrating Canned Green Beans

One way you can save money, time, and space is to dehydrate your canned green beans.  In fact, any vegetable or fruit that does not have all sorts of additives or high fructose corn syrup in it will dehydrate well.

• For an economic edge always buy canned goods on sale. Most stores have loss leaders. These are special sale items that are marked down significantly low. Their purpose is to draw customers into the store.
• When you find a loss leader on plain canned veggies, not seasoned or with sauces and such; buy as many as you can afford! Don’t buy the ones that are in some sort of sauce, just plain beans.
•  Mike and I purchased three cases of beans… green beans, black beans, and kidney beans for 49¢ per can!  Pretty good by today’s prices.
• You don’t need to make a big production of it, but when you have a few extra empty racks on your dehydrator, open a few cans of beans to top off the machine. It’ doesn’t cost any more to run a full machine than an empty machine.

Drain your beans. 

• In this picture, I’m draining my canned beans into a pitcher. 
• Use that liquid in soup stock.  Don’t pour it down the drain, that’s where most of the nutrients end up after the canning process.
• Sometimes, after draining in a colander, I put them in my salad spinner if I think they are still a little too wet.
• Spread them out on your racks and dry on a low temp, probably no more than 115°.

A whole can of dehydrated green beans

reduces down to a little less than a half a cup of product. 

• Prepper point: this is important when you need to set up foods on the go.

 How to use dehydrated canned green beans:

• Rehydrate by soaking covered in water for 20 to 30 minutes, season, and serve.
• Toss them into soups, stews, or casseroles.
• Grind them into flakes and use as a salad sprinkle.
• Use them in instant soup.
• Mix with dehydrated cooked rice and crushed dehydrated onions and garlic. Cover with water and add a chicken bullion cube for a variation on a risotto dish.