Looking for Food Dehydration - How to Dry Foods Instead of Canning or Freezing in 2023? Scroll down this page and follow the links. And if you bring home some fruit or vegetables and want to can, freeze, make jam, salsa or pickles, see this page for simple, reliable, illustrated canning, freezing or preserving directions. There are plenty of other related resources, click on the resources dropdown above. If you are having a hard time finding canning lids, I've used these, and they're a great price & ship in 2 days.
If you have questions or feedback, please let me know! There are affiliate links on this page. Read our disclosure policy to learn more.
Click here to print a PDF overview of the steps
Dehydration is an alternative to canning (called "bottling" in the UK) and freezing fruits and vegetables. If you have a surplus of fruits or vegetables from your garden, but lack the canning equipment or freezer space, drying may be the right method for you!
Dehydrated foods have a number of advantages: Dehydration is a low-cost way to preserve food that is free from concerns about botulism, the dried foods require less storage space than canned goods, and there's no freezer to keep running.
If you want to dry meats or make a meat jerky, see this page.
Some fruits are easier than others to dry at home. The more challenging ones can become sticky and fall apart, not firm, so it's best to start with these until you get some experience drying fruits:
Select the drying method and equipment that is right for you.
Foods can be dried in a
(from best to worst, in terms of effectiveness, quality and safety)"
Water bath canner with a jar rack
Pressure canners for gas, electric and induction stoves: Presto 23Qt or T-fal 22Qt
Canning scoop (this one is PERFECT)
Ball Blue book (most recent version)
Get the
most recent version of
the Ball Blue Book
Get the
most recent version of
the Ball Blue Book
Get Halloween Costumes delivered fast, great prices!