We really like sautéed mushrooms added to our meals. We like them spiced up a bit and cooked in butter and olive oil. Mushrooms really absorb the flavors and spices well and truly add flavor to our meals.
Storing them long-term was a challenge as well as including them in our prepared meals for our food storage. What we learned to do was dehydrate them and vacuum seal them for long-term storage.
Preparing Your Mushrooms
We buy our raw mushrooms (sliced) from a local farmer’s market by the flat. We get 4 containers per flat and we get at least 2 flats. If you buy whole muchrooms you will need to slice them 1/8 to 1/4 inch in thickness before cooking.
We use some gourmet olive oil and butter to start the cooking process. We add our Cajun spices to our own flavor. I suggest you experiment to find what flavorings work for you and your family. Remember, the key to the Meals in a Jar concept is preparing meals the way your family eats so that during a disaster eating becomes a comfort and not just a necessity.
Dehydration
We spread parchment paper across the sheets in our dehydrator. This prevents the mushrooms from falling through the holes.
The dehydration process is very simple. We set the dehydrator for 135 degrees and set the timer for 14 hours. We generally do this overnight but you can do it whenever it is convenient for you.
You will know that the mushrooms are dehydrated when they have shriveled up and are light in weight. I pick up a few and drop them on the parchment paper. If they bounce then they are ready to be vacuum sealed.
Vacuum Sealing
We use quart jars for long-term storage of essentials such as mushrooms, onions, rice and fruits. This allows us to open/vacuum seal the jars over and over again to take out what we need.
Fill the jar to the level of the neck of the jar. Do not fill the jar to the top as this could cause problems with the vacuum sealer. You should shake the jar to help the mushrooms settle so you can pack more in. Try not to push them in as they will begin to break and crumble.
Wipe the jar lead to remove any debris, place a clean lid onto the jar and then place the jar attachment onto the jar. Connect the hose to the jar attachment and to the port on the Food Saver. Press the Cannister button and let the Food Saver suck out the air from the jar. Once the Food Save has stopped remove the hose from the jar attachment and then remove the jar attachment from the jar.
Your jar is now vacuum sealed. You may place the screw on band on the jar or not. Your choice. The band really does not help or hinder the integrity of the vacuum.
Using Your Dehydrated Sautéed Mushrooms
This is the absolute best part. We include a 1/4 to 1/2 cup of our sautéed mushrooms in a wide variety of our Meals in a Jar. Almost every meal we put onions in we also slip in some of our mushrooms.
You should allow a 1:1 ratio of water to mushrooms to rehydrate them. That is 1/4 hot water to 1/4 cup of mushrooms.