Storing food is more important than ever, but these days we can't always rely on purchasing food from the grocery store. Canning is awesome, but have you added dehydration to your repertoire yet? Dehydrating food is a great way to store a lot of nutrients in a small space, especially if you use some of the tips in this article to get the most bang for your storage buck.

There are many different ways to dehydrate food. There are minor differences between dehydration and drying. Dehydration uses artificial means to remove moisture, whereas drying uses natural means. The end result is the same, and for the purpose of this article, we're going to use the terms interchangeably.

-Use a dehydrator. These can range from inexpensive and simple to all the bells and whistles. I recently got this smaller one for my city apartment, and I'm very happy with it. I find that silicone tray liners make my life far easier at clean-up time.

-Use your oven. Set your oven at 145 °F for fruits and veggies and 150 °F for meat jerky.

-Air dry. I use this method for lightweight items like herbs and spices from my garden. I change them in a sunny window in a room without a great deal of humidity. If you are drying outdoors or there are pesky bugs or birds around, you can get a mesh hanging contraption to dry your herbs and keep them pest-free. These remind me a lot of those clothing sorters that hang in the closet that you get for little kids to organize their wardrobes for the school week. You could probably use those, too.

-Sun dry. Much like air drying, you'll want to protect your food from pests. You can use a piece of light screen for this. Turn your food over halfway through the drying process. Some folks put trays of food they want to sun dry in a hot car for the day.

The method you choose for dehydrating food will vary based on your resources, what you're drying, and the tools you have available. I recommend you know how to both dry and dehydrate food so you can put things back regardless of your situation.

How do you dehydrate different foods?

The process you use depends a lot on what you're drying.

Herbs: I like to air dry my herbs. I made a hanging rack out of a small pot rack, but you can also use an existing curtain rod and tie your herbs to it. You just want to make sure the air can circulate all the way around your herbs.