Have you ever wanted to try dehydrating? It is so easy whether you do this in a dehydrator or an oven. I have linked below a video on the why, how to’s and what to use it for after it is dehydrated. Come and see how fun and easy this is. Leave me a comment below if you have any questions too. Happy Dehydrating.
Lynn A. C. Wilson – Resume of a Mother
The Freezer and Fridge is full and yet you have nothing to eat? Let’s roll up our sleeves and clean out the freezer, pantry and fridge and see what we can come up for with meals for 2 weeks only using our bits and pieces. Money is tight, some foods are hard to find and we want to be as frugal and budget friendly as we can to help us stay on track. Also….did you know that you can get some foods sent to you via UPS with free shipping from Walmart. I have a small Walmart Haul with a few fillers.
This has always been something that I have wanted to do. I think overall I have had small sections of my kitchen and/or a closet or two with some pantry items. But over all I have never had a full and complete set up for a pantry.
Well, now fast forward. After 30+ years of marriage and raising a family, I decided in January of 2020 to create one. First of all, I did not have the time to create a pantry and the space for one, or at least I didn’t think I did. Now we find ourselves with more time then we realized we would have, and a situation that makes us realize that a pantry is so needed.
I have to admit that I had a rude awakening, along with a bit of panic shopping. I did not think that I had certain things on hand, so I went right out and spent funds from our budget to accommodate what I thought we needed. After we had all these goodies piled on our dining room table, it was time to now set up our pantry. So, we gathered all our items from every little spot that we stored things in, and brought them to one place in our home. Then we cleaned out our one and only closet to make a pantry where we could store everything. After setting it up and putting things away, we realized that we had spent money on things we already had, and had items in large amounts (like extra cans of tomatoes that we did not need).
This taught me a BIG lesson in life, and one that I will hold onto for a very long time. I wasted money on things I don’t need, I am using up space that I could use for something else, and I probably wasted time in buying these items too. Now it is time to make a change! I have a pantry set up with an inventory list of my staples, how many I want on hand, and then how many I need to buy for the next time.
Have you found yourself without a pantry? Or are you well organized in this area? Either way leave a comment below with pictures of what you have set up or what you would like to do.
These are trying times in our country; it is a good time to reevaluate what we do and why and how to make things better for ourselves.
I would love to hear from you.
Lynn A. C. Wilson – Resume of a Mother
Life is definitely a journey and an adventure if you know anything about me. Every day brings new and exciting things and also some overwhelming moments. For the past two weeks my husband has had two major falls from having seizures which led him to be in the chiropractor’s office 2 to 3 times a week plus having to have physical therapy and wear a back brace.
Because of this we decided to take a quick weekend away that we called a Saturday vacation. While on this vacation he had a seizure, his scooter that he uses to get around in large places died in the middle of the museum. This led to us having to push it out of the museum, to loading it in the car manually, and causing me to be completely overwhelmed and having to have a good cry.
If you asked me is it all worth it I’d say 100%. If you asked me what I marry this man again I would tell you absolutely 100%. He is the man of my dreams and if he comes with an extra package called epilepsy …I wouldn’t change a thing. Now having said all that… I have stated over and over it many times that I have found “my new normal and it’s a moving target”. so what does all of this mean, for me there is no normal, normal is only for a moment and that changes again. And I am OK with that. I’ve had to learn to be OK with that… Otherwise I would not have survived life and all that has been part of it.
This is made me in the long run realize how precious life is, it is giving me the desire to encourage other women and their walk and their journey, it is also encouraged me to invest in peoples lives whenever I can.
But having said all that… I have a new journey in life and an adventure and that is my YouTube channel. Come and join me and come and visit me and see what this crazy life entails. I hope you will find encouragement along the way, maybe some new ideas that you’ve never thought of before, maybe a few laughs, but most of all I hope that you leave feeling a little bit better about yourself, a little bit more encouraged than when you first started to visit with me.
Lynn A. C. Wilson – Resume of a Mother
YouTube Channel name: “At Home with Lynn Wilson”

I decided to take on the challenge of dehydrating chili… And so many of my friends were critics that it couldn’t be done. So I sat and I googled ideas, of course there’s also Pinterest and YouTube videos to check into. And I found that it is something that can be done.
The people that I saw on YouTube were going backpacking or camping and so this was an idea that they would have to bring with them for a simple and easy meal to rehydrate. It might be something you want to use to keep in storage just for an extra meal, or if you live in an area where there’s frequent power outages due to weather conditions it’s something that’s a simple meal to make. For me I have a son with Autism and I don’t allow him to use the stove… So to have something that I make homemade, and he can add hot water to and rehydrate and have a nutritional meal that I prepared ahead of time …I think is fantastic.
I took my favorite chili recipe… then I let it cool in the refrigerator overnight to thicken up. Next I put it on my dehydrating trays. It took about 18 to 20 hours to dehydrate and it came out fantastic.
To rehydrate it all you have to do is to add 1 cup of hot water to 1 cup of dried chili let it sit for 10 minutes and you have a delicious meal.
You can use a Mylar bag with an oxygen absorber to keep it fresh for a long time until you need to use it.
Check it out… It might be something you would enjoy having on a cold winter night, by the fireplace… for when the power goes out.
Lynn A. C. Wilson- Resume of a Mother
I always like a good challenge… And I’ve heard more and more people tell me you cannot dehydrate frozen vegetables. So what’s a girl to do… Go on YouTube, Pinterest and all the rest and look up recipes. So I took on the challenge and I did dehydrate a bag of frozen green beans that I purchased at Trader Joe’s.
The ultimate goal will be to learn how to dehydrate as many vegetables including frozen… So then I can make soup mixes in a jar for Christmas presents this year.
I took the bag directly from the freezer, placed them on the trays, turned the dehydrator on… My dehydrator only has one setting, and then let it run all night. The next morning I got up and they were fantastically dehydrated. All ready for soup mixes, stews, and anything else that I need.
I think this is a fantastic way to preserve food and not to waste it. I find myself many times buying fresh produce and frozen things forgetting I have them and I end up throwing them out.
On to bigger and better ways to preserving food for my family, and to also save money.
Let me know if you’ve ever dehydrated green beans frozen or fresh and how they came out.
Lynn A. C. Wilson-Resume of a Mother
How many times have you been left with bananas that you justdidn’t know what to do with, or you saw a good sale and wished you could buy abunch of them… no pun intended, and keep them for future use. I know somepeople like to freeze them for smoothies etc., but here’s another great idea.
Why not dehydrate them? I was blessed with a dehydrator forChristmas… So now I am in my kitchen trying things fast and furious to see howthey turn out.
This was one of my first attempts. I saw a lot of recipes whereyou could dip the banana slice in lemon juice, but I decided to go completelynatural and they are absolutely delicious.
A great way to have a healthy snack… Or add to your oatmeal inthe morning.
Comment below if you have ever hydrated bananas and what yourexperience has been. Have you done it with or without lemon juice… addedcinnamon or honey? I’d love to hear from you!
From Lynn’s kitchen…
Lynn A. C. Wilson – Resume of a Mother
Resume Of A Mother 