Bulk food finds

I recently started shopping at Winco foods which has stores located in Arizona, California, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, Texas, Utah, and Washington. The great thing about them is they have a huge bulk food section with literally hundreds of items.

Hashbrowns:
One interesting item I found is they had a few different forms of dehydrated potatoes such as powdered, sliced, and shredded which is what I got. Normally I use regular russet potatoes for hash browns by peeling and shredding them myself, but I was curious about using dehydrated for the convenience. After trying them out for the first time I definitely have to say there's a bit of a learning curve, but I do think they are well worth trying again. The directions say to soak them in hot water for a "few minutes", then drain and use them. I decided to use that opportunity to infuse them with a bit of flavor. So I used an entire sprig of rosemary, a tsp of salt, a tsp of whole peppercorns, along with 3 cups of boiling water. I let that mixture steep for about 15 minutes before draining and adding to 2 cups of the dehydrated potatoes. I then soaked them for 15 minutes before draining and sauteing in some herbed butter. The hashbrowns retained their form and did not get the slightest bit mushy as fresh potatoes tend to do. However, the texture was just a bit on the chewy side which means I didn't constitute them long enough. The rosemary flavor was also quite strong, but otherwise the seasoning was just about right. So next time I'm going to reconstitute them for about an hour and use only about an inch or so of a sprig of rosemary.

Blueberry muffin mix:
This mix is essentially the same as the boxed muffins, except they use dehydrated blueberries and it's a lot cheaper. I deferred from the directions by adding some extra dehydrated blueberries and by using skim milk instead of water. The results were actually superior to boxed muffin mixes and closer to homemade, with the exception of using dehydrated blueberries naturally creates a different texture, but IMO are actually better. The blueberries reconstitute nicely during cooking and remain firm and sweeter instead of getting mushy and flavorless.

Hummus powder:
This was an interesting find. I've made hummus from scratch before, but I was intrigued about making it from a powder. It was very simple to make by just putting the powder, EVOO, and lemon juice in the food processor and processing until smooth. The results were at least as good as commercially made hummus, and perhaps even a bit better since I'm using higher quality EVOO and fresh lemon juice. The down side is the powder is a bit pricey and I don't think I saved much if any money over buying prepared hummus.

If you have a Winco near you, I definitely recommend checking them out. The bulk section has a great selection of nuts, dried fruits and vegetables, legumes, flours, and various trail mixes. Some of the dried vegetables like green beans and okra are actually freeze dried and have a much better texture than what you can do at home.