I love my food dehydrator

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I love my food dehydrator
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DawnMK

Joined: 01 Dec 2008
Posts: 895
Location: Buckinghamshire

Posted: Sat Aug 18, 12 5:52 pm Post subject: I love my food dehydrator

I have had it almost a week and love it to bits, got a big box of bannanas from the farm shop for a £1 and have turned them all into bannana chips, I ahve dried apples, blackberries, raspberries its full again now with some more apples I got for 50p.

I got my self 2 books off amazon, Drying food with Attitude by Mary Bell, loads of interesting things in there and recipies, and i got Trail Food, its about doing your drying your own meals for when you are out backpacking, very interesting and loads of things I want to try.

When funds allow I want to get an Excalibur but it will have to wait a few months.

Mustang

Joined: 15 Jul 2005
Posts: 768
Location: Sunny Suffolk

Posted: Sat Aug 18, 12 5:54 pm Post subject:
Almost addictive, isn't it. .

DawnMK

Joined: 01 Dec 2008
Posts: 895
Location: Buckinghamshire

Posted: Sat Aug 18, 12 6:02 pm Post subject:
if it dosent move it gets dehydrated

jamanda
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 22 Oct 2006
Posts: 35056
Location: Devon

Posted: Sat Aug 18, 12 6:09 pm Post subject:
The thing that always worries me about them is what it does to your electricity consumption.

Mustang

Joined: 15 Jul 2005
Posts: 768
Location: Sunny Suffolk

Posted: Sat Aug 18, 12 6:16 pm Post subject:
It's a very gentle heat. You don't want to cook the food, but just blow slightly warmed air over the food to dry it out. If you use too much heat, it can cause a skin to develop on the item, which could slow down the dehydration. As I understand it, the cost of running one on gentle heat is pennies an hour. I guess they could be lagged to reduce costs more. .

DawnMK

Joined: 01 Dec 2008
Posts: 895
Location: Buckinghamshire

Posted: Sat Aug 18, 12 6:16 pm Post subject:

3p a hour or about 2p on economy 7

they are low wattage so my blackberries cost me about 25p to dry then nothing to store but if I freeze them there is the constant use of electricity to keep them in there frozen state and they would be taking up a lot more freezer space that I dont have at the moment either.

I also like the idea that drying presevrs the nutrients better than freezing,

And you can dry fruit and veg that you wouldnt consider fit enough to freeze, for example a couple of wrinkly apples that you found in the bottom of the fridge and half a pepper you could just dry them out and then when you re-hydrate them they are as good as new

Last edited by DawnMK on Sat Aug 18, 12 6:20 pm; edited 1 time in total

Luath

Joined: 03 Dec 2009
Posts: 761

Posted: Sat Aug 18, 12 6:18 pm Post subject:
I dry my stuff on a rack on top of the Rayburn - dried really quickly in a short time in a non-electric way. Like it for mushrooms and apple rings

Pilsbury

Joined: 13 Dec 2004
Posts: 5645
Location: East london/Essex

Posted: Sat Aug 18, 12 6:51 pm Post subject:

Jamanda wrote:

The thing that always worries me about them is what it does to your electricity consumption.

Last time I checked it was about 2.5p and hour to run an excalibur 9, was a couple of years ago but I use 10p an hour on my costings now anyway so I know I am over charging and covering the costs.

T.G

Joined: 13 Sep 2009
Posts: 7280
Location: Somewhere you're not

Posted: Sat Aug 18, 12 7:37 pm Post subject:
it reminds me of the man who worked at the cork factory joke ..think it was Jasper Carrot

AnnaD

Joined: 12 Jun 2007
Posts: 2777
Location: Edinburgh

Posted: Tue Sep 04, 12 8:19 am Post subject:
I'm currently drying sliced bananas in mine, and they make the kitchen smell lovely. I'll have to look into solar dehydrators as well, although I doubt we get enough sun here for much of anything!

DawnMK

Joined: 01 Dec 2008
Posts: 895
Location: Buckinghamshire

Posted: Tue Sep 04, 12 4:06 pm Post subject:
Atthe moment I have mashed potatoes in mine left over from last night and three pineapples sliced that I got for 75p reduced in Tescos, when they are done I have several bags of oranges waiting next in line also reduced at Tescos to 30p

jamanda
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 22 Oct 2006
Posts: 35056
Location: Devon

Posted: Tue Sep 04, 12 4:26 pm Post subject:
What is left of an orange once it's dehydrated?

AnnaD

Joined: 12 Jun 2007
Posts: 2777
Location: Edinburgh

Posted: Tue Sep 04, 12 4:27 pm Post subject:
What are you going to do with the mashed potato? Use it as potato flour or rehydrate it later like instant mash? I had never really thought of of drying foods for rehydration.

jamanda
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 22 Oct 2006
Posts: 35056
Location: Devon

Posted: Tue Sep 04, 12 4:29 pm Post subject:
Puts me in mind of those adverts for the dehydrated potato with the aliens that rolled around laughing at the thought of peeling potatos.

Went

Joined: 19 Mar 2006
Posts: 6968

Posted: Tue Sep 04, 12 4:38 pm Post subject:

Jamanda wrote:

Puts me in mind of those adverts for the dehydrated potato with the aliens that rolled around laughing at the thought of peeling potatos.

This was the best: https://youtu.be/ND8Bbn9V6as

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