Food drying - Dehydrators (merged)

Living_proof

ernie-money wrote: »

I hope this thread is still active, in spite of no posts for a while... I'm just looking at buying a dehydrator (again) and there seems to be a lot of cheaper ones about now than when I last looked. Just wondered, now a few months down the line - do you have any feedback on the one you bought, like did the trays last, and is it faster or better because of the higher wattage.?
Thanks!

I bought a second hand totally unused Excalibur. It's a 9 tray and really too big for my needs and the 5 tray would have been better, but it was too great a bargain to ignore. I certainly think from what I have read that you get what you pay for, but something like the Andrew James one might be good for the purpose. Some dehydrators use a fixed amount of electricity regardless of the temperature they are used at, and it will just speed up the process apparently. Maybe someone more technical can enlighten us, as I had always assumed that less power would be used at the lower range of temperatures. What I would caution is that these machines produce a terrific amount of condensation and in colder weather I run mine in the shed with the door ajar. In the house when I am running a full load the condensation is pretty unbearable and might cause mould problems in an older property.

ernie-money

Living_proof wrote: »

I bought a second hand totally unused Excalibur. It's a 9 tray and really too big for my needs and the 5 tray would have been better, but it was too great a bargain to ignore. I certainly think from what I have read that you get what you pay for, but something like the Andrew James one might be good for the purpose. Some dehydrators use a fixed amount of electricity regardless of the temperature they are used at, and it will just speed up the process apparently. Maybe someone more technical can enlighten us, as I had always assumed that less power would be used at the lower range of temperatures. What I would caution is that these machines produce a terrific amount of condensation and in colder weather I run mine in the shed with the door ajar. In the house when I am running a full load the condensation is pretty unbearable and might cause mould problems in an older property.

That's great feedback, thank you! I wouldn't use mine all the time, was mainly hoping to make healthy fruit & veg snacks for work, and also to dry anything I've bought that is about to go out of date, so thought a cheaper one would probably do to start with. Could always upgrade later if I end up using it more. Hadn't considered the condensation, and we live in a Victorian house, so that's definitely worth thinking about. Running it in the shed would be an option, thanks for the suggestion!

Kinski

I want to buy a dehydrator to mainly make treats for my dogs, one of them has just has had a cancerous lump removed and I want her to have a carb free diet so thought one of these would be good. I've got about £100 that I can spend on one, can anyone please recommend one as the more I look at them the more I'm getting confused.

Ken68

No need to shell out, Kinski , for a super duper one. Start with the round variety. Lakeland store maybe. My problem this year has been the high humidity, meaning ages to dry stuff.

Kinski

Thanks Ken, I'll have a look at the Lakeland one, someone had said that it wasn't very good so I never bothered looking at it. I'm determined to give my girl a fighting chance and getting rid of the carbs in her diet is a starting point.

[Deleted User]

Is it time to revive this thread?

I needed to think of ingredients for a large casserole this morning and went to the shed to get some intensively tasty dried mushrooms and while there I got leekes, onions, dried celery, green beans and potato slices, bearing in mind that all this had been dehydrated 2+ years ago when I had a massive glut of everything, all of my dehydrated foods are in pristine condition and kept cool and dark in an insulated area. I am always forgetting to use my dehydrated veggies. I have fresh carrots, meat and am adding chorizo and red wine. Most of the prep has been done prior to dehydrating

SailorSam

Reading this thread in the past i've thought i'd like a dehydrator, particularly as we start to approach the Summer and it's not going to be long before i've got more fruit & veg in the garden than i know what to do with.
But dehydrators are expensive to buy aren't they ? The other week i was googling around the Internet and found many people had made their own, some had used old fridges, even boxes. I've got an old microwave in the garage ????
Has anyone tried ro make their own ?

Ken68

I wish now Sam that I had bought a small spare freezer just for the excess fruit, although must admit dried fruit keeps for ages at no cost.
Maybe a thermostat controlled fan heater in a heat proof box and exit holes plus shelving .
My problem is humidity levels, sometimes takes 24 hours to dry off produce.

SailorSam

Ken68 wrote: »

I wish now Sam that I had bought a small spare freezer just for the excess fruit, although must admit dried fruit keeps for ages at no cost.
Maybe a thermostat controlled fan heater in a heat proof box and exit holes plus shelving .
My problem is humidity levels, sometimes takes 24 hours to dry off produce.

There are lots of different sites on the Internet but when i saw this i thought it looked just like my old microwave. And i wondered had anyone tried

http://www.instructables.com/id/Inexpensive-Food-Dehydrator-with-Recycled-Parts/

[Deleted User]

I don`t dry berries from the allotment. I do dry apple slices but I bottle or freeze berries. Bottled are good as they keep a long time if cool and dark. I have an excalibur and it is just a system of horizontal pierced trays with a fan at the back. I do like the variable heat control and the timer.

I dehydrate regularly, even if only soaked nuts, I do these on a low heat setting overnight. Anyway just back on to say that the casserole I made was utterly lovely, was wild rabbit so I put some prunes and wine in. All the dehydrated veggies melded into one tasty dish. I have frozen 4 medium sized foil containers, putting the soaked, boiled and cooled potato slices on two

I think next year I will go all out on allotment growing for the dehydrator