Preparedness for when

NewShadow

On a similar topic - I understand excalibur are a good brand of dehydrators?

Is £85 a decent price for a second hand 4 tray model?

maryb

Looking at Amazon I would say yes, that's not a bad price for an Excalibur. But whether Excalibur dehydrators are worth the premium in the first place I don't know. From what I've read it's certainly worth getting a rectangular tray version rather than a round version.

[Deleted User]

I've got an Excalibur 9 tray model with rectangular trays and it's worth every penny we paid for it. I've 3 trays of rhubarb in there at the moment and the only down side is it makes the kitchen quite warm when it's in operation but it does the job it's designed to do extremely well. I had a cheapy round one before I had this for a combined Christmas present a few years ago, the cheap one melted, luckily I was there at home when it happened or we might have had a fire. I debated about the outlay as opposed to the usefulness and I don't regret having this model, a good product, sturdy little work horse and a good size for quantities of produce at any one time.

NewShadow

Thanks MLW - Any idea how much it costs to run?

I understand you need to have it on for 18 hours or so.

[Deleted User]

Different fruits and veg need different drying times, you get a book with the unit that gives times and temperatures so really handy. My rhubarb is in 1" chunks as per their instructions and needs to be dried until it's leathery, the times given for this are 6 - 10 hours some things need longer and have to be dried until they're brittle and some things need less drying so shorter time. I'll get He Who Knows to do some calculations on cost when he comes in, he's painting the fence with preservative!

[Deleted User]

OK the model of Excalibur I have is a 600watt and has variable temperature controls. He Who Knows says that at the highest temperature which is around 150/160 deg it will cost something like 6p an hour to run. We have all the veg plots and hot houses so the produce we dry is 'free' if you like, just the seed cost and the growing time and that seems not terribly expensive to me? so my 3 trays of home grown rhubarb I( didn't weigh it but there must be 5lbs ish) will have cost me 60p to process and will make us crumbles etc. in the winter when fresh things are expensive.

boultdj

Oh crap! The water butts are running dry here, and my peas and french beans have just popped up this week.

nuatha

MrsLurcherwalker wrote: »

Does anyone own a vacuum sealer? I'm looking to use the dehydrator to process the majority of our surplus crops this year and I think the best way of ensuring no spoilage will be to vacuum pack the dehydrated produce in portions big enough for two but having read reviews of vacuum sealers it's a very variable picture as to which model is best suited to my needs. If you have one that works I'd really value input and model details, thanks muchly Lyn xxx.

I originally had a Lidl vacuum sealer, it worked well as a sealer, was variable as far as vacuum was concerned. I now have a Foodseala AVS 550
Three years + of regular use and no complaints. I have a vacuum failure rate of about 1 in 60 bags, simply re-vacuum. Downside is that its only really effective with the gridded bags (air channels on one side of the bag). I have a preference for the ready made bags rather than making my own from rolls, as I find it quicker to pack a pile of bags than make the bags as I go - costs are only slightly dearer for bags rather than rolls.
I vac pack both for freezer and ambient storage. I've also vac packed documents for watersafe storage and have been playing with sous vide.

nuatha

NewShadow wrote: »

On a similar topic - I understand excalibur are a good brand of dehydrators?

Is £85 a decent price for a second hand 4 tray model?

Its a good price for that brand - who are the brand leader.
It it includes paraflex or equivalent sheets, then its a very good price.

My preference is horizontal air flow dryers with square or rectangular frames.
The vertical air flow variety tend to need the trays rotating regularly. Some of the vertical flow ones will nest to make storage easier. All of the horizontal flow ones I've seen have a rigid frame, therefore do take up a fair amount of space.
They all generate a lot of condensation - I tend to run mine in the garage rather than the kitchen. I've yet to try making yoghurt in it but have proved bread successfully.

mummy2threeboys

All very interesting on food dehydrators..I saw a used once one on ebay for £25 inc delivery but was a round one. May have to look at it more. Also that I can dehydrate in the slow cooker. I honestly don't think I would use it that much. Shame we do not have a share scheme around here.

Keep an eye out Co-op has rejigged the what they sell manifesto in shops. Ours has a nice reduced as it's no longer being stocked area. Managed to get posh cereal for 75p instead of almost £3 . (Stocked up about 2 months worth) Children think life is good at the mo lol.

Have a good week all. Must get the mass of washing out on the line as it's sunny here!