We recently got a food dehydrater and used it a couple of times for the basics - such as apples, bananas and jerky. We have since put it away because we couldn't come up with things that interested us. It seems like such a waste to have a product like that just taking up closet space. Does anybody else have one and what do you use it for? I would love to get some new recipes or things to try out...unless nobody thinks it is worth it and maybe we should just sell it!! Thoughts?
We have one, but have only used it for beef jerkey. My husband hunts and he love making deer jerkey. We use it about twice a year, maybe. I don't have any other recipes for you. Sorry. I can tell you, that the one we have is a pain to clean. Maybe it's the jerkey and other recipes would be easier, but I hand wash it and soak it and still can't get all the stuff off.
I dont really see the use in one honestly unless you have massive amounts of meat that you store in the freezer for a long time.
A food dehydrator is great for dehydrating fruit. If you have seen the price of dehydrated fruit, then you will know that a food dehydrator is a good value. This type of fruit is good for snacks and to take on long driving trips. If you do not like dehydrated fruit or meat, then it is not practical to have one taking up space.
I use mine quite frequently actually! For starters, the kids love fruit leather (fruit roll-ups) and they're way more fun and much healthier making them myself. I also like drying fruits outside the norm like pineapples, which are surprisingly great. We do lots of jerky, too. Remember that you can stick wax paper in them safely, so to keep cleanup easy, line the trays with wax paper and then throw it away if it gets messy with something like jerky....but reuse for fruits and such that stay nice and neat.
The only thing we have used ours for is beef jerky and homeade fruit strips (similar to fruit roll ups). We aren't a big fan of dried fruit (would rather just eat fresh) so no interest there. I would have to say that it is worth it to have it just for the jerky. We use fresh venison and it turns out fantastic!
I would much, much rather have fresh foot, too. What I found, though, is that it's great when specific fruits are in season. I can buy up a bunch when they're on sale (like a gallon of berries for a buck, yikes!), dehydrate a bunch, and then when I want to do some baking, it's perfect. They rehydrate nicely for baked goods without being able to tell it's not completely fresh, and takes up less space in the freezer than freezing them all would.
I have thought about getting one myself, but don't know how much I would use it. My children love dried strawberries and beef jerky. It gets really expensive to buy these items in the store. The only reason why I havn't bought a dehydrator is because I don't know what else I would use it for. I am really interested in seeing some of the ideas that other people may have. I never thought of fruit roll ups before. I think my children would really like that.
I have! I usually turn the blueberries into fruit leather or smoothies, etc instead actually, but I -have- done it and it worked nicely. Sometimes I'll bake a whole bunch of muffins and freeze those, too, which isn't quite about the dehydrator, but still important!
I want to get one for making fruit leather. I've also recently tried beef jerky so I may well be attempting to make that too. Does anyone have any good food dehydrators that they could recommend to me? I'm not sure how much I should be expecting to pay, but I don't want anything too high market or expensive.
That's really a superb idea! I have never thought of that. How fresh are they when you rehydrate them? Are they still tasty?
Thank you so much for this. I think we are going to get it back out and dust it off and try to make some of the fruit roll ups for our kiddos. We have two little ones, so maybe we will find that it has more use than we thought. And I also never thought about rehydrating the fruits. That is really a great idea! And one we might have to try as well! Thanks - I think you saved our dehydrator from being sold!!!
We buy chicken breasts when deeply discounted to make jerky dog treats. We also love dried fruit so we can reach for that rather than unhealthy, costlier stuff. I like to make breakfast bars of oats, granola and condensed milk; fruit, nuts, whatever can be dried for those. I have roasted chickpeas with seasoning for a crunchy snack alternative to popcorn as well.
We used to use a dehydrator for pineapple slices. The only problem was, it would take a long time to dehydrate the pineapple. Then my family would eat up everything I had dehydrated in one afternoon because it was so good!
I am in the market for one of these as well. The only issue I have is the one I get is not being able to buy the models I need to have. So I know it can be hard to locate a good one. The one I had only blew the air in and nothing else with no temperature control or other options.
I have a Sunbeam and I do the most amazing beef jerky in it,,everyone at the pub knocks it off quicker than I can make it. I got it on special for about $50 or $60.
I have been wanting to get one for drying herbs and garden veggies. I always seem to have way too many tomatoes and thought it would be a good way to preserve them and use them in the winter months. I hadn't thought of making jerky in one but that would be really good to try to make our own.
I don't generally eat them plain, so I can't say they'd taste just like they did before you dehydrated them the first time. I have made baked goods, though (think blueberry muffins or strawberry scones), and not been able to tell that I didn't use fresh fruit.
