Food Dehydrators (cross-post from cooking and baking)

how many of you have a dehydrator and do you really find it indispensable? I've been looking at a NESCO model and of course there's the cheap Ronco model with lousy ratings.

I already use a water bath canner, pressure canner and a seal-a-meal type thing. I will eventually run out of canning jars and the bags for the sealer are expensive. Also, my small freezer is full.

I want to dry local fruit, tomatoes from my garden, make fruit rollups and any other things you can suggest??? (I'm not into jerky...)

Please post your experiences, suggestions and advice.

I've become my grandmother. As long as the pantry and freezer are full, I feel more at ease.

dehydrator that I bought last year and LOVED it. I did tomatoes, corn, onions, and apples, just to get started. The favorite story of mine is how I got 8 ears of corn into one pint jar. No kidding!!

Get the screens to put into the trays, those keep the small stuff from falling through the trays. Get a dehydrator with a thermostat.
I think I have seven trays. Usually a 'load' dries overnight.

I did NOT peel the tomatoes (some do, I didn't, and still turned out great). Loved the little 'torpedo' onions, sliced thinly on a mandolin, dried beautifully.

I used some canning jars, and also used some scrounged (mayo, fruit, etc.) and store food in those.

Good by-product, house smells like really good soup while you are drying!

Let me know how it turns out.

My chest freezer is always stuffed and did actually run out of canning jars one summer when garden exceeded expectations. My children and grandchildren love dried apples, peaches, banana's and pineapple. I give them for Christmas gifts. Apples wash, core and take three or four swipes with a peeler (top to bottom) to break up the spple peel. Then slice into rings about 1/4 inch thick and dry. Bananas I buy when reduced price and cut in slices, also about 1/4 inch thick. Pineapple don't make the pieces too little as they shrink quite a bit when dried. All of the above I use no preservative on. Just slice and dry. Keep very well. I generally put in zip lock bags or old tin containers. All very good and good for you. My plum tree produced for the first year last year so will try drying them this summer (if the blooms are any indication of crop size). I also dry tomatoes. I do use the dehydrator pretty often and think I get my use out of it.

if so, how do they turn out?

There are many videos that show the processes very plainly and it's it's amazing what good meals you can make with dehydrated food.

If you keep the temperature low enough you can also maintain all the enzymes which is part of a raw food lifestyle.

You can also use your oven or solar dehydration as well.

Most storage I've got videos of use Mason jars combined with air extraction, and call for a high level of hygiene to prevent oil from the hands contaminating and reducing storage quality.

and the best things I've had were some crisp apple chips a coworker made with her cheap Ronco. She'd just slice them thinly and wait until they were completely dry. They kept their apple flavor and were almost like potato chips in texture.

Veggies can certainly be dried, but they're best used in soups and stews.

I passed on the jerky, too. I'm not much of a meat eater.

If I had counter space and a garden, I'd get the Excalibur 5 tray model, http://www.amazon.com/Excalibur-2500-Food-Dehydrator-Appliance/dp/B0028F7Y8G/ref=dp_return_2/186-9951812-0249465?ie=UTF8&n=284507&s=kitchen

quite expensive. Has anyone made one?