Dehydrator?

[Frugal_Cheap_Pants]

DH spent half his birthday money on bills, bless him! The other half he used to buy a dehydrator.

Do you used one? What kinds of things do you put in it? What about using up left overs this way?

I plan on doing a search online for recipes, just thought it would be nice to hear some ideas from you guys first.

Thanks!

[sweeps]

Heh, yeah, we bought the Ronco food dehydrator. We made dried fruits, lots of beef jerky and turkey jerky, and even fruit rollups. It wasn't bad, but it got old pretty fast -- it was time consuming, a pain to clean, and didn't save enough money to be worth it, IMO. It's been sitting in the cupboard collecting dust for 6 or 7 years now.

[acezz4e_tish]

with my brood of kids and a new one that will cut teeth eventually, i wouldnt let it get old.lol its cheaper. i bought a 20 dollar special at wally world myself. the jerky saved me tons, and so do the fruit chips. thats over 5 a pound here, buy bananas for 25 cents a pound. big difference to me. i mix fruit chips with gummy bears, marshmellows and raisins. gr8 trail mix and no chocolate which most have. pumpkin seeds too and you can season those to your content. dave loves hot sauce, marinate seeds in that for an hour or so. u may find a new treat. since those are two handfulls for 2 dollars, it saves me loads. beef jerky comes in real handy wtih teethers. you just watch and when it gets soft, tear that piece off, i think its alot better then old wives tales of liquor on the gums, and that ambesol, i put some on my aches and it burned me! i wont use it on a baby, so its listen to them suffer, or thier sighs of relief sucking on beef jerky. it really works.

[PrincessPerky]

so how do you make beef jerky? I have one a hand me down, collecting dust, with no instructions, I have no idea how to even start using it!

[gakline]

Originally Posted by PrincessPerky

so how do you make beef jerky? I have one a hand me down, collecting dust, with no instructions, I have no idea how to even start using it!

My bf uses it for fruit and jerky. We saw his electric bill from last year and there was a huge spike. We figured it was from the dehydrator. Something else to figure in.

As far as jerky. He bought some thing steaks. Flank steak works well. Then marinated them and put them in the dehydrator. I think his book said 12-24 hours. Some pieces took longer the ones that had more marinade on them took longer, obviously. But it also lets you make the jerky really dry or moister.

[flash]

Dried tomatoes. Fabulous, and they stay tender instead of the hard rocks from the market. Freeze them after they have dried, and they are ready to go for cooking, bruschetta, etc. No reconstitution required.

Raisins. Great grapes make great raisins.

Dried fruits of all kinds. If you grow your own fruits, or get them in season, you can cook with them all year, and they take up less space than just freezing them.

[acezz4e_tish]

i personally soak meat in wine first. just cheap boone hill farms. this kills stuff and removes blood from the meat. two to four hours in the fridge. im not much of a measurer, im a freepour kind of person. i mix water, soy sauce and liquid smoke in a bowl and soak it in that overnight if possible. then use my cooling rack to set over bowl and meat on it to drip well, and then put on the rack for a day and a half. the book said its an average of 5 cents a day to run. you can use any meat you want, of course that mix is what i use with beef. im sure you could type in jerky with type of meat your using and some recipes would come up. dave likes to make deer and fish jerky. he uses hot stuff, so im not sure about what all he uses, i dont touch his private stash, one i dont eat fish, and 2 i cant eat hot anymore. my gall bladder exploded. its changed my eating habits.lol. if you saw my torso u would think i had an old fashioned c section. salty i can handle and if i take to much tums is by my side.lol. the beef jerky tho and dried fruit is well worth it to me, once my colored peppers come in, i will be doing those and mushrooms too. they are to expensive in the stores and more growing their own will make them have to bring the price down. my brother cooks for a big mich resteraunt and they order moral mushrooms is 12-16 dollars a pound in season. thats why you dont see them at the store, who would pay 20 for a pint? with commercial packaging im sure thats what it would cost too. so next year in mich, ill be on a hunt, not for deer but mushrooms.lol you will forgive me if i dont say where, right?lol

[acezz4e_tish]

another plus with the jerky, most meat depts will cut to ur desire for nothing extra. you can even shave it for a chew type jerky, or make a pancake thin cut for strips, its all up to you and what you want and like.

[katwoman]

I've been dying to get one of these things.

Would love to use it for drying organic cranberries and other berries to use in muffins and waffles. And maybe homemade doggie treats.

Didn't know about the electric bill spike.

[PrincessPerky]

you mean you don't cook the meat?

[gakline]

Originally Posted by PrincessPerky

you mean you don't cook the meat?

Nope. It dries too quickly for anything to grow.

[acezz4e_tish]

thats why i use wine to start with. kills and removes blood and anything lerking.

[PrincessPerky]

I might have to stick to berries! I am err chicken!

We hope to get some kind growing htis year, and the kids while they love them prolly wont eat eat them that fast, (if we grow them well I mean)

[nanamom]

I was never a big fan of jerky, now that I know it is raw I am even more sure I wasn't meant to eat it!

[gakline]

What do you think "Smoked" is? It's essentiall a large dehydrator that dries/cooks raw meat. Smoked ham, smoked turkey, smoked sausage. The difference between smoked and jerky, is that jerky keeps on drying till it's tough.

[PrincessPerky]

I was happier not knowing

[gakline]

Originally Posted by PrincessPerky

I was happier not knowing

FDA Approved

[abowers]

My parents had one, we had fun drying apples and other fruit. My mom also used it for crafty things like drying flowers.

[acezz4e_tish]

if you buy the cheap one at walmart, it would pay for itself with fruit or meat. i love banana slices the best. when they are dry, you throw them in a chopper for oatmeal for kids and it has this texture of like brown sugar. but if you dry pineapples and other more expensive fruits, you have off season goodys that arent hot housed. same with peppers. i couldnt believe the price of produce this week at walmart! even the green peppers are 1.97 each. the mushrooms are less then them all. when has this happened before? a small veggie tray is ten dollars even, the bigger one is 15.

[PrincessPerky]

do you have to do anything special to the bananas? webuy ours in bulk, but we have to freeze or make bread with the last 2.