Hi Old School

I have a couple dehydrators, one homemade big one for when the harvest is in full swing and the weather is working with me, plus two regular ones and last fall my hubby got me a 9 tray excaliber for my birthday, I use them alot for many things, but I don't find that the meals or dish's turn out the same from the dried foods in certain cases compared to the home canned. For me, each has its place in my planned storage.

I miss my dehydrator! Casualty of Divorce.

Hi Old School,
I have an older model, not even sure what kind it is, that was given to me by someone who never used it. It's brown, round and has about five trays. Anyway, in the summer, I use mine a lot. To dry food, fruit and herbs. I'd like to find a fruit leather tray for it, but so far no luck. So far, whatever I dehydrate either goes into jars, like home grown herbs, or the freezer. I don't have a lot of useable cupboard space, but that will change soon.
Welcome and good to meet you! 😀

Hello Dragonwriter
Good to meet you too. You can make your own tray for making the fruit leather. I have read but I have not tried it, Farmgal may be able to address this - line your regular trays with plastic wrap and secure with tape making sure that you only do this for the top couple of trays away from the heat source of the machine. I do not have a lot of cupboard space either. Congrats on the "will change soon".

Last year we used fans and a hot house to dry some stuff...this year, we've got to get a good one. I agree with the posters here that drying is better (for most stuff) than canning. I've never thought of drying sauces...I'll have to give that a try.

For the leathers, instead of using plastic...get some parchment paper. It is food safe, completely reusable (in some cases),and made to go into the oven so a dehydrator is no problem.

I second Northernvvof, parchment paper works really well, I have never thought to do suaces per say, which is kind of funny, as I will reduce blended to the butter stage in the crock pots, dry them and then blend them to add to things for added value, but have not done the same for fully done sauces..

Great idea with the parchment paper. I hadn't thought of that. You can also do things like salad dressing also long as it does not have an egg or dairy base. I found a copy cat KFC recipe and it called for powered french dressing. I never got it to the powered stage, just the leather stage. Anything liquid, at least in theory can be dehydrated.

I second Northernvvof, parchment paper works really well, I have never thought to do suaces per say, which is kind of funny, as I will reduce blended to the butter stage in the crock pots, dry them and then blend them to add to things for added value, but have not done the same for fully done sauces..

OOO OOO, I remember reading a blog post quite a while back where a guy dehydrated stuff, rehydrated it in something other than water and then redried. I think one example was strawberries dried, rehydrated in kiwi and some booze, then redried. I have to remember that for this fall, my mind is running now...

Its easier to "spice" what you are going to dry in say apple juice or sprinkle, kool aid powder on banana chips or garlic powder on tomato slices first, no sense doing things twice.

I bought a Salton dehydrator last year and I am still trying to work out the kinks. Lee Valley has an impressive looking one that seems like it would do a good job. My goal is to try and do more sun-drying or air-drying this summer. I want to figure out how to get away from depending on electricity for this.

I used the plastic wrap to do fruit leathers and it was terrible. I will try the parchment paper for sure so thanks for the tip.

Never thought about doing sauces... has anyone done eggs or egg whites??

It might sound silly but up at the camp we have an old chev chevett that is gutted and painted black that we use to dehidrate stuff... works well on hot summer days but we have to push it around to keep it in the sun. i have a chain bolted to the front and i pull it around with my atv when needed. the kids play in it most of the time though and make a mess of the racks i made. I need to get my self one for my home in the city. Can any one tell me a good one to get? keep in mind im on a budget! thanks in advance!

Also i dont really hear about anyone making any jerky on here and that is the best way to store meat for long time. During hunting season i smoke alot! bear and deer jerky... yummm!! i save my moose for steaks though...

2012 Look into making Billtong which is from South Africa, it is a good way to store meat as well.

When I was in Collage late one night I saw an add for a Ronco Dehydrator, the big tall round one. Boy was it ever great, I paid it off the first round of Beef Jerky I made. After looking at the prices and sizes for Beef Jerky, I made a quick calculation that the ones they sell in the store cost about $125 per pound or Kilo of meat, do not remember now which one it was.

I loved that machine, the 1st wife did too unfortunately it stayed with her. You can also look into units that require no batter, sun powered and just air drying. I saved a link a while ago which I can not find just yet, that tells you how to make one yourself with and without a fan or heater.
ps, I love the re-use of that old car, my only thought was that you should get it running to avoid the use of the chain to move it about.

I've always covetted the "Excalibur" dehydrator for years even though I still don't own one yet http://www.excaliburdehydrator.com/ $299 US or cheaper price from http://www.greenhealthcanada.com/Excalibur_Dehydrators.html $269 CAD and free shipping. I have seen them and read stories over the years in Organic Gardening or Mother Earth News magazines. I have the round type of dehydrator (which my son borrowed to successfully dehydrate food for a rustic canoe-in camping trip).
But what I love to use the most is my BBQ sitting in the sun -turned off! It dries stuff out beautifully and with the lid closed, keeps the animals out. I bring the cookie sheets of food in overnight and just stick them in my oven with the light on, for storage.

Thanks for the help i will look into all of it and let you know how it works out. i smoke alot of meat to make jerky after hunting season but dont like the smoke taste much, i still enjoy it though. Wildernessreturn that poor old car will never move under its own power again. the camp is only accessable by atv trail, I drove it in one year and had about as much fun as you can have in a chevet doing it but it was to much for that little car to take and died before making it throught the trail and watspulled the rest of the way. we brought it in for that reason. we were going to make a smoker out of it but it never happened. we had all the old oven racks so we turned it into a big dehydrater. maybe after i buy one i will try to make one myself.