new toy!!

Just bought an Excalibur 2400 dehydrator!! 😀

Its just a little 4 tray guy but its a start.

Can't wait to try it out though...maybe this weekend

Any recommendations for a first run? Banana chips? Apple slices? What are your favorites? Whats just plain nasty?

I bought the 9 tray a few months ago. One of the first jobs I did was sliced apples. Makes Apple chips. The next one was beef jerky from the kit home hardware sells. AWESOME!! TSC stores also sell some good beef jerky kits.

I am considering this book : Complete Idiots Guide Dehydrating Foods
Anybody tried it ?

I purchased the Mary Bells off amazon, and I don't like it at all. It is from 1994 and has no temperature
guides beside any of the food items and hardly any have recommended thickness to slice foods.

http://www.amazon.ca/Complete-Idiots-Guide-Dehydrating-Foods/dp/1615642269/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top

This other newer book , I did buy it, and it is WAY SUPERIOR as a how-to on dehydrating different fruits and vegies.
It leaves Mary Beels old outdated version in the dust .

Another good source for information is youtube. You see failures as well as successes! Just made some fruit roll ups out of some older bottled peaches. Turned out great. Also made some "onion bread". It turns out like pliable crackers and is delicious. It's a "bet you can't eat one" recipe! Good Luck and enjoy your new toy.

The Excalibur web site has a lot of recipes as well as their facebook page

I used to make my own apple "fruit roll-ups" 30+ yrs ago before the commercial product was invented lol.
I used my own apples, made applesauce out of them, and spread it out thinly on an oiled cookie sheet to dry in my oven (light on for heat) for a day or so until it was 'rubbery'. Then I cut the dried fruit with clean scissors into strips and sent them to school in my kids lunches. I found out years later that my son sold his yummy dried fruit for a buck!! hehehe

Good one PrepHer!!! You should have taken out a patent, you could have been rich! lol Tell your son he owes you at least 25% of all that money he made.

I had planned on starting to look into dehydrating over the next month or so, mum always did it, and it worked well for her. She only ever dehydrated from her own garden though, and I'm not currently set up with or for a garden, so any pointers on dehydrating store bought items? And is a plug-in dehydrator a necessary investment for dehydrating? I'm in a basement apartment, and my very tiny backyard doesn't get sun at any point in the day over the year.

If you join Briden Insiders, the deal of the month is something members vote on... and one option is a dehydrator this month lol

I'm familiar with Briden, didn't know they had any sort of network site though. Ill have to look into it....could be convenient to get a dehydrator out of it haha.

Maxwild01, I bought my electric dehydrator at a garage sale for $10 and I've seen them at garage sales every year since. Mine does the trick beautifully. I've dehydrated store bought produce in season. Works well. Cut up the pieces small so they dry faster.
I also dehydrate red raspberry leaves and nettle leaves (wear gloves when harvesting because they sting) for tea. Also dried raspberries and strawberries (sliced).
My son borrowed it once to dehydrate food for an interior canoe camping trip way up north.
Start small - you have nothing to lose. An oven with the light left on works too. Or in a car parked in the sun 🙂

Not sure why that didnt initially cross my mind, mum's fist dehydrator was one that I picked up at a yard sale. There's enough weekends left in the season that I shouldn't have a problem finding one then! Cheers!