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[Moondog55]

Dehydrators for sale at the moment
no idea if they are any good or not

[dplanet]

+1

[perfectlydark]

Yeah planning to get one tomorrow. Dont have a dehydrator at the moment so better than nothing

[walkon]

Just noticed that they have a 150ltr chest freezer in there for $239, not bad energy rating. Guess who just paid significantly more for one a week ago.

[perfectlydark]

Got one today..bit of a noob. Its a tray dehydrator so good.for jerky/fruit etc, but dehydrating meals is there any tips from a pro? Im not sure how regular dehydrators work

[icefest]

Backing paper so it doesn't drip, then just make sure there's no large chunks.

[perfectlydark]

Cool im going to experiment with some fruit and stuff first then start some meals and stuff

[Tortoise]

Got one today..bit of a noob. Its a tray dehydrator so good.for jerky/fruit etc, but dehydrating meals is there any tips from a pro? Im not sure how regular dehydrators work

Not a pro, but i've done a fair bit. Have ended up only doing mince - beef or chicken. It dehydrates and rehydrates much quicker than slices. I still break up bigger globs of mince for more even drying. Go for the lean stuff. Fat doesn't get preserved in the same way as dried things are, so it will go rancid quicker.

I do lots and store it in ziplock bags in airtight containers in the freezer, labelled with what it is, how many serves and the date. i.e. i do a big cook-up so i don't have to do a drying session for every trip.

It's hard to estimate serve size when it's dry, so work out how many serves you have before you dry it, and divide it up later accordingly. One way to do that is to use the bowl you'd normally eat out of when you walk as a measurement.

I've got lazy lately, and just cook up a whole lot of mince and dry it. Knowing the finished weight of a dried main meal for myself, i add dried veggies from the local health food store, which has a wide variety, and herbs and spices, stock cube etc. Coconut milk powder from the supermarket goes well in curries, added after rehydrating them.

I often cook and dry brown rice - tastier and more nutrious than white. (Raw rice has water in it. Cooked and dried, it's much lighter, and can be rehydrated by just adding cold water if you have to, if you wait long enough.) Lately for more space saving, I stick the cooked, dried rice in a blender, and add it as a thickener to the main when i rehydrate it.

Try searching for other threads - i think there are a few with some good ideas on this.

Have fun.

[perfectlydark]

Fantastic tips thanks tortoise

[Pongo]

Following on from Tortoises comments, cook your meat first, then dehydrate it. Thought that worth mentioning juuuust in case you hadn't worked that out yet

I have heard that pressure cooking the meat is the best way to go, but be careful not to overcook it.

I don't have a pressure cooker so instead cook the mince off in a wok before hand. I don't use oil to fry it (as oil doesn't dehydrate), instead I add small amount of water to the wok to stop the mince from sticking, add a dash each time it starts to dry out. The great thing here is that water evaporates right out of whatever you're cooking (eg. making pastes that won't catch in your blender - just add water).

Chicken being my meat of choice typically I add some home made garlic powder (which you can make with your dehyrdrator), salt, pepper and some chicken stock (this helps round out the flavour of the meat when rehydrating). Once that is cooked in pop a lid on it and let it poach. Drain the meat and any renderings in a sieve and break up large chunks with a whisk. Cook the meat until tender / just cooked / safe for consumption right there and then.

Be careful not to over cook your meat as it will continue to cook in the dehydrator. Be careful not to over dehydrate it as you'll start to create little jerky pieces.

Done this way you should be able to rehydrate it in 5-10 minutes by just adding boiling water, maybe a short simmer if desired.

If you find yourself with the dehy bug, consider getting some trays for liquids/pastes etc... Have fun!

[perfectlydark]

Hehe thanks. I just finished.off some fruit this morning (did apple, kiwi and banana). Loooking at doing a meal of some sort towards the end of the week. I can see its an easy bug to catch!

[walkon]

Coles had bananas @ $2 kg so I got into drying them. I had issues with the ones dipped in lemon juice verses just chucked in to dry. The lemon dipped dried bananas just don't last, seems the kids are quite partial to the bright yellow ones and dont like the Brown bananas, so guess which ones got all gobbled up. Certainly not a quick operation drying stuff

[Tortoise]

Ah, dried bananas! Love them - not the cardboard chips that are sold under the name. Plenty of opportunity to buy lots of them cheaply. It reminds me that on the odd occasion that trays of mangos were going cheap (usually late on Christmas Eve), I'd set myself up for the year with gourmet scroggin.

Also check out BWA's own e-mag, Issue no. 6 August 2014. There's an article on getting started on the dehydrating road.

[perfectlydark]

Damn right on the time..my stuff took about 18 hours or so. As someone whos never eaten anything but store bought 'trail mix' type dried fruit I was amazed at thr flavor intensity of the stuff I did. The kiwi was amazing!