SCM Discussion Forum

1. 

   Rebekahy
   Member

   So I keep going back and forth about getting a dehyrator and was just wondering if anyone out there loves theirs and could push me over the edge.  We have a BIG garden this year and I plan on freezing and canning some, but I will also have a new baby (three months when garden is ready for harvest) and was thinking a dehydrator might be a great way to preserve the things that I don't have time to prep for canning or space to freeze.  I'd like to get a good one - the excalibur so that the temperature is adjustable per Nurishing Traditions and raw food healthy guidelines, which is why I keep deliberating - is it worth the cost?  Around $200?   I know lots of people just throw away tons of food from their gardens and thought that a general request home garden surplus on our homeschool group email list - that way I could even preserve more than we grow.  What do you think?

   Rebekah

   Posted 1 year ago # Report Post
2. 

   Iamasahm
   Member

   We have a large dehydrater and love it.  We use it to make fruit roll ups from scratch, dry berries, and my dh loves it for meat.  I also make macaroons in it and though sometimes it goes months without use, then it will go months with use.  Mine is the size of like a small wine cooler I guess like 3.5 feet tall, 2 wide and 2 deep.  I love mine and wouldn't trade it, though it's big and sits in my basement living room.  LOVE IT GET ONE that's my vote! Misty

   Posted 1 year ago # Report Post
3. 

   Richele
   Member

   Hi Rebekah,

   We dehydrate everything in our oven.  The temp is low enough that it doesn't seem to really add to the heat in the home.  My husband's family is from Russia and they still dry everything outside.  My brother uses a dehydrator and we can't really tell a difference.  That's just us.

   Richele

   Posted 1 year ago # Report Post
4. 

   Rebekahy
   Member

   Thanks Misty - I'm hoping that we'd go through periods of just using it frequently - I'm sure there'll be times when it sits unused, but to have it there when I do Need/want it, would be nice. 

   Richele - thanks for the tip = tragically we have an electric oven and the lowest temperature it will go would completely kill any nutrients of whatever food we tried to dry - and we live in a place that's REALLY windy so whatever we tried to dry outside that didn't blow away would likely have lots of tasty things blown onto it. 

   I'd love to save the money, but I don't think I would dry things nearly as often with some other method without the dehydrator.

   Posted 1 year ago # Report Post

RSS feed for this topic

Reply

You must log in to post.