Dehydrators & Vaccum Packing

[david64]

Evening distinguished peepers,

I am considering the merits of buying a dehydrator and vacuum packer, and was wondering if anyone has any advice. I would also be interested as to how much food they think they could dehydrate in a given time period. The dehydrators I have seen seem small to me.

I would also be interested to hear any arguments against dehydrating in favour of other methods.

I am interested in food that will keep for a year.

[Carrot Cruncher]

There are a few on here who use dehydrators so i expect someone will be along to give you some advice soon

Welcome to the site by the way, could you post an intro in the "New Members" section ? No essays required, just the basics

[preppingsu]

My Dad has just bought this one
http://www.vigopresses.co.uk/store/prod ... cts_id=422
but is storing the dried food in jars and sealable containers. It looks OK, not too noisy, he says its easy to use.

My plan is to get this one
http://www.juiceland.co.uk/item--Excali ... WHITE.html
although I don't know any one who has one, it just suits my needs better.

[Brambling01]

I have a dehydrator. I have heard excellent reports on the Excaliber, with the Stockli coming a close second. If you want a cheap and cheerful no frills jobbie, the model I have is the Westfalia lazer2000. It simply has an on/off switch and you have to rotate the trays to keep the drying even. It won't do funny shaped stuff like broccoli, but for what I want it's adequate.
If you are planning to use the Vacuum sealer to store your dehydrated food, be aware the sharp edges will, in all probability puncture the bag. I do as Su's Dad. I store my dehydrated food in jars.

I can also recommend Mary Bells' Complete Dehydrator Cookbook and Janet Greene et al Putting Food By.

I also bottle fruit and tomatoes, use the freezer and make a lot of jam, chutney and pickles. I don't like to have all my eggs in basket so to speak.

I'm sure the website of the manufatcurer will tell you their drying capacity. I think it depends on what you're drying. I can dry 2kg of peas or sweetcorn in 7 trays 11" in diameter in about 7hrs in a 250watt dehydrator.

[WhiteWolf]

We have an Excaliber, but we don't use it as much as we should

WW

[itsybitsy]

I also bottle fruit and tomatoes, use the freezer and make a lot of jam, chutney and pickles. I don't like to have all my eggs in basket so to speak.

I have a LOAD of tomatoes. Could you explain how you bottle them, please?

[Ian]

We use a Stockli with nine circular trays. It cost too much but has easily paid for itself. Easy to use but our version does not have a timer so we use one that plugs into the power socket. Cleaning is straight forward, the trays fit in the dishwasher. Strawberrys really make a mess.

Downsides, as it is circular it takes up a lot of storage space when not in use. During use the trays need rotating, swapping bottom to the top every hour or so to get even drying. unless you do the bottom trays dry first and by the time the top trays dry the bottom one's are over-dried. In summer the excess heat in the room is too much so it goes outside in the sun to get the extra warmth. In winter no problem but not too many crops to dry.

We make jerky, dry strawberrys (the reason to buy it) and most other fruit in season, the best is pineapple. apples are easy and all our herbs go through it, sage, rosemary, thyme, all the common ones, enough to supply others, it is not worth drying a small amount, it costs the same.

[Brambling01]

I also bottle fruit and tomatoes, use the freezer and make a lot of jam, chutney and pickles. I don't like to have all my eggs in basket so to speak.

I have a LOAD of tomatoes. Could you explain how you bottle them, please?

No probs Itsy, If you pm your email address I can send you a tutorial I wrote for an American friend. I've tried pmming to someone else, but it was too big!

[david64]

Thanks for the advice.

In general how long does something keep if its dehydrated and then jarred or tubbed?

[Brambling01]

Shelf life of home dehydrated food is very subjective. It all depends on storage conditions, but realistically 6-18months.

Have a look at this, it is interweb info, but will give you some idea.

http://modernsurvivalblog.com/preps/hom ... helf-life/