Dehydrators?

[GeneralSnake]

Does anyone dehydrate their own grub? What is a good brand?

Ive been reading a bit, and have pretty much decided on getting a squared one over a round one. Has to have a fan that isnt on the bottom(unless taking off and cleaning them isnt that bad. the reviews I read said it was annoying, but im not lazy). And a timer. Also, metal shelves would be nice, but, not necessary, I can always cover plastic ones with some type of metal.


On a somewhat similar note: Is anyone familiar with freeze dried foods? The only brands I can find at any store are Mountain House, Backpackers Delight(or something like that) and Natural High. Anyone know if there are other brands that are better(calorie: price)? Those 3 are all basically the same calorie : price, even the different types of meals. The veggie ones usually have a better ratio, but not much at all, and often times people find them worse tasting(I like them). Some good websites to buy this stuff on would be nice as well. I have read it isnt really worth while to buy bulk online because of shipping costs, but, no stores around here have as much as I would even begin to consider bulk, so, it is the only option.

[goldenfooler]

I have done some fruit for fun.. yes for some reason it was interesting.
Stay away from peaches, don't taste that good dried. Cranberries are annoying and have to be sugered up.
Apples are easy as pie.. but I would rather do thicker slices and take longer. One way to keep them from browning to much is crush a couple of Vit C tabs and dip the fruit in it. Does nothing but for the look.
If you go ahead and do small things like grapes/cranberries... do a very small screen.

I am using one of those infomerical ones I got for free.
Have you tried buying from campmor in bulk.. or maybe amazon?
Do you care if it is organic?

[goldenfooler]

oh yea whats your intended use?

[goldenfooler]

campmor.com.... used to work there... buy over 100 and free shipping.

[Apache Warrior]

You can sprinkle cut apples with lemon juice instead to keep them from turning brown.
Apache

[GeneralSnake]

oh yea whats your intended use?
Started doing a lot of backpacking. There is a large national forest near me, so why not explore it, it is our land.
Some friends brought some "jerky" they made, it was just dried steaks, they didnt flavor it for some reason, but it was still alright. So I wanted to make some of my own dried food stuffs. Fruits, veggies, herbs meats and possibly fungi(can you dehydrate mushrooms?)
Thanks for the link though goldenfooler, ill check it out. And about the orgranic, that would be a massive plus for me. I will eat what I can get, especially out on a trip, but, I like to give my mind a good home.

And I will also try the lemon juice on the apples AW. Does it just "keep them form turning brown" as in hide the color, and how long do you think they would last in a ziploc stuffed into a pack(as in not exposed to light). Pretty low humidity, but it does get hot where we go.

[baconoclock]

I make jerky on my dehydrator. I just purchased like a 30 dollar walmart one with the round plastic shelves. Cleanup is a bit of a pain unless you soak the shelves for a little bit.

Typically I will slice the meat a day in advance and soak/season them for 12-24 hours in beer before going on the dehydrator. Then right before i put it on i usually sprinkle with black pepper, seasoned salt and garlic powder.

[goldenfooler]

Started doing a lot of backpacking. There is a large national forest near me, so why not explore it, it is our land.
Some friends brought some "jerky" they made, it was just dried steaks, they didnt flavor it for some reason, but it was still alright. So I wanted to make some of my own dried food stuffs. Fruits, veggies, herbs meats and possibly fungi(can you dehydrate mushrooms?)
Thanks for the link though goldenfooler, ill check it out. And about the orgranic, that would be a massive plus for me. I will eat what I can get, especially out on a trip, but, I like to give my mind a good home.

And I will also try the lemon juice on the apples AW. Does it just "keep them form turning brown" as in hide the color, and how long do you think they would last in a ziploc stuffed into a pack(as in not exposed to light). Pretty low humidity, but it does get hot where we go.

I would also do the Vitamen C tabs.. I didn't do lemon juice because of volume needed. You will have to fully cover the fruit in it. Brown fruit doesn't hurt anything though.

Also check out online resources that talk about preping for the AT and PCT(application trail and pacific contential trail).

The drier the product the longer it will last, but the crunchier and drier. If you used a food sealer to take out the air it will last longer.

Oh if you happen to see a good sale on pineapple try to dry it.
I love love it.... don't need to put anything on it. I ended up eating a whole dried pineapple in an hour. Then i looked at myself and thought of a whole pineapple undried sitting in my stomach. :oops:

[goldenfooler]

Do a search for AT trail food. It will come up with a few products
Here are some websites
Appalachian Trail Food Ideas, Methods, Recipes (http://www.hikemore.com/newsletter/appalachian-trail/trail-food.html)
Home (http://trailfoods.com/)
Dehydrating 101 | Trail Cooking (http://www.trailcooking.com/dehydrating101)

Hiking the Pacific Crest Trail: The Food | Gadling.com (http://www.gadling.com/2011/01/11/hiking-the-pacific-crest-trail-the-food/)

I am sure there are others.

While you can build your own. I would buy a light commercial one. The Ronco one has some serious flaws. If you can get it for free like me grab it.
You have to keep moving trays in one without a fan..so if your doing some serious product I would make sure you have a fan in the machine.

Here is a website that you might be interested in
Commercial Food Dehydrators for dehydrating beef, fruits other food from Excalibur (http://www.excaliburdehydrator.com/Dehydrators-37-cat.htm)

[GeneralSnake]

If one doesnt have a timer, I could get one of those outlet timers for like 10$ and just hook it up to that. I bet amazon has some of these excalibur ones for less.

[goldenfooler]

yea i just opened it up and felt one to see how dry it was.
It will keep drying as it cools down for the next couple hours. So kinda plyable will snap in 1/2 when you bend it.
Don't put huge amounts of product in there until you are ready.
Of course the humidy(i am in NJ) has a huge factor on the speed of drying.

now I have to dry some pineapple... it sounds way to good.

[Skud]

I have an Excalibur from way back. Haven't used it for a while, but it worked nicely when I did.

[goldenfooler]

maybe let him borrow it or buy it off you if you haven't been using it?
Don't know where you live.

Also try looking at a freecycle site... maybe there is something out there.