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Re: Which Dehydrater ... Or Even Do I Bother

Posted: Sat Jan 05, 2019 9:31 pm
by Jamesey1981
Deeps wrote: Sat Jan 05, 2019 5:40 pm
Jamesey1981 wrote: Fri Jan 04, 2019 10:09 pm It's the sweetest thing ever, really good though. :)
Bought a couple to give it a try, got an couple of pineapples for a quid too, they're good in the dehydrator too.
Give them a couple of days in the warm before you dry them, you want them as ripe as possible, and keep track of how much you eat, you can eat an awful lot of melon without noticing and if that happens you'll be denting your loo roll stocks....

Re: Which Dehydrater ... Or Even Do I Bother

Posted: Sat Jan 05, 2019 10:16 pm
by Deeps
Jamesey1981 wrote: Sat Jan 05, 2019 9:31 pm
Deeps wrote: Sat Jan 05, 2019 5:40 pm
Jamesey1981 wrote: Fri Jan 04, 2019 10:09 pm It's the sweetest thing ever, really good though. :)
Bought a couple to give it a try, got an couple of pineapples for a quid too, they're good in the dehydrator too.
Give them a couple of days in the warm before you dry them, you want them as ripe as possible, and keep track of how much you eat, you can eat an awful lot of melon without noticing and if that happens you'll be denting your loo roll stocks....
I've found dehydrated stuff can go through me like an exocet sometimes, don't know if its the concentrated fibre but it can be emotional.....

Re: Which Dehydrater ... Or Even Do I Bother

Posted: Sat Jan 05, 2019 10:59 pm
by Jamesey1981
I think with the fruit it's down to the reduction in size, with fresh melon I'd stop after a maximum of half a melon, more like a quarter usually, but dried I could keep going past two whole ones, dehydrating it only really gets rid of the water, the rest of it is still there so I think it's the sheer volume of fruit.

Re: Which Dehydrater ... Or Even Do I Bother

Posted: Sun Jan 06, 2019 12:10 am
by Deeps
Jamesey1981 wrote: Sat Jan 05, 2019 10:59 pm I think with the fruit it's down to the reduction in size, with fresh melon I'd stop after a maximum of half a melon, more like a quarter usually, but dried I could keep going past two whole ones, dehydrating it only really gets rid of the water, the rest of it is still there so I think it's the sheer volume of fruit.
Even normal portions can do it for me, I'm fond of a keech anyway but a combination of exercise and dehydrated veg (and usually booze) keeps me regular. ;)

Re: Which Dehydrater ... Or Even Do I Bother

Posted: Tue Jan 08, 2019 7:55 am
by Brambles
Having just read your post in 'From Ration List to Meal Plan' about breakfast. Here's my 2p. ;)

Portion control is a doddle with dehydrated food. There is far less waste and you can use as much or as little as you need.
Dehydrated foods improve variety. I have recently been dehydrating grated Potato and I can honestly say if I served them to you as Hash Browns, you would struggle to discern if they were fresh or not.

I think this could be one of the reasons I love the dehydrator, it adds a certain quality and variety to the stores and if you are tight on space you can store lbs of food in the same space as one tin. :)

I started off with a little basic £20 jobbie when it started dying my son got me an Excalibur.

Re: Which Dehydrater ... Or Even Do I Bother

Posted: Sun Jan 13, 2019 8:12 pm
by jennyjj01
This might sound a bit of a kop out, but I'm concerned about dehydrator stinking the house out. I can't even make beer in the house or sterilise bottles with chlorine, so onion essence would be insane.... Unless I could mask it or blow it away.*

Does anyone here run the dehydrator in a shed, garage, or outhouse? I expect my first batches will be onions and maybe even herbs. I'm going to find it impossible to use this in the house. Garage at a pinch. Shed at the end of the garden most likely. Loft with a roof fan?

Any potential problems? Will the stink disperse quickly enough or will I have the neighbours calling the police? Is there a period of peak stink that fades after a few hours? Would it heat up my shed significantly?

Home is a typical suburban detached with garden.

Or am i expecting too much, worrying too much?

*I could maybe mask some of it with beany farts after some recent experiments :)

Re: Which Dehydrater ... Or Even Do I Bother

Posted: Sun Jan 13, 2019 8:20 pm
by jansman
My dehydrator runs out in the workshop.

Re: Which Dehydrater ... Or Even Do I Bother

Posted: Sun Jan 13, 2019 10:24 pm
by Jamesey1981
I don't find the smell too bad, just a normal cooking smell really, although I have been toying with the idea of dehydrating prawns as a treat for one of my cats and it's the expected smell that's putting me off!

Onions dry better if you very quickly blanch them first, at least they do in my dehydrator, and it tones the smell down too, everything else I have found bearable, I just run it in my kitchen.

Did you try the melon by the way Deeps?

Re: Which Dehydrater ... Or Even Do I Bother

Posted: Sun Jan 13, 2019 11:07 pm
by jennyjj01
OK. Bit the bullet. £150 for Sousvide 9 tray jobby from amazon. I'd figured the small size and plastic trays of some of the cheaper 30 quid jobbies was false economy. Can hardly wait to get to the wholesale greengrocers for my sacks of veggies.

Meanwhile, on a very minor note, a couple of bits of equipment inspiration. Bought a beer kit and realised it's a BIG tin can with a plastic extra lid. I won't be throwing those away in future as they seem ideal for dried scoff. For that matter, some Pringles tubs with their plastic lids might also be ideal.
I wish I could find a cheap source for just those plastic lids. I hate the idea of chucking away half cans of food or decanting into tuppaware. I don't want to invest in expensive jars while throwing such handy containers away.

What say ye? Should I use such 'free' containers for dehydrated mushrooms etc? And would I need to add oxygen removers?
What's expected shelf life of home dried stuff stored in such containers with or without oxygen removers?
Are those oxygen removers re-usable like silica gel sachets? or are they one-shot?

Re: Which Dehydrater ... Or Even Do I Bother

Posted: Sun Jan 13, 2019 11:34 pm
by Jamesey1981
If you're just looking for lids for normal sized cans then the pet section is where you want to look, they'll have paw prints on them most likely but it's never bothered me, can pick them up in the pound shop and I've seen them in supermarkets as well

I store my dried mushrooms in clip top kilner style jars, I think those ones came from Ikea, but i have some real ones as well, they're much the same though, an oxygen absorber would probably help but they last ages even without one, would probably be a good idea for very long term storage though.