dehydrating

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marlas1too

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I have been dehydrating for more years than I can count I have 4 American harvesters and 4 more from wally world-aka walmart--I like drying everything from herbs to fruits-fruits as I live in the middle of orchard’s of peach,apples,plums,nectarines,cherry’s and raspberry’s grow along all the roads around here and are free to pick in fact I have a load of apples going now--from the orchard up the road I can get a bushel of apples fr only 10.00-every prepper should have at least one dehydrator ----American harvester is a very good choice
 
I have 3 Open Country dehydrators. They come with 5 trays and 2 leather sheets. I bought 10 extra trays and 20 extra leather sheets. The sheets will eventually end up cracking with years of use so I wanted to have replacements on hand.

I too dry anything I can; fruits, veggies, meat (jerky). Herbs I like to hang dry. I have also dried eggs. When the hens are in full production mode, we're overwhelmed so I like to put some back for this time of year when we only get 1-2 a day.

Stock internet picture cause I'm to lazy to walk down to the basement and take a pic of mine. :)

serveimage
 
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I have two. . . Nesco given to me for Christmas years ago with 5 trays and a jelly roll. The other I'm not sure what kind it is but takes a lot longer to dry in. Air circulates from the bottom up. I mainly do veggies and fruits but have also done meats. When I have leftovers from canning, I'll throw those in too for a meal then vacuum seal label and into buckets.
 
OMG - what a great idea!!!!

I save parts from animals for this. Just haven’t done it yet. Really just don’t want to put things like green tripe on my human food dehydrator. :LOL: The oven works ok. A dehydrator is the way to go. Just haven’t gotten one for it yet. Freezers filling fast. I’d better get on it.
 
Have a American Harvest an a Nesco. Make jerky, dry a fair mounta stuff. Thought bought one them freeze dryers, but good heavens they be expensive! Plus I read bout some problems folks have with em. Fer now, I'll stick ta the old fashioned way.
 
bought a bunch of bananas at 19 cents a pound the other day just under $3 worth. I'll let you do the math. The wife swiped about 1/3 of them and I put the other 2/3 in the dehydrator.

In a few more days I'll throw some potatoes in the dehydrator too. Should have picked apples in the fall and left them in the basement til now, could have dehydrated them when we needed heat and warmed up the house at the same time. Live and learn.

Also have several head of cabbage in the basement that needs to be made into sauerkraut, will do that sometime this winter or when I finally get sick and tired of them stinking.

I have some dehydrator from the 1970's still works like a charm. Used to have 10 13x13 trays but now I have 5 left as they keep breaking. The door busted off years ago but it still has a magnetitc catch and still holds shut. Eventually I'll buy some 15x15 trays and build a new dehydrator and put the heating unit from the one I've got into it. Should have a good dehydrator for about $100 and some time.
 
What kinds of meats have you guys dehydrated?
NH has used ours for venison. He defrosts it, slices it thin, marinates it overnight, puts it in the dehydrator, for hours, "til it's jerky!"
A nice friend used to give us his venison from the freezer from his hunt the year before and that was the best way we found to use it up.
 
That's what I gave all of our staff...a gift basket of home canned and home dehydrated (and some $ too). They loved it. Our oldest daughter and our sons family have a few kids each, so I bought wooden crates and have been filling them with home canned, and home made dry oatmeal mix, pancake mix, hot cocoa mix, chocolate spoons, dehydrated marshmallows, lots of goodies. I cut round circle fabric tops and tied with raffia on the home canned stuff. Everyone always gobbles up the homemade jerky
 
NH only put it in zip lock bags, squeezed as much of the air out as he could, zipped it shut, labeled it, and put it in the pantry. It's been a few years since he did it, he said it lasted a "good while." Okay, like a month? "Longer! Maybe a few months." So, just be prepared to check on it occasionally. It was really good and I'm not inclined to eat such things. The marinade I think he used was Lowrey's marinade but you could probably mix up your own just as easy.
 
I love dehydrated tomatoes....sliced, sprinkled with kosher salt, cracked black pepper and basil.....in winter, they are easily crushed and added to salad....the dressing softens them....my cousin wants me to make them for his BBQ mixes

Halved cherry tomatoes are so good dehydrated. My wife thinks I'm crazy though so I really haven't been eating them like I should though.
 
We bought two of the same one that way if the motor dies on one, we can still use our trays & accessories with the other motor.

Yep. That's why I have 3 of the same make. One is still brand new in the box. I got it for about half it's normal cost at a clearance sale. The oldest is nearly 10. It still works well but I have no illusions that it will last forever.
 
After dehydrating the venison into jerky and vacuum seal it do you have to keep it refrigerated or is it right to stay as it is and put on a shelf vacuum sealed ? and what does everyone marinate the meat in.

As you can tell I am a complete novice when it comes to any dehydrating :) .
I vacuum seal mine with a silica pack to ensure there's no extra moisture. We keep them on the shelf. Hubby found a jar from 2013 that had been "lost" and ate the whole thing so they last quite a while. In this case I used some Sweet Baby Rays BBQ sauce mixed with some hot sauce as a marinade.
 

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