Dehydrating foodd and dehydrators?

[westtexas]

Any of you ladies dehydrate foods? Jerky? Veggies? I'm intrigued by making my own dried fruits and veggies and maybe jerky. However, there are about a million different options when it comes to buying a dehydrator, from cheap to pretty pricey. I'm not looking to do mass operations, just enough stuff to make for a week or maybe two (it's just me anyway).

Any suggestions for getting started dehydrating foods without an oven? Things that are good to dry out? Any particular units you really like?

Thanks in advance :)

[solobiker]

We have had ours for well over 20 years and it continues to work great. Ours was about $30.00 when we got it. It is a Harvest Maid brand. It has 4 trays and comes with one mesh insert(works great for when we dry strawberries) and one solid insert that we use when we do fruit rollups. We have also had great luck with dehydrating spag. sauces and salsas. Yummm. As for fruits we enjoy doing apples, peaches, strawberries and believe it or not kiwi.

We have also made quite a bit of beef jerky which turned out very well.

Good luck on your search.:)

[marni]

I make sweet potato chips for myself and dog treats by drying them in an oven set at 125 F. It usually takes 15 hours to do two baking sheets worth. I slice them very thin on a mandoline and spread them out 1 layer thick. I might invest in a dehydrator if I did more than this but in the meantime the oven works well and my oven has a 20 hour safety cut off so even if I forget about the potato chips, it isn't a problem.

[westtexas]

I make sweet potato chips for myself and dog treats by drying them in an oven set at 125 F. It usually takes 15 hours to do two baking sheets worth. I slice them very thin on a mandoline and spread them out 1 layer thick. I might invest in a dehydrator if I did more than this but in the meantime the oven works well and my oven has a 20 hour safety cut off so even if I forget about the potato chips, it isn't a problem.

I just don't feel safe leaving my oven on for that long (living in an apartment and all). Even if it's while I'm sleeping. And I certainly don't stay home watching tv 15 hours a day.

This is also why I'm leaning towards a less expensive unit - I don't plan on dehydrating a lot, mostly just things for chips and jerky and the occasional fruit - but I don't want a unit that's hard to use or cumbersome.

[marni]

I just don't feel safe leaving my oven on for that long (living in an apartment and all). Even if it's while I'm sleeping. And I certainly don't stay home watching tv 15 hours a day.

This is also why I'm leaning towards a less expensive unit - I don't plan on dehydrating a lot, mostly just things for chips and jerky and the occasional fruit - but I don't want a unit that's hard to use or cumbersome.

hmm hadn't thought about the fire issue, good thought that, I may rethink getting a dehydrator. While I don't watch tv for fifteen hours, I am stuck at home quite a bit because of resident 91 year old father in law.

marni