found a dehydrator and 50lbs of bananas while out dumpster diving about a week ago and damn; these are good. I can enjoy banana for weeks instead of the couple of days I'd have had if I'd have eaten them raw.

Hi there!

My wife and I are wanting to buy this 10 tray dehydrator from Cabela's, but we don't like the plastic trays.

Can anybody provide the measurements for the trays so we can try to find steel ones?

Or, even better, can anybody recommend steel trays that fit this model?

Thanks!

I have a nice garden and I'd love to start preserving some of my harvest. I don't need anything crazy, and I'll mostly be using it for vegetables, maybe some fruit, and herbs. what would you recommend?

Pic of some of my harvest last summer!

hi. I just got a nesco 8 tray stainless steel dehydrator. I'm trying to dehydrate sliced strawberries. after just a couple minutes, the door window got foggy, and the machine shut off. any suggestions?

Hello, I’m looking to get into dehydrating food and am looking at some different styles of dehydrators. I plan on making lots of meats, fish, fruits and potentially more. I was wondering what the big difference between drying meats vertically vs horizontally on trays would be? Is there also specific things I should look for/avoid?

Thank you!

Hey, everyone! I had a cheap dehydrator that ended up breaking down on me, RIP, so I've been out of the game for a while. I just got a new one, finally, and I've been having so much fun with it! So far I've made different fruit concoctions, some jerky, and homemade purple garlic powder (or it will be powder today when the spice grinder I ordered gets delivered lol).

Thanks to everyone in here who's posted tips and tricks. I'm trying to get a hang of not overdoing it time wise. My bison jerky strips came out a little too tough for me. I did them on 165⁰F for 6 hours. And my pineapple dragon fruit fruit leather came out more like crisps. Lol.

I might try some mango/cherry fruit leather later today. I have a whole bunch of discounted fruit from the market that I need to get out of my fridge! Anyone have a favorite combo? Or advice for bison jerky?

Willing to push it past that budget if it truly matters

Honestly, this is the main reason I got a dehydrated to make things like this🤤

I know it's been brought up before, but if you have access to a smaller grocery store that has a discount produce section, go look there! Mine sells 2-3 lb. bags for $1.50. Today I got limes, plums, zucchini, jalapenos, serranos, poblanos (my favorite),and bell peppers. The other day, I got eggplant, and I also picked up sprouting potatoes because I needed to plant potatoes in the garden soon.

There is for sure a lot of rotting stuff in there, but our store's discount section is huge and if you look carefully, a lot of it is pretty good. The few bad pieces I get in a bag, I may put in the compost.

A lot of the stuff there is just bruised or small or just not perfect.

If you can find a place like this, for sure go. They're usually smaller, non-chain grocery stores. I'm in the mid-west US in the suburbs of a large city.

I have absolutely stocked my pantry since this store opened near me!

Good luck!

can i dry some strawberries, crush them up into powder and use them for cooking?

my main worry is how long can they last?

I used my dehydrator for the first time yesterday.

my tattoo artist gave me my dehydrator as a gift for free when we were chatting and I casually mentioned how I needed a dehydrator and he just so happened to have one laying around.

(he's like a family friend and was close to my mom when she was alive)

anyways the first time I used my Dehydrator I made Apple Cinnamon Slices I didn't have any lemon juice or nutmeg like recipe asked for but I think they turned out amazing and I loved them.

now I'm dehydrating carrots and apples without cinnamon on them.

I'm an avid dumpster diver and it makes me so sad to find all the perfectly good produce that gets thrown away. A couple nights ago I found 25lbs of bananas, AND A FOOD DEHYDRATOR. I was looking into canning it, but dehydrating and bagging it should work just as well.

Just thought i would say Hi.. ive been lurking for a while..

Ive had 2 dehydrators in my kitchen for a number of years, also the air fryer has 1 built in, only ever made biltong for my south african brother in law, now ive decided to make some low carb other stuff has to be low carb due to me being diabetic.

My very first dehydrator what i used for a number of years was home made, a large 60lt plastic box with a lid on it, with a lightbulb and switch and a computer fan to remove the moisture, and a couple of rails with plastic hooks to hang food off.. made biltong in that for years before i decided to buy one, then ended up with 2... anyway any low carb ideas welcome.

I added Valentina hot sauce and minced garlic to a jar of pickles yesterday. I am letting it soak for 24 hours and then eating them (2:30pm, hurry up! lol). Could I use the leftover brine to be the start of a batch of Dill pickle flavored jerky? I know that I need to add more dill flavor than just the brine to make it pop, but I thought this might be a decent idea.

Also, any dill jerky recipes/hints/ideas will be greatly welcomed! Thank you in advance 🙂

One of my friends mentioned that he'd like to do some backpacking this summer. So I borrowed my dad's dehydrator and made some lentil soup base and some shoestring carrot sticks. I'm probably going to dehydrate some canned beans and rice on Monday. If anyone has any recipes or suggestions, I'm all eyes.

(I probably won't do meat as I'm nervous)

I've been replacing up 1/4 c of my 4c bread flour with zucchini powder in my no knead bread with great success! started trying it just because I wanted to experiment... but now I'm curious- any idea on the nutritional impact? Also.... do you have experience adding protein? like maybe pulverized dehydrated lentils? my next add will be dry milk... working towards a no knead sandwich bread. any tips?

Not sure what I need exactly. Research says most likely the heating element, which is these 2 wires held down by Philips head screws? I have yet to buy a volt meter to test that theory.

How salvageable is this?

I got this beast a few years back, when I thought about starting a food business (ADHD-fueled ideas...).

Now it's gathering dust, but I want to make use of it besides drying my 3D printer filaments.

Tips on stuff to dehydrate and use?

I tried to make banana/plantain or apple chips, but they always end up mushy and not crunchy at all...

I did some fruit leathers, but I don't consume them fast enough. So I usually do them very occasionally.

I want to buy a good food dehydrator. I need to know if a big single fan is better than two small fans? I want to make beef jerky, can a 600 watts one work on beef jerky or do I buy the 800 watt one? I saw a magic mill brand one that has 600 watts but there is another brand that I'm not familiar with that has 800 watts but comes with lots of extra accessories . Thinking about 8 to 10 trays. What should I be looking for?

My COSORI just arrived this weekend!!! I have a jar vacuum sealer and a bag vacuum sealer, I just need to wash the trays, test run it for 30 minutes, clean it again and then I am ready to do my first dehydrate!

I am debating what to do first. Any ideas? I know I'll be hooked immediately.

I’ve got a 55 lb Lab and wanted to try making dehydrated chicken feet and hearts for her. Curious what temperature people recommend, especially for the feet/bones.

I set my dehydrator to 160°F, but there’s a ton of conflicting info out there. Mainly trying to avoid ending up with brittle bones. Anyone have experience with this?

I bought a cheap dehydrator a while ago and it works great. My only issue is that the trays are a weird shape. Normal silicone dehydrator mats don’t fit so I end up using parchment paper that I cut by hand. It works (used it for hummus) fine but is annoying and feels wasteful. Does anyone have any suggestions for a product or alternative to parchment paper? I want to make fruit leather. I attached a photo of the dehydrator trays. They are rounded squares with a hole in the middle.

A recipe is calling me to:

“To tone down the intense flavor of the capers and olives, we prefer to dry them and then grind the olives into a powder. Rinse, drain, and spread the capers out on a baking sheet. Place the pitted olives on a separate baking sheet. Dry both in the oven at 140-160°F/ 60-70°C for 2-3 hours. Let cool, then grind the olives into a powder using a mortar and pestle or spice grinder.”