I'm very happy with my current settup for hanging the biltong, but its not an elegant solution. It was good to test out whether iit is worth persuing, so a cardboard box is fine for that, but it will fail over time.
So I started looking at Food Dehydrators and thinking about using one of those instead.
Having the utility room closed off is hany to leave a machine running as it is shut off from the rest of the house and so smells wond move all through the dwelling.
I'm looking at one on TradeMe at the moment, although I think I'll end up having to wait for one from China as I've not had much success buying on TradeMe at all. I'm not experienced enough.
Anyway, I'll wait a couple of days and see if the buyer will be interested in selling to me.
Dehydrator.
Why buy and use, the vid below gives a few reasons, but I think this is a way to be a bit more efficient with food and less wasteful.I do like the idea of reducing bulk of products and also like the homemade effort for your food too. If I have time on my hands, why not, its quite enjoyable.
Ive been pleased with some of my other gadgets, such as the food mixer and air fryer, both of those have easily paid for themselves.
Meats
I'm interested in making more biltong, and instead of hanging it, if it dries on the trays and can be made more quickly, then that is great.
Fruits
Its coming into summer so getting cheap produce that I can dry and store will be great. I'm also interested in dehydrating and re-hydrating foods, so that will be a ifferent type of cooking to explore.
Vegetables
Getting a load of vegetables dried out allows me to have a lot of variety on hand when cooking. Carrots go off, so does the cabbage. I'd like to have some dried so that they are ready to use.
Dehydrated foods and poos.
I saw a vid by a doctor that said stools were 70% water, and a lot of foods have mimimal water, so rest of fluid from your body, so as you get older you can become dehydrated. So maybe with dehydrated foods best to rehydrate for use in meals.
Pre-prepped dehydrated meals
The vid below shows how to pre-prep meals from dehydrated food. There is one for outdoor camping too that is interesting.I particularly like the mason jar vacuum sealer that you can use. See LINK. There is a standard mason jar and a wide one as well. one is 2 1/2" the other 3"
The camping one dehydrates meat for camping, he has another video where he re-hydrates and cooks meals, and because he's taken out all the fat from the meat (boiling the mince) he adds a bit of olive oil to add a bit of flavour back into meal.
I think for pre-prepped meals you need to cook the rice and then dehydrate it, so it cooks in the same time as other ingredients. I'm not sure if you need to do that for pasta though.
I quite like the idea of pre-bagged meals that you vacuum seal and leave for a quick heat'n'eat. Also, as you've made it you know what has gone into it.
I also really like the vacuum seal for mason jars too. That will preserve stuff for a lot longer.
Purchasing dehydrator and delivery
I ordered a Dehydrator online on TradeMe. It was NZ$54.95 and with delivery 63$. I ordered on the 2nd Jan And it finally arrived on 13th Jan. So a bit slow for delivery, even accounting for the fact the order was put on a thursday.
About the dehydrator
The trays are quite deep, about 30mm from perforated plastic tray to top edge, so clearance between trays would be about 25mm (an inch). I'm pleased about that, I was worried they may be too shallow.Its about 240mm deep, 300mm wide & 350mm high with all 7 trays stacked. So it will easily sit under the cupboards in the laundry.
The top, clear lid is oversized and a bit rattly. It does not have any holes in the top so the air eases out around the edges around the perimeter.
there is the central hole on each tray that allows air to flow up from the bottom.
The bottom is a sort of drain tray so any moisture dripping down will fall into the well. There is a raised central hat that allwos air to flow into the chamber.
I will be heading up country shortly so will not have too much time to play with it.
As it is, I have some cabbge that I wanted to dehydrate, also an apple or 2 (although I could use those in a smothie) and an onion.
I think I'll need to do one thing at a time otherwise there is potential for cross contamination of flavours.
I'm not sure whether to wait for feedback from seller about broken lid or go ahead with a trial.
An interesting comment is to rotate trays for even drying. I thought that was a good insight.
Some vids on dehydrating fruits and a DIY dehydrator ( a bit like a biltong box)
DIY dehydrator, pretty cool
Suggested items for dehydration
I need to plan to buy cheap fruit for dehydration. So currently summer, need to start to go to markets and buy fruit to test.
Vegetables
- Cabbage- (done)
- Carrots- (done)
- Tomatoes
- Potatoes (I tried chips)
- Mushrooms
- Onions (turn into powder
- Garlic (turn into powder) buy a big bag and dehydrate
- Apples (done-to test)
- Pears
- Orange &lemon Peel (for candied peel)
- Pineapples
- Grapes
- Strawberries
- Bananas
- Mangos (done)
- Steak ( jerky & biltong)
- Pork ( jerky & biltong)
- Chicken (link to jerky)
- Lamb (link to jerky)
- Mince- dehydrate for premade meals
- Chicken- dehydrate for premade meals
- Rosemary
- Thyme
- Parsley
- Fennel?
Other
- crackers
- fruit leather
- rice
Photos of unboxing and instructions
Update on cracked lid. 14th jan.
I've been offered 20$ refund, so actual unit was 55$ and the rest courier (about $8- tot 63$) so unit for 43$ ok with just a cracked lid. It doesn't sit as well but it doesn't affect the operation. Since this was the cheapest one that I got to test to see if worthwhile I'm happy with that outcome.The information book with it is pretty limited, see below, a bit vague on times for fruit drying, still, I'll have to use to see results:
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