Want a dehydrator, but Craigslist people are delusional...

[MoneybagsGalore]

I'm considering getting a dehydrator. Or making one.

My main concern is that I want a good one that can dry a lot of food at once, as I would like dehydrated/dried food to become a main staple. (Don't worry, I'll try this on a small scale first by finding someone nearby who owns one and ask to use it a couple times)

So, I figure that dehydrators are similar to bread makers in that most people buy them or get them as gifts, use them once, and then they never use them again. Sweet! I go to Craigslist to see if there are any good deals and find that the people who live in my area are f'ing insane. Literally no one in our area (except for myself) is interested in food preservation or big game hunting or anything like that, but these guys are listing their dehydrators at nearly full price!

I was hoping to snag a high quality one (9 tray excalibur or a commercial dehydrator of some sort) for about $100. I thought it was a buyer's market?! Why won't they let me take advantage of their rampant consumerism and get an expensive piece of equipment for really cheap?!

Stupid Craigslist.

I also doubt the local garage sales, thrift stores, or the swap meet will carry the quality of dehydrator I'm looking for (likely, I'll only find the cheap plastic kind). I'll look though.

But, that leaves me to the DIY option:

I found this video on dehydrating fruit with a big box fan: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wLCmxKs4oXU

It only dehydrates a small amount of food at a time, but can't I just reconfigure this by putting a bunch of fruit on oven sheets and pointing a fan at them?

Every other DIY dehydrator design I've looked at is more about creating heat (with incandescent light bulbs) than about blowing a fan on things, so I'm not sure the fan thing will work.

Any opinions on how I can dehydrate a lot of food at once by building or buying something for the absolute least amount of money?

[saving-10-years]

So, I figure that dehydrators are similar to bread makers in that most people buy them or get them as gifts, use them once, and then they never use them again.

I don't think you have that analogy right. Breadmakers are far less expensive than dehydrators and the reason why people seem to stop using breadmakers is that these are not that good at doing a job which you can do better without them. Because BM are less expensive you also get the large supply effect (bought as unwanted presents). I have so far not heard of anyone who has a breadmaker handed down from previous generations.

Not so with dehydrators which do the job well, better than you could do in our UK climate without. We have the 9 tray Excaliber (yes it is expensive and as we are in the UK these are less common used and so more expensive than where you are). One of the things that made me want to buy this was that there were several accounts of people who had earlier versions still in use after 25 years. Its a useful bit of kit to have. We use it for drying out fruit mainly and also for making jerky (which my son loves). In our case as we have sheep available our jerky is mutton jerky rather than beef jerky but it works fine. I would not sell even though it does not get much current use, its ugly and its taking up space because I expect to use this for decades to come. You may find people selling because they find they don't have the space or because they don't like the noise but its no surprise that most are not glad to get rid of them at any price.

In our case, with a son whose food allergies mean that he can't eat most treats like chocolate or snack bars it helps to be able to dry things like pineapple or mango when cheap so that he can have sweet treats which otherwise get pricey.

Good luck. As with most things you may get lucky - stay vigilent - but I don't think those sellers are delusional. I think that they are realistic.

[jacob]

In terms of buying/selling. We picked up our first dehydrator at a yard sale for $5 which we later gave away. I think DW paid full price (I wash my hands off that one) for our second... which was subsequently sold for $20 or something.

[susswein]

The cheap plastic (AKA ronco) ones that you can find at thrift stores actually work pretty well if you add a small fan to increase air flow. I made a simple box for it to sit on with a $5 computer fan blowing air through it, and it worked extremely well.

[MoneybagsGalore]

The cheap plastic (AKA ronco) ones that you can find at thrift stores actually work pretty well if you add a small fan to increase air flow. I made a simple box for it to sit on with a $5 computer fan blowing air through it, and it worked extremely well.

Cool! I have an old desktop that I haven't figured out how to recycle/upcycle yet. Maybe I can take the fan from that and do something like they do in these two videos?:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vKMoQ1vDiAI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WkJ0AD59EYw

I think DW paid full price (I wash my hands off that one) for our second... which was subsequently sold for $20 or something.

That's a serious concern of mine. I'd love to buy a high quality dehydrator, but I don't think anyone would buy it (in my area) if I unexpectedly have to move/minimize.

Update: I stumbled upon a friend of a friend who has a 9 tray excalibur who was happy to let me borrow it. Sweet!

[saving-10-years]

Good ideas for making one and great that you have one to try out. Sharing ownership would be a great option (if this could be negotiated) as its not something that you need to use everyday.

@Jacob - this is one of my BIFL gadgets. I will be very disappointed if I am not handing this down to my sister or son if we ever have to downsize. In the depths of winter its great to be able to reach for some produce from the summer to add to a meal and it helps the freezer space go further.

[tommytebco]

use your oven!!!
lowest temp setting. Prop oven door with a spoon or similar to allow vapor to escape. check and stir every hour or so.
A dedicated dehydrator takes up capital and counter space, both valuable commodities. When you're sure dehydrating is the thing for you, then consider a machine. Don't get a cheapie, you need a fan and temperature control. acceptable units start around $60.

I just finished a month long hike with food prepared this way, so, my knowledge is not theoretical.

[leeholsen]

i would make them an offer and if they reject it, just let your offer sit in their inbox.

more than likely, there's not a huge demand and you just need to find someone that really wants to just get rid of it for whatever reason.

imo, one of the parts of ere is using time to your advantage; like waiting out stubborn sellers.

for instance, i have an appliance on craigslist that i want to get rid of more than i want to get my offer; so if someone offers me lower' i'm likely to take it.

[BecaS]

1. Craigslist. I am an avid user, both buying and selling as needed. Oh, Craigslist, you are legend. It can be frustrating, annoying, trying, OMG don't get me started. I manage the frustration level much better when buying than when selling. The item I want is either there at a price I want to pay or not. I can take it or leave it. I find that I have to interact much more intimately with expectations and just general weirdness when I'm selling. In the past I have requested that friends and family drive to my house, line up and punch me in the head if I ever decide to sell something on Craigslist again, simply due to the frustration factor. I always return to the venue but I have to remind myself of how hard I'm going to work for that $5-$20 sale. Yes, it's worth it to me to make space in the house and to recoup some value out of this used item that we no longer need but OMG. Yeah. OK. Sorry.

2. Dehydrators. Excalibur is the dream dehydrator. You were shopping on a used venue for a dehydrator that people tend to buy as an investment and usually tend to keep forever. IMHO you were looking for a Sparkly Unicorn Pegasus. The fact that you found one to use FOR FREE is remarkable. GOOD FOR YOU. Of course, now you are spoiled. Gonna be difficult (but not impossible) for lesser dehydrators to compete.

3. When I started exploring dehydration as a food preserving technique, I did exactly what you did. I shopped Craigslist looking for an Excalibur. Like you, I found one or two models but the asking price was above my budget amount. I ended up buying three (3) Nesco (the round tray/top blower) Snack Master model dehydrators for between $10-$20 each, IIRC. (It's been a while. I don't remember exactly what I paid, but I know it wasn't over $20 because I remember that was my top end budget amount. I seem to recall that I paid less for at least two of them.) One purchase came with a great book on dehydrating plus some fine mesh tray liners for small items/herbs and at least one solid tray liner for making fruit leathers. So, I have three Snack Master dehydrators with trays and accessories. If one blower assembly fails on me, I have two back ups. I also have as many trays as I can handle. All of these used Nesco dehydrators were brand new/unused (a gift that was the wrong call) or barely used (peeling/chopping/slicing was too much work.) I have three dehydrators for less than the price of one on sale.

4. The Snack Master models that I now own are not the most powerful dehydrators out there- 500 watts power. I work around this by making sure that I slice high water content foods such as apples on the thin side. Since I have three units, I can use three separate dehydrators with fewer trays under each. Yes, it uses a bit more energy (I guess) but each tray of food dries faster (so maybe the energy usage evens out.) I also turn up the heat if I'm drying lighter weight/ but thinner high moisture items such as fresh cut herbs. There is an "herb" setting on the Snack Master IIRC but I find that I need to bump up the heat a bit if I've just cut those herbs.

One does need to be mindful of "casing," where the exterior of the food dries too quickly and seals moisture inside the food (thus setting up for mold, rot, etc. when stored at room temperature) but you'll figure that part out. If you bite into an apparently dried apple slice and it's moist inside, it's not done yet, you've made the slices too thick, or you've dried the slices at too high of a temperature such that the outside dried too quickly. (I've never had a problem with "casing" with herbs- leaves are thin by construction.) Never fear- if you find yourself in this situation, you can't get the "insides" dried, just put the food in Ziplock bags (immediately, don't let it set out at room temperature and start rotting) and store it in the fridge or the freezer. Dried foods will keep for years in the freezer.

5. Let's use that dehydrator! One of our favorites is dried apple slices. I make them by the TON in the fall when apples come in and go on sale at the store. I use the peels and cores to make apple jelly. (Some people omit the cores because apple seeds contain amygdalin, a compound that breaks down into hydrogen cyanide when metabolized. My reading informs me that it takes a LOT of apple seeds to yield enough cyanide to have any impact but some people, especially parents of little kids, don't want any apple seeds involved. Do what works for you. Here is a Snopes article about apple seeds and cyanide. http://www.snopes.com/food/warnings/apples.asp)

What's left over after boiling and straining goes into the composter- so not a thing is wasted. If you are into vermiculture, the worms will *love* your left over boiled peels and cores. We had an indoor worm bin for a few years, but now we use an outdoor composter that is full of worms. They make short work of boiled apple peels and cores.

Here's a good guide to making jelly from fresh fruits from the National Center For Home Food Preservation:
http://nchfp.uga.edu/how/can_07/jelly_w ... ectin.html

Of course you can make many, many more things. Dried jerky from round or flank steak is superb. (I do keep that in the freezer, just for my own peace of mind.)

6. My "companion appliance" to the dehydrator is the AeroGarden. Again, we purchased these for pennies on the dollar on Craigslist. I use them to grow herbs indoors during the dead of winter and during the high heat of summer, when herbs outdoors don't do so well. Besides, nothing beats the flavor punch and aroma of fresh herbs. AeroGardens use proprietary fluorescent grow lights that can be expensive but I wait until they are on sale on the AeroGarden web site to stock up. Costco.com now carries AeroGardens and accessories. http://www.costco.com/CatalogSearch?sto ... erogardens

The baskets and laminated paper basket toppers (I forget what those are called) are reusable. I use standard seeds from the standard seed packets found in any retail venue. I buy replacement grow sponges from Park Seed and store them in our freezer. I cut the sponges into pieces (usually thirds) and stuff them into the baskets. Honestly, the seeds don't care if the sponge doesn't fit exactly just so. As long as the sponge material is adequate to provide a medium, reaches the water so it stays wet and keeps the seed from falling into the drink, it's adequate. AeroGardens don't use much electricity. I ran ours through a Kill-A-Watt and, IIRC, it cost us about $6.50/month to run four AeroGardens at a time 24/7. Four AeroGardens produce a ton of herbs. Trust me on this. We use some fresh and we dry the rest.

7. Have fun with your new interest!

[WillS]

It seems like a more practical solution is re-purposing other gadgets. For example, you could cobble something together with a small electric space heater. I haven't done this myself, but I have a space heater that I really like that I got from a thrift shop for $5. I could build a dehydrator around it using screens and a cardboard box, which I could fold flat. Much less capital, storage, and cost... also multiple uses. I haven't tried it though.

[enigmaT120]

We found both of our Excaliber machines at garage sales. I would prefer to make a solar one to save on electricity but I would have to bring the trays inside every night or I think the food would mold.