Dehydrators & vacuum sealers

Xpedition Outfitters

Xpedition Outfitters

Adventurist
So my wife got me a dehydrator last year and it sat in my shop until last night. I have a waring pro dhr30 .

I wanted to see if anyone had tips on how to use it. I just put in some apples but I wasn't sure if it should be on low, med or high.

I also wanted to see if anyone uses a vacuum sealer to make the fruit or meat last longer.

I want to start off with fruit first be eventually want to move to meats.

My first attempt. I just soaked the apples in lemon juice for a few min to hopefully help slow down the browning.

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Apryl bought a dehydrator... it didn't go well, her mom has it now.

As for the vacuum sealer, absolutely. Anyone who shops at Costco needs one. I got tied of throwing away frozen food, so we picked up a FoodSaver. It's more than paid for itself a dozen times over.
 
Well my first attempt was a success. I wish I would have taken pictures of the Apple chips but we ate them pretty quickly.

I'll have to look into the vacuum sealer you have.

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I used to have one similar to that years ago and it worked well but i just wasn't using it so I gave it to my brother. Did a lot of venison jerky, marinaded it in various sauces but before I put in the dehydrator I took a rack out of the oven and put it over the sink and let it drip dry a little before putting it in the dehydrator so it didn't make a mess in there. The hardest part is getting the pieces sliced to a similar thickness so they have the same drying times, at least per rack; for fruit like apples its easy with a mandolin slicer. Oh try bananas too, they don't get chalky like the ones you get in the store and they have ten times the flavor, not pretty to look at though.
 
We use a dehydrator a lot. Apples, mangoes, mushrooms, peppers, onions and a lot of jerky. For apples we have found that what works best is this. First core the apple, than peel it. Than cut it in half. Lay the flat sides down and slice across the apple half in consistent thickness slices about 3/16" thick. We just set the dehydrator on high and let it do its thing.


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Here's how we go about making jerky in the dehydrator.

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I have the manual pump vacuum sealer from zip-loc, works with special bags. Great for the house or camping, I can vacuum seal food and put it back in the cooler, saves space and keeps the food fresh longer.
 
Made mango with spicy sprinkles last night. I also have some pineapple on it right now but it seems to be taking forever to dry.
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I have a vacuum sealer that I bought from Cabelas. It's portable and also runs on 12V. I use it mainly for meat. Buy the large package of "fresh" chicken parts (I prefer boneless thighs) and and seal in meal size portions. They last for months longer than unsealed, with no freezer burn. I now have a smoker, so I smoke larger portions, then vacuum seal and freeze the leftovers. I just recently opened some smoked pork loin roast that was sealed and frozen about 8 months ago. After reheating, it tasted like it just came out of the smoker. I have a some leftover smoked pulled pork in a couple packages in the freezer, that I need to pull out and eat. Yum.
 
I have 4 Nesco dehydrators and a new made apple corer peeler slicer made by Weston(?)which take about 5 seconds to do one apple. A major time saver. If u use Simply lemonade that works great or any juice with citric acid. I've done apples mangoes pineapple blueberries strawberries bananas ( cut into rounds, because long slices poke holes in food saver bags) blackberries kale ect. I use a food saver 2222, it had the best reviews and after two years I've had no problems with it at all.
 
I have the cheaper (~$50) Costco-sold Foodsaver vacuum sealer. I use it primarily to prepare food for cooking en sous vide (water bath cooking), but I do occasionally use it for preserving bulk items like Costco meat, etc.

Usually I buy the "best" tool, or at least a very good one, but my rationale for buying the "cheap" Foodsaver was this: It seems that ALL vacuum sealers eventually suffer failure of the heating strip/element. This is NOT a serviceable or replaceable part. I read a ton of reviews, and the only thing that seemed to divide the reviews between happy and sad was weather the failure happened before or after the warranty expired. With that as my driving criterion, I selected the cheapest model that would do what I needed. I will treat the tool as if it has a finite lifespan, and replace it with a similar inexpensive model when this one expires.
 
Anyone have experience with using the Mylar bags with oxygen absorbers versus a Foodsaver? I'm on the fence about which is the better purchase.
 
I use both, but remember if you ever want to grow or sprout any of the beans or seeds do not add an oxygen absorber. They will loose their viability. If you want to you can do a nitrogen (dry ice) oxygen removal or add diatomaceous earth to the contents to kill any larvae that may be in with the seeds, just rinse before consuming . If you can, purchase your Mylar bags through the LDS cannery food storage pantry people. A one or two gallon Mylar bag costs 00.35 cents each and are 6 mil thick. If using said bags and u have pointy veggies 1st place them in a open ziplock bag. 1 so you have a resealable bag if you don't eat all the contents and 2. So the contents don't poke holes into bag.
 
Thanks for the information! I'm just looking for dried food storage, but I'm thinking the Foodsaver will be xxx the better bet for batch cooking and freezing. I should probably just plan on getting both.
 
Be careful of using oils because if trying to store for longer periods of time, certain oils have fatty acids which can and will go rancid faster than not using any. Just soak in Simply Lemonade and sprinkle with cinnamon should work fine without use of oil. My two cents. Same with storing brown rice as opposed to any other. BR has a higher fatty acid.
 
NC_IslandRunner said:
I have the manual pump vacuum sealer from zip-loc, works with special bags. Great for the house or camping, I can vacuum seal food and put it back in the cooler, saves space and keeps the food fresh longer.
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I work for SC Johnson making Ziploc bags. I have tried those vacuum bags but have had great results just getting all the air out of freezer bags.

BTW, you will see a new bag design in the near future. We are already making them. Shhhh . . .
 
Mitch said:
Apryl bought a dehydrator... it didn't go well, her mom has it now.

As for the vacuum sealer, absolutely. Anyone who shops at Costco needs one. I got tied of throwing away frozen food, so we picked up a FoodSaver. It's more than paid for itself a dozen times over.
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No she doesn't! Remember I pulled it out near Christmas to dehydrate Marshmallows? :rolleyes:

We hardly ever use it. The FoodSaver is the best and a must have!

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100acrehuphalump said:
A huge helper as far as time goes...
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I still have that bag of dehydrated apples you gave me last year at Expo. I hope they are still good. I think I'll take them to DRV for a healthy snack.
 
Awesome! They should still be good, I dehydrate them until they're crispy and no water remains. If you ever need helpful tips on dehydrating, please ask. I've done most everything except dog and cat!:chef
 
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