Found this type of information interesting-

http://waltonfeed.com/self/deh-veg.html

How many besides Brian's chef dehydrate, and what do you dehydrate?  do you all use a machine, or trays, or what?  Is this a frugal investment worth making for the average family?

Tracy 

 Dehydrating is a simple, old fashioned way of keeping foods. I think Brianschef will have a tutorial on it ready for the forum soon... keep watching for it.

I've dehydrated a lot, both with an electric dehydrator and with racks in the sun. I used the car a few times and the oven when I had a wood stove (It's not very cost effective to use a gas or electric oven). If you're looking for the most frugal way to do it, look into dehydrating with the sun. An electric dehydrator is easier to use and fairly efficient, since they take a small amount of electricity.

I dehydrate all the time.  At the moment I am dehydrating tomatoes from our garden.  They are meaty tomatoes called "Health Kick" very similar to Roma but much nicer - well we think so.  We cannot eat them fast enough.  I also dehydrate bananas, apples, etc for the kids lunches for school. 

 I use an electric dehydrator that has setting & a fan, a friend gave it to me as her kids do not like anything dried!!  I love it.

"How many besides Brian's chef dehydrate, and what do you dehydrate?"

Well down here, we usually insist on doing yard work in August and don't get enough to drink...ohhh you meant food, didn't you?

Hehe.  

 Seriously, dehydrating is something I'd like to do if I could get a hold of enough food stuff to work with. Mom has an electric dehydrator that she has offered use of.

Hoo-boy. Get in out of the sun, Brandy, lol!

I don't dehydrate as much as I used to when the kids were small.

The kids' favorite was homeade fruit roll-ups.  Dried peaches and apples were popular, too.  Nowadays, I mostly do vegetable soup ingredients and beef jerky.  LOTS of beef jerky as dh and dd's (not me) are big meat-eaters...Liz

When I was a kid, my mom made dehydrated fruit leather using cookie sheets, screen ( to keep the bugs out) and the sun to dehydrate. She did this summer after summer. She  had a couple of sawhorses with black painted plywood on it that held the cookie sheets while they were drying. We lived where it got very hot and the product dried quickly. She made leather from cherries, plums, strawberries, raspberries or most anything she could get her hands on. Years later she got an electric dehydrator to use.

For the first time, ever, I used my dehydrator. I dehydrated white button mushrooms and it worked out fine. Only problem. They smelled so good being dehydrated that I had to stop myself from sampling. I would like to try tomatoes next.

 Okay, I've been busy dehydrating with great success. I've dehydrated bread crumbs, pineapple, carrots, celery, garlic, onions, etc so far, all with fine results. However, today I experienced my first dud. I went to the effort of slicing, blanching, and then rinsing under cold water like 15 Yukon Gold Potatoes. One of my favorite types of potatoes. I went to check on the trays after a little while and noticed that the potatoes were slolwy turning blackish in color! Has anyone dehydrated potatoes with success and if so, what do you think I did wrong?

friend of mine does apple chips with it and bannanna I know that it is a good buy but there is one thing I like doing is beef jerkey out of it I will get one of those good ones but don't have the money for it yet sooo I am doing fine smoking fish and sauges for now from the smioker may do the drying of fish again when fishing seasson comes around.

Zeus:

Has anyone dehydrated potatoes with success and if so, what do you think I did wrong?