And so it begins...

[churro]

I use my dehydrator a lot in the summer and fall. Where I live, there's lots of good produce cheap that time of year. Some of my favorite things to dehydrate are squash, zucchini, fairy ring mushrooms that grow in abundance in my hay meadows, bags of coleslaw mix, tomatoes, canned or home-cooked beans, chicken, ham, turkey breast, jalepenos, peaches, applesauce, fruit leather, salsa, green chile, strawberries, more. Dried watermelon is like candy! Cooked ground beef or turkey, drained and rinsed to remove fat works well, too. When I am canning, I usually just take whatever is unused after a batch and dry it.

Then I like to experiment with various ingredients at home, like ramen (throw out the flavor packet) with dried zucchini, cabbage (the cole slaw mix), jalepenos, beans, salsa and mushrooms, maybe a little salt. Good stuff. Once a recipe has proven acceptable at the table, I'll make up a few freezer bags for the trail.

You can even dehydrate whole meals, like spaghetti with sauce or chili, just leave out the oil or fat as much as you can, then store them in the freezer or refrigerator until you need them.

Yeah, old thread, but it needed a bump, if only to get somebody started.

[zelph]

I gave up trying to find the time to use my nice thrift store dehydrator Lots of folks really use theirs a lot and get to be really good at using what they dehydrate.

Have you ever dehydrated shoestring potatoes? (hash browns)

Dried watermelon is like candy!

Never would have thought it to be hydratable due to so much water content. Seems like it would float away in a breeze once dry

[churro]

Never would have thought it to be hydratable due to so much water content. Seems like it would float away in a breeze once dry

It comes out looking like jerky, about the same density, too. Extremely sweet.

[zelph]

Just like jerky means watermelon can be addictive if dehydrated

[realityguy]

I picked up a nice Magic Mill solid state one saturday for $12 at my favorite thrift store around the corner,about 12x18x12" high square/rectangular(someone in BC has the same one in worse looking condition on craigslist for $175 )...10 trays..some with fine mesh..We do mostly fruit with them.I'll probably take this to the other house so I have one there...I hope to do more than the wife does on her own...

[zelph]

Ya know, I would probably be interested in doing fruit leather rather than veggies.

[realityguy]

Since we get lots of asian pears..we've done those..did our peaches in strips when we had those..green beans for camping,etc..We are thinking blueberries since we go to farms and pick 15-20 lbs a year..plus ones on the trails..banana chips,mangoes,dried pineapple(want to try that sometime).
I've expanded my yellow egg plum tree into about 4..might get some additional plums this year...planted a Hollywood one(big purple plums)..
We do plant a lot of vegetables..might try drying some zucchini,Chinese peas,potatoes?,and things like that this year...more green beans.
We have a local fruit stand that sells a lot of $2-3 "bulk boxes..say 8-10lbs to a box..of vegetables or fruit that are 2nd grade...It's hard to eat those before they go bad..unless you can(which we don't)..or dehydrate.We do freeze things..have several foodsavers...
Hope to do more hiking this year than last..I've been off the cane for a while now...hopefully getting better(cross fingers here).