We Got a Dehydrator!!!!
The dehydrator, a tool every homestead NEEDS! Whether it’s a store bought, electric dehydrator or a homemade solar version a dehydrator is a must for any serious homesteader. Dehydrating is less work, takes up less space, conserves energy and because it dries at a cooler temperature more of the nutrients are preserved. What better way to preserve herbs and make your own spices than dehydrating?
(This is the model we picked out, the Presto 06301)
Since our garden did poorly this year we didn’t have much to put up for the ‘winter’. We did save catnip, coriander and cucumbers. The coriander dried on the plant, the cucumbers were made into refrigerator pickles and the catnip would have dried just fine hanging. The push for a dehydrator right now came down to our dogs. We are trying to train them and dehydrated chicken makes a perfect treat! Plus it’s cheaper than the store bought kind. I also prefer to make things myself, not just because that’s the homesteading way but because it’s safer. There was a horrible dog treat scare from 2007-2015 (you can find that article here) which killed over 1,000 dogs. Needless to say I feel better making my own from human grade chicken!
Of course we didn’t get a dehydrator just for the dogs. We will be using it in the future to dehydrate peppers to make spices such a crushed red pepper, cayenne pepper, a jalapeno powder, garlic powder, turmeric, you get the idea. My goal is to produce as many of our spices as I can and a dehydrator really helps with that. Not to mention all the fruits and veggies we can save!
(We store the final product in mason jars)
I decided to go with a Presto 06301 . I don’t love that it’s plastic but the manufacturer says is BPA free. In the future I would like to get an all stainless steel model. On the plus side it was only $60 and came with 2 fruit roll up inserts, 2 mesh inserts and has 6 stacking trays. I’ve used it a few times and it works great. Though I’m sure a model with a fan in the back vs on the bottom would work better overall I have absolutely no complaints with how this one functions. I never noticed a severe difference in drying time among the trays though I have only used 4 at a time so far. If you can’t afford a 100% stainless steel version this is a great compromise!!
We are chugging right along here on Mini Georgian Homestead! Stay tuned for (hopefully) a ton of winter projects!
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Dog treats is brilliant...jerky....I have used mine for so many things that my dogs like as treats..she loves dehy bananas....but never thought of this...I got it so long ago I forgot all of the great things you can do with it!
Thanks
Melis
CONGRATULATIONS!!! You are going to LOVE, LOVE, LOVE it!
I dehydrate so much. My first thing to make was teriyaki jerky! Still a household favorite!
I want to dehydrate ALL the things!!!!
Nice! Congrats on the next milestone! I love making jerky in mine, and we use it to dry herbs, too. I've always wanted to try fruit leather, but not done that yet.
I might fiddle with fruits this winter from store bought. I've never had dehydrated fruits before and I want to learn to like them since it's one of the best ways to get your fruit when it's out of season
Congrats! There is so much you can do with them. Have you tried making no bake dog biscuits? They help with cleaning your babies teeth and are easy to make.
I feed my dogs grain free so I've never done biscuits! We also give raw bones for cleaning their teeth and it works really well!
"biscuits" can also be made with seeds just like seed breads you can buy at the grocery. Just dehydrate them till crunchy.
We got a dehydrator this summer as well.
It is proving to be super-useful - particularly for herbs. Our climate is too damp to air dry much.
I thought ours would be too but the catnip did okay. I got impatient and finished it off in the dehydrator though! It's really nice to be able to set it up and walk away
That is awesome. This is something I don't have yet and I'm seeing SO many people having them and doing wonderful things with them. I hadn't even thought about it as a way to make dog treats - how perfect!
I love how much space people are saving! We don't have a pantry at all and our kitchen is smallish so having jars and jars of canned goods isn't going to work well. We will still can some things but dehydrating will save us sooooo much space! And it was relatively cheap!
Space saving AND cheap. Win!
Sometimes you have to compromise! A dehydrator is big on my wishlist too once we get a garden. I share your dream of growing and preserving most of our herbs. They are very expensive to buy, at least if you buy good quality and the cheap ones have a lot of residue on them that I don't like consuming. How much do you reckon it saves you to do the dog treats yourself?
This is just a guess but the cheapest store bought chicken treats (milos kitchen at petco) are $0.94 an ounce. Mine were about $0.64 an ounce. I'm not including the cost of electricity or the dehydrator in that estimate. And I'm sure I could find cheaper chicken treats if I looked a bit harder. Still not as cheap as homemade. And nothing beats knowing they weren't contaminated in china!
I'm not sure how the quality of my chicken (regular tyson chicken) compares to a brand like blue buffalo so that would be something to look into if you're buying a higher quality treat. I also get my chicken tax free so that's a small factor .