Food dehydrator, is it worth it?

Question

I get an over abundance of apples in the fall and was thinking about perhaps using a food dehydrator for the excess to dole out to the wildlife in the winter....has anyone done this? Do you think the wildlife would eat dehydrated apples? BTW: I've never dehydrated food before, but am willing to invest in one if this idea seems feasible.

Answer 1

If that's the only reason then it's not worth it. You can accomplish the same thing with your oven.

Answer 2

I think everyone I know went into at least one dehydrating phase.
It is fine phase. Your house smells wonderful and there will be lots of food and work in progress and plenty of mess in the kitchen and you will keep on eating, mailing and giving things away.
After a while, your friends will put on this "oh no, not another batch of dried spices, jerky, apples, pears, etc" pained look when you hand them this years "harvest" so you would cut back a little and then some.in the next year....
Come to think of it, I do miss the dried nectarines. Those are really good. Apples and pears get brown and apricots take too long to dry.

Answer 3

My boss makes the best apple fruit roll-up kinda things from her food dehydrator. I love it because it has no artificially ingredients like the roll-ups you find in the grocery store, and you can make so many different types of hydrated items with it. She mentioned that there are some apples that always have those dents in them so they make it unappetizing to eat, but when you mush it together to make apple sauce then hydrate it for roll-ups you don't waste any apple.

She brings in her own trail mix also that she has made with hydrated fruit (Cheap from farmers market, fruit that has been damaged and marked down...see mushy apple comment above) and nuts that she buys at a health food store. She makes it in bulk and saves half the money because she doesn't' have to buy it.

All in all, its healthy, cheap, and worth buying one if you like to cook. They sell dehydrator books now, and I've seen really cool gift ideas using your dehydrator.

So, go to a bookstore and check out one of these books. If you see items in the book you really like then it might be worth it to you!

Answer 4

I think it's a really good idea, when growing up my mom used to dehydrate alot of fruits and the smell was DIVINE!!!!

Especially after a long day of school......and the dried fruits were quite delicious without all the preservatives & etc. you would find in dried fruits from the stores!

Answer 5

You have to ask yourself how much are you really going to use it and are you only going to use it for one thing. Yes wildlife will eat them. But if your wanting a healthy snack you could just about anything. My kids and I like to make banana chips. And beef jerky is even better. You can get a dehydrator at wal-mart for like 20-30 bucks and they even sell beef jerkey kits. hope i helped

Answer 6

You might even like the dried apples yourself. They are pretty good. Yes I think they are worth the price.

Answer 7

food dehydraters work for many foods.
beef jerky is my favorite to make in the dehydrater...
apples are good too! They have many many uses.

Answer 8

If you can smell it, the wild animals will eat it.