Food dehydrator

Just saw a trailer for a cooks essentials food dehydrator but on the website( I had to go and have a look!) your getting the customer services message. Has anyone ever used a dehydrator and what do you use it for? I know you could dry put fruit slices but it seems a lot of fuss and bother for a few dried fruit slices.

This was my first experience of shopping TV, a food hydrator infomercial. I was jet-lagged staying with my sis in Canada in about 1990 and watched an infomercial in a loop in the early hours of the morning. I was hooked from that very moment on shopping telly and couldn't wait for it to come to the UK. I can't imagine any reason to dessicate fruit, veg and even meat unless you have a huge glut of fruit you can't freeze. Or if you're a survivalist who believes the world will end this year with a solar mass ejection because the Mayan calendar doesn't go beyond 2012.

If you are none of the above, save your money!

Jude xx

I have no intention of getti yet another " cupboard clutterer" :grin: I just thought it was a very obscure and odd thing to sell and wondered what the heck you did with it. I am with you on not understanding why anyone would want to dehydrate food can't see the point of it at all surely a lot of the vitamins which are water soluble will disappear as well- don't know if that is the case but give me a nice juicy fresh apple over a dried up slice any day

It has just been on and it's a big clumpy looking thing for sure.

http://www.lakeland.co.uk/14210/My-Kitchen-Food-Dehydrator

Better than average reviews - has any Forumite used/owned one?

Sent from my iPad

It all just reminds me of that weird bloke on friends that Chandler had as a housemate when Joey moved out - and he dehydrated everything.

Make your own pot pourrie?

Shrunken heads anyone?

Jude xx

Anyone tempted? Anyone currently buying much in the way of dried foodstuffs regularly? My money's safe because it's not big enough for drying my son's footy boots!

Jude xx

Talking about cluttering up the kitchen:

http://www.lakeland.co.uk/22932/Dry-Soon-Drying-Pod;jsessionid=2F5AD629DDB3B8F3265BF9D968B7241F.app1

I have one that I bought very cheaply at a boot sale. The sellers didn't even know what itvwas. I keep meaning to put it on eBay. I think really it would only be of use if you grow fruit and veg. You fill it up and once it is dried you don't really end up with much. If you were buying things to dehydrate you would be spending a fortune.

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I would buy one if it was cheaper. We buy loads of really cheap fruit in Tesco from time to time and freeze what we can but, having just been diagnosed as gluten intolerant, having masses of dried fruit to nibble on when I can't eat most other snacks would be very, very handy!!



Ok, Q's price is much less than Lakeland but it's still the best part of £30 with postage so still too much for me!

Dried fruit, even when bought from health food shops, is not quite so healthy as it is coated in sugar and is not something, consequently, which I eat. I would like to be able to buy dried raspberry, but have not been able to find any. With this 'gadget' - that is what it is - I could make my own and also omit the sugar from anything I did make. But I don't think I would consume enough to warrant paying almost £30.00 for what would end up sitting on the kitchen worktop. I think it's a machine in the same vein as the breadmaker, how many of these never see the light of day?

I wonder if it's possible to dry out fruit such as raspberries in a very low oven? It might be worth searching online Louise because there must have been ways of drying foods before the gadget was invented. Maybe a very low oven with the door ajar to let the moisture out?

Jude xx

louise66 said:

Dried fruit, even when bought from health food shops, is not quite so healthy as it is coated in sugar and is not something, consequently, which I eat. I would like to be able to buy dried raspberry, but have not been able to find any. With this 'gadget' - that is what it is - I could make my own and also omit the sugar from anything I did make. But I don't think I would consume enough to warrant paying almost £30.00 for what would end up sitting on the kitchen worktop. I think it's a machine in the same vein as the breadmaker, how many of these never see the light of day?

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I use my breadmaker every single day - have done for a good couple of years. I don't buy shop bought bread at all. :sun:

Having just had a quick look on Amazon this is much cheaper than most of the dehydrators on there .
They can cost over £300 so maybe if you want to give dehydrating a try a this is a good investment before you spend that amount of money.
And if it is not for you you can always send it back under the 30DMG