View Full Version : Dehydrator Alternative
srestrepo
12-07-2009, 03:03
Hello All,
My girlfriends parents just gave me this conventional oven, you know the small ones for making personal frozen pizzas and such...
anyway, this particular model, has a glas door in front, it has a fan on the left, it has two heating elements (one top and one bottom) and it has the ability to regulate temperature and also which heating element to turn on if not both and also you can also turn the fan on or off...
anyway i'm curious to get into this freezer bag cooking becuase it seems so simple and probably tastes better than typical ramen and chicken chunks. but, i'm hestitant because i'm not the best cook but i'm willing to give this a try and stop being a typical dude about it all. i just have a few questions
what bags are best for pouring boiling water into so that they dont melt?
also because of the size of this oven, will the interior size have any impact on how good or bad the food comes out??? or am i just better off trying to dehydrate food in my big oven or should i just spend the money and get a dehydrator??
thanks in advance for all the help!
brooklynkayak
12-07-2009, 06:43
what bags are best for pouring boiling water into so that they dont melt?
Plain old freezer bags, most any brand I would think.
also because of the size of this oven, will the interior size have any impact on how good or bad the food comes out??? or am i just better off trying to dehydrate food in my big oven or should i just spend the money and get a dehydrator??
I don't think it will work very well at all. Using a large oven is hard enough.
You could add some kind of attachment with a fan to provide air circulation, but dehydrators are inexpensive. You will get much better results with a dehydrator in most cases.
A cheap dehydrator will only cost you around $40 right now from Bass Pro Shop. {I can't find the ad right now, but I think it was $44}.
mister krabs
12-07-2009, 10:59
Hello All,
My girlfriends parents just gave me this conventional oven, you know the small ones for making personal frozen pizzas and such...
anyway, this particular model, has a glas door in front, it has a fan on the left, thanks in advance for all the help!
sounds like you have a convection oven rather than a conventional toaster oven. It will work fine for dehydrating, but you will be limited by size. I got my dehydrator from goodwill for 5$.
It's going to mean small batches but it should work.
Try something cheap to get some experience. (Like pasta??) Low temp setting and maybe something underneath to avoid scorching during heat cycle.
Ziplock brand are alleged to be superior. I use generic and have never had a blowout. I only use them once.
Screw Dehydrating. Just bring frozen foods.
http://photos-c.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc3/hs090.snc3/15731_1212847893157_1587570496_522002_4959980_n.jp g
I ate like a king saturday night in the snow.
srestrepo
12-07-2009, 15:55
toten i just spewed soda everywhere!! how the hell did you heat that up in the woods dude?
toten i just spewed soda everywhere!! how the hell did you heat that up in the woods dude?
brought my Toaster-Oven's pan and some aluminum foil. Flipped the Hungry-Man tray right over into the pan, put in maybe 1oz of water, covered with aluminum foil, and simmered it with a pocket rocket for maybe 8 minutes.
Fiddleback
12-08-2009, 10:07
...
what bags are best for pouring boiling water into so that they dont melt?
Many if not all of the typical store shelf freezer bags (and the lighter weight sandwich bags) will not stand up very long to 'boiling water.' ZipLoc, Glad, etc., will begin to 'melt' and spill out the contents. Indeed, some of those same brands have safety warnings about subjecting the bags to such high temps and the potential for burns.
But, in my and many others' experience, it's not a concern. Boiling water (212F) is not necessary to FBC'ing and bringing water to a boil for rehydrating food is an overuse/waste of fuel. In fact, in kitchen testing of my soda can alky stove the water temp rarely exceed 190F and I'm certain during on the trail food prep I rarely hit 185F at pour. Using a cozzie, the food reconstitues just fine at these temps and is still served pipeing hot.
Save yourself some burns and save some fuel...water at a pre-boil (tiny bubbles on the side/bottom of the pot/kettle) is plenty hot for FBC'ing.
In my experience.
FB
Fiddleback
12-08-2009, 10:12
brought my Toaster-Oven's pan and some aluminum foil. Flipped the Hungry-Man tray right over into the pan, put in maybe 1oz of water, covered with aluminum foil, and simmered it with a pocket rocket for maybe 8 minutes.
I did a three-week stretch heating MRE entrees in pretty much the same way (this was not backpacking...it was a base-camp/car camp type set up and I was using a Coleman camp stove). I heated a large pot of water and dropped the MRE packet in. Following dinner, the water was used for clean up/bathing before bed.
FB
Snowleopard
12-08-2009, 12:42
Right now Amazon has two good dehydrators for $49 with free shipping. NesscoFD75PR and FD80
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=dehydrator&x=0&y=0
They seem to change their prices up and down every few days, so check back if prices go up.
atraildreamer
12-08-2009, 16:02
A cheap dehydrator will only cost you around $40 right now from Bass Pro Shop. {I can't find the ad right now, but I think it was $44}.
Got 3 from yard sales...$8...$5...$2. :D
Glad Freezer bags at Family Dollar...26 for $2. :welcome
Farr Away
12-09-2009, 00:14
Right now Amazon has two good dehydrators for $49 with free shipping. NesscoFD75PR and FD80
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=dehydrator&x=0&y=0
They seem to change their prices up and down every few days, so check back if prices go up.
Aw, shoot. I've been wanting one of the square Nesco's, and now they're on sale. But I've still got Christmas shopping to do. Rats.
What is the benifit of the square shape?
Getting stuff out?
mweinstone
12-09-2009, 08:03
in the beginning, matthewski was a dehydrator.and he set the good fruits and vegetables and meats in an oven. but their was a wood spoon in the oven door to hold it ajar and let the evil steamy humidity out. now he set the oven at keep warm and he rested. and in the 7th hour he arose and seperated the jerky in the oven putting thicker peices in the rear where it was hotter. on the 16th hour, he released a single peice of jerky into his mouth and saw that it was good.
i can taste plastic in foods dehydrated with dehydraters and fans and electric elements. a well seasoned gas oven and a spoon searve my taste buds well. my oven is perfect for me. i have dehydrated so much crap,....yo...i could frikkin dehydrate bodys for the mafia in this baby. wait a minute,...i do need work...?
Farr Away
12-09-2009, 13:05
What is the benifit of the square shape?
Getting stuff out?
More dehydrator space in essentially the same amount of counter space. (compare area of 10 inch square to that of a 10 inch circle - 100 square inches vs ~78).
LaurieAnn
12-09-2009, 14:16
An inexpensive Nesco (get a 500 watt or higher wattage model) will serve you will and in the long run it will work out less expensive than using your oven as there is less energy waste.
More dehydrator space in essentially the same amount of counter space. (compare area of 10 inch square to that of a 10 inch circle - 100 square inches vs ~78).
Thanks. .
What is the benifit of the square shape?
Getting stuff out?
I use a LeQuip dehydrator which is rectangle shaped. Why? It fits on my counters better and takes less space up - no running into it!
LaurieAnn
12-11-2009, 10:42
and I find the opposite... I borrowed a friend's Le'Quip this fall because I needed to run two units to finish some recipe testing. I found that the round Nesco took up way less room and tucked nicely into the corner.