Jennifer132 Posted October 23, 2014 Share Posted October 23, 2014 Ignoring the start up cost of getting a dehydrator, can anyone speak to whether it is actually cheaper to dehydrate fruits and make jerky at home? We buy at least 1-2 bags of craisins or raisins at Sams every two weeks. With a dehydrator, I'm hoping to make my own dried fruit, with more variety and hopefully save money. So, does anyone know? Is it actually cheaper to dry fruits (any kind) at home? My dd also uses jerky in her oral motor/speech therapy. And I heard that in some models you can make yogurt, which I am already doing using the crockpot and oven with the light on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zoobie Posted October 23, 2014 Share Posted October 23, 2014 Raisins, no way unless you have a prolific grape vine! I did a bag of grapes that were past eating prime and came up with a sad handful of raisins. Craisins are sweetened, and I'd guess they're similar to raisins in cost effectiveness. A bag of cranberries is $2? That wouldn't make $2 worth of Craisins. Jerky is cost effective plus it tastes so much better! Your house will smell like a giant piece of jerky and your dogs will be out of their minds. ;) I have used flank steak from Costco to make great jerky. Freeze it for 20-30 mins and it slices much more easily. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shelly in IL Posted October 23, 2014 Share Posted October 23, 2014 Dried apple slices with just the slightest sprinkle of cinnamon sugar are to die for! Dried peaches- delish! Banana chips are good too. Dried mushrooms, dried peppers, carrots, onions for soups. I love my dehydrator! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melissa in Australia Posted October 23, 2014 Share Posted October 23, 2014 cost effective for me because I have drying racks that hang from the ceiling above the wood combustion stove, so no energy cost. Plus we only dry our own fruit from our orchard so no cost of buying the fruit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ausmumof3 Posted October 23, 2014 Share Posted October 23, 2014 Only cheaper if you have your own fruit or can buy in bulk. It is better in terms of getting away from the sulfur etc and the taste is amazing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prairie~Phlox Posted October 23, 2014 Share Posted October 23, 2014 Some things are awesome, like apples. I love my Excalibur. Oh and fruit leather is SO woth it. Bananas are soft & chewy, not hard, because they are fried in the store. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gaillardia Posted October 23, 2014 Share Posted October 23, 2014 Raisins, no way unless you have a prolific grape vine! I did a bag of grapes that were past eating prime and came up with a sad handful of raisins. Craisins are sweetened, and I'd guess they're similar to raisins in cost effectiveness. A bag of cranberries is $2? That wouldn't make $2 worth of Craisins. Jerky is cost effective plus it tastes so much better! Your house will smell like a giant piece of jerky and your dogs will be out of their minds. ;) I have used flank steak from Costco to make great jerky. Freeze it for 20-30 mins and it slices much more easily. We don't care for deer meat so much and a friend where we used to live would always give us some frozen deer meat at the start of the next season (to clean out his freezer). My dh learned how to make jerky with it using our food dehydrator. It was so good! Sorry, I don't think we ever used it for fruit. Mushrooms a couple of times and other vegetables, I can't remember what though. We usually freeze our fruit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joules Posted October 23, 2014 Share Posted October 23, 2014 It's cheaper for grocers and markets to ship and store dried fruit than fresh...raisins and dried apples don't usually bruise or rot. So that higher expense of moving the fresh fruit is usually passed on to you, unless it is abundant in season or local. So most of the time it is cheaper to buy dried (per piece of fruit not per pound!). Growing your own, buying in bulk, or picking at farms would likely make it cheaper. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
milovany Posted October 23, 2014 Share Posted October 23, 2014 We only dry fruits that we get free and our Xcalibur was given to us, too. If you factor in cost (when having to purchase fruit) and time/effort (it's something of an effort to make dried fruit, it's not just plug in and go), then you might not find it worth it. Yes, we love our dried apples and plums, but it takes a bit of time to prep them and then you have to monitor them for the couple of days it takes to dry them, pulling out ones that are done before others, turning them, etc. We have six kids at home so we have to dry a lot to have for snacking. I personally probably wouldn't do it if it were up to just me. Thankfully, this summer, my kids got the dried fruit and fruit leather going. Some people don't mind the effort and that's great. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G5052 Posted October 23, 2014 Share Posted October 23, 2014 We did it for awhile with our own fruit, but it is a lot of work and you have to keep on it. I only did apples though and our trees are gone now. Considering the time involved and that I would have to buy fruit, I now buy dried fruit in bulk through my co-op. It is unsulfured, and it's worth it to me. Different direction, but drying herbs is something that we still do. There really is a difference in taste. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3 Only Children Posted October 23, 2014 Share Posted October 23, 2014 Thanks for the idea of making jerky from flank steak from Costco! My guys would love that I like drying herbs from the garden in mine. I was given an apple peeler/corer that automatically cuts it into spirals so that is great for the dehydrator . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
milovany Posted October 23, 2014 Share Posted October 23, 2014 I was given an apple peeler/corer that automatically cuts it into spirals so that is great for the dehydrator . Yes, these are great for the dehydrator. I agree. There's still having to watch over the process for a couple of days, but nicely uniform slices helps with apples. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plink Posted October 23, 2014 Share Posted October 23, 2014 It is much cheaper for us, but we have far more fruit growing in our backyard than we could possibly eat in season. I can't imagine purchasing fruit for the dehydrator. As others have said, Crasins aren't just dried cranberries but contain soluble corn fiber, sugar, glycerin, and Sucralose. You won't be able to make them in a healthy way at home. There are 29 grams of sugar in a 1/4 cup serving of Crasins. In comparison, a Snickers bar contains only 27. Do you have local orchards or farms? If you pick your own produce, it might be inexpensive enough to dehydrate. I love my dehydrator. We use it for mushrooms, fruit, dog treats, and more. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rosie_0801 Posted October 23, 2014 Share Posted October 23, 2014 We haven't had enough fruit to be worth drying, but my dehydrator lives at my aunt's house so it can be used for free during the summer (solar power.) She dries odds and ends from the garden for stock powder. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tsuga Posted October 24, 2014 Share Posted October 24, 2014 Depends on how much you pay yourself. ;~) I think it's worth making jam and drying etc. as a hobby but in terms of replacing prepared foods, I've realized that I would have to be basically making the wages of someone who didn't graduate from high school to say that I was making that money back. Of course if you use it as an educational project that's different. But just the labor itself is ridiculously expensive on such a small scale. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.