A few years ago, I bought an Exclaiber Dehydrator. I only used it 2 years and then we moved and it sat in my basement for about 5 years. I got it out a several weeks ago and it didn’t work. The fan would run, but it wouldn’t heat up. I was so disappointed because I paid a lot of money for it. The other day while at Goodwill, I saw a Magic Chef Dehydrator, in the box, for only $6.99 so it came home with me. I also bought some Silicone Mats from Amazon, so I could dehydrate smaller food items.
I bought some frozen mixed vegetables at the grocery store! You can often find off brands for $1 a bag, so I wasn’t going to be out much if this experiment didn’t work!
The process I used, I put the silicone mat on my dehydrator tray. I spread out the vegetables and filled all the trays.
Unfortunately, this dehydrator doesn’t have a heat control, so I did rotate the trays every few hours.
I let my dehydrator run for about 12 hrs or until vegetables were fully dried.
After I put the vegetables into a clean mason jar, I added a metal canning lid, (if you have good used lids you can use those and save the “new” ones for canning) and using my vacuum sealer with Universal Jar attachment, removed all the air out of the jar.
After the jar is sealed, remove the hose and jar sealer, and place the metal ring/band on to the jar.
These dried vegetables can be used in soups, stews, or even chicken or beef pot pies!
Maybe dehydrating food isn’t your cup of tea, but it’s really an easy process for those who are interested.
I know I will be doing a lot more of this in the future.
Thanks for stopping in today!
