Gripe and grumble....

[applestar]

Arrgh! My cheap dehydrator went kaput before I could use it for drying peppers. I was really looking forward to making some paprika this year. And a better quality unit is not in my budget.

Do I buy another cheap-o dehydrator knowing it will croak after using a couple of times?

For that matter, WHY is it that every cooking and gardening appliance I want to get cost around $300 Good dehydrator with stainless still racks... Good pressure canner... Heavy enameled cast iron stew pot.... High powered electric chipper/shredder.... Charcoal Smoker... Small wine refrigerator that I'm hoping to use as small volume root cellar... Heavy duty wire shelving metal storage to increase growing capacity in the garage V8 nursery... Small pond kit with all the bells and whistles.... A stack of wall blocks...

Each time I think about buying one of these, I also need a bunch of essential gardening supplies and I end up getting MORE rather than just the one. Ha!

[BU54]

No gripe here but I never noticed this part of the forum before.
I guess I never scrolled down far enough.
Pretty cool!!

[gumbo2176]

I can't complain about my relatively cheap Mr. Coffee Food Dehydrator my wife got for me abut 7-8 years ago as it is still working great. I bet I've done a couple hundred pounds of beef jerky in it and countless dried peppers, fruit and other vegetables over the years. It is about 18 inches round, has 5 plastic grates that fit nicely together, and a clear plastic top to keep the heat in. It doesn't develop but one temperature, but it is sufficient enough to slowly dry out whatever I've put in it.

As for my wish list of kitchen gadgets: I'd love a good meat slicer since the one I got one year for a gift is a bit on the weak side with only a 6 inch blade and low HP motor that tends to heat up far too soon. I'd also love to get a good meat grinder that I could use for making my own sausages. I have a decent smoker that makes great smoked meats and making my own sausages is on my list of things I'd like to try.

[imafan26]

The older ones do seem to last longer. Can you use the oven to dehydrate or roast the peppers. Actually if you smoked them it would be better. Smoked paprika tastes much better with a deeper flavor. I remember on the Food Network Alton Brown made a smoker out of terra cotta bowls and an electric hotplate. How about that for junkyard treasure.

https://www.creatingnirvana.net/2013/10/ ... prika.html

[digitS']

We have had a small flock of backyard laying hens, several times. Right now, the chicken house stands empty.

DW and I were watching a show about sausage. I have tried it before and my smoked sausage was less than nuthin' special. DW was caught up in the show. I'm willing to try smoking again! "We could change the chicken house into a smoker!"

She says, "I'm not eating anything that comes outta that chicken house." Ummm, and about all those eggs ...

I may have to haul off the chicken house. Anyway, I'd like to make some things that use smoked peppers. The other day, I saw a wok used for an indoor smoker. I don't think it's right for long hours (or, days) of smoking but peppers shouldn't take long ... I've got lots of peppers drying right now, in the greenhouse. That works here !

Steve
An internet search with terms "homemade smoker wok" turns up quite a lot! Here's one: PBS, smoked fish indoors

[applestar]

All these ideas are very interesting. I'm reminded that I've been wondering if the copper patio fire pit could be made to function as a smoker. It looks like a large wok, doesn't it? And it's big enough that the embers/smoke source could be piled on one side and food placed on the other side......

...what it doesn't have is an air intake/damper on the bottom and vent in the lid. Hmm....

Also, now that it FINALLY rained, I don't have to worry about accidentally starting a prairie/brushfire on the lawn and shrubbery.

[rainbowgardener]

have you tried looking on craigslist? I'm a big fan of craigslist these days. We sold a number of things that way before we came down that we didn't want to move with us or didn't have room for and then since we've been here we've bought a number of things that way.

Just now got back from the latest craigslist trip. Our old carpet (large area rug) that had been in our basement family room, just wasn't making it as area rug in our new living room on our new hardwood floors -- too old and dingy and all the wrong colors. So I found a large area rug (10 x 8 ) plus two small matching ones, in immaculate condition for $100 total on craigslist. Unfortunately this time, it involved a three hour round trip drive to get them, but the Prius gets good gas mileage and we were able to meet a friend for lunch near where the rugs were. They were so perfect it was worth it.

We got a nearly new riding mower (Toro) for $300 off craigslist and a washer and dryer for $300 for the set, also very clean and new. (The couple that had them was moving and didn't want to move them.) Over the years I have bought two chipper/shredders off craigslist.

Quick check for pressure canner on chattanooga craigslist shows five of them for sale, prices from $50 to $175 for a brand new, still-in-the-box one. One for $65 says "I am selling my pressure canner. It has the canning rack and a good gasket, and has the weight. American made before Mirro sold out to China. made of cast aluminum and is clean."

I like the whole principle of craigslist - person to person dealings, based a lot on trust (we did that whole drive trusting that the rugs would be in the condition described and so they were), helps keeps things being used vs. sitting on shelves somewhere, or being thrown out. Reduce, reuse, recycle!

And it is all free! No charge to post an ad or to buy off an ad AND NO ADS (other than CL's own classifieds) on the page. CL makes its money charging employers to list jobs, charging landlords to list apts for rent. This just covers some operating expenses, it is not really a profit making business, more a community service (why it is CL.org).

[Allyn]

I also endorse Craigslist. Whenever I need something, I look there first. You do have to be careful dealing with folks you don't know; but so far, all my dealings as seller and buyer through Craigslist have been positive. (Just be careful of the swindlers.) There was also a recycle site just like Craigslist, but you couldn't give or get things for money. It was strictly a free site, but I don't remember the name of it. "One man's trash is another man's treasure."

[applestar]

That's true @rainbowgardener and @allyn!

I managed to make quite a few lucky craigslist finds in spring... I used to check regularly then, but I guess I got discouraged when worthwhile items became few and far in between or always located just a bit ol far away... And then that time when I wanted to get some bricks and wall blocks but they were only willing to part with the entire lot all at once and I couldn't manage to do that with just my SUV.

I will start keeping an eye out again -- maybe some of my wish items will turn up! Thanks!

[Allyn]

Freecycle! I remember now. https://www.freecycle.org
I used to use it a lot when I was in Boston. The site was quite active. I checked the site after I moved and the site for my current location is pretty dead. I guess it depends on the area population whether it's worth a look.

[Susan W]

Shelving? Not free, but in budget. I use the plastic shelving from Home Depot. This is open grate type, good for plants as it drains. Check the closet/storage aisle. The shelving is 36" wide, choices of 18 or 24" deep, 5 shelves plus uprights, runs $40-50. Get the heavier duty one, trust me! I have some that has been outside several years so that has sun, temp swings, water etc.

[tomf]

I find that when I buy any cheap tools they just do not do the job and do not last. The only cheap tools I buy are ones I plan to use very few times. I am a bit of a tool junky.

[rainbowgardener]

That's another reason for buying (for example) off craigslist. As in the pressure canner, you can get people's older stuff that was expensive in its day, better made, for not too much money. Riding mowers are better to buy used, unless you want to spend a real fortune; the current "moderate" priced ones are junk - I have been told this buy people that repair them. About the only way to buy solid wood furniture is used.

[rainbowgardener]

I have had nothing but good experiences having people come to my house to buy stuff, going to people's house to buy their stuff... You have several opportunities to evaluate the situation, by what is posted, by initial information exchange through email (why are they selling this item, etc), by at least one phone call of checking out the item/ person/ situation/ exchange details. If anywhere in that process something doesn't feel right, you can make more secure arrangements.

We are a mobile society. There are always people, like my partner and I, moving, needing to get rid of stuff at the old place and get a new place set up. I love all the people to people connections that are enabled by our digital society (I also am a big fan of MeetUp.com).

Here's two of the three rugs I got off craigslist for $100. This man's grandmother just went into a nursing home and didn't have room for all the stuff from her three bedroom house. She had kept everything immaculate!

living room rugs.jpg (28.91 KiB) Viewed 8278 times

[sweetiepie]

I am not sure what you call cheap or expensive but I bought this https://www.amazon.com/Nesco-FD-1018A-Ga ... ehydrators. The first time was 3 years ago and used it all day everyday for 6 months and the fan went out in it. It still was what I wanted and husband thought he could fix it since it was just the fan that went out. But I couldn't wait for him because it was in the middle of canning. I bought another one just like it so I could continue to exchange parts back and forth. Husband fixed the other one but this one has worked great and I use all the trays on the one and I now have a back up. I still use it on an average 3 to 4 times a week and it runs all day when I use it. I love it. I use it for so much, all my herbs, getting ready to make minced onion, powder. I dehydrate sliced potatoes later in this season. Right now I am dehydrating peppers too, habaneros make some really hot red pepper powder. I don't know how I lived with out it before. I also use it to make my own bread crumbs, jerky, instant potatoes, etc.

[applestar]

OK found a good deal on Amazon for Presto Dehydro. It arrived, got it set up yesterday, and dehydrated can't-get-any-redder mostly sweet peppers (with thick skin unsuitable for eating fresh or cooked in recipes -- saved two (not quite) Chocolate Cake sweet peppers which I found are GREAT for roasting) as well as re-dehydrated to crisp last year's naturally-dried-in-front-of-a-fan hot peppers, then ground them up together in the spice mill.

I thought the sweet peppers would mellow the heat, but this is still a bit spicy. -- I KNOW because I made the mistake of opening the spice mill immediately after grinding one time. (if you have tried this, you KNOW a fine cloud of hot pepper dust wafts up.

2nd spice jar is only half full so I think I'll add other spices to turn that one into chili powder.

("smoking" is a whole separate project, so I will hold off on that until I get a chance to explore the patio fire pit idea. I have plenty of applewood as well as oak and some plum. I could even put the ground up spice in there for a few minutes in an open bowl or something to inpart the smoky flavor later, I think?)



The new dehydrator has been in mostly continual use since yesterday, and I made some trial dehydrated tomatoes -- definitely making more later. Seeing the tomato slices, DD complained that she was hoping for dehydrated apple chips, so, now, all four trays are in use to make some yummy healthy snacks.

[sweetiepie]

My kids like banana chips too. I can't imagine going back to 4 trays. I have 16 and they are in use non-stop during harvest season. You will love it. So many options. I hope this one lasts for you.

By the way, I started with the apple chips, banana etc putting on the lemon juice but I ran out and just used nothing. The next time I used the lemon juice again and the kids said the no lemon juice was way better. So now I don't have to do that time consuming step. YaY!

[applestar]

My kids didn't like the lemon juice either. 16 trays, eh? Do you have that many of one produce to dehydrate at a time, or do you mix? If you do, is there a basic rule?

How do you store the dehydrated stuff? -- Ugh we should start a thread -- or maybe there is one already.

I can get add on trays for this one if the main mechanism will last -- of course the other ones won't fit. (I had to trim a mesh tray down by about 1/2 inch to fit this one so the actual surface area is smaller than the last one. Oh well.

[imafan26]

My vacuum cleaner is so old that I can only get bags from the vacuum cleaner shop. Its' a mighty mite and I don't think Eureka makes it anymore. It is light and has a hose long enough to reach the tops of the curtains and I don't want to carry a heavy vacuum up and down the stairs. It is not good for carpets, but it is better for floors and especially for picking up the kitty litter that the cats spill out when they do their business.

I have a hoover upright downstairs but on tile floors all it does is kick the smaller bits of debris out the back end of it. Even with the tools on board it can't reach high places and it is too heavy to lift.

I tried to buy a new vacuum cleaner, but the only small vacuum cleaners they had that were about the same size had a much shorter hose and short chord. I couldn't make it to the other side of the car without an extention chord and it didn't even make it past the first time I used it.

So, I go back to the vacuum shop and I have had upgrades put on my old mighty might. The motor is fine, but I keep getting things stuck in the hose, so the owner replaced the original hose with a longer flexible hose from a rainbow machine. The glue keeps coming off where it was attached to mighty mite connectors so there is a lot of duct tape on that and it still clogs up once in a while. Now, the part that fits into the front of the machine has a piece broken off, so more duck tape is used to keep the hose in. The only good thing about it is the vacuum shop owner throws nothing away so he told me to bring the machine in and he probably has a machine he can gets the parts from.

It just goes to show they don't make things like they used to.

Another gripe was that I cleaned out one of my pots. It is not my oldest pot, about 5-8 years old and the plastic is so brittle, I don't think I can use it again. A new pot is $16 and it is much thinner plastic than some of my older pots which are actually still functional. I don't think this new stuff is gonna last 10 years. And to top it all off, many of these pots seem to be designed to be made into water tubs or fountains because there is not even one drain hole in them.

[pepperhead212]

Applestar,

When I grind peppers, I always do it outside, and make note of the wind direction! LOL

Glad you got a dehydrator! I couldn't live without mine.

[applestar]

OUTSIDE -- right. Will remember for next time.

I can't believe I waited this long to replace the one that died!

...Needed to prune the coffee a bit so dehydrated the leaves for coffee leaf tea.

...Dehydrated two batches of dressed kale chips, natch. 1st one was VT maple syrup, softened cultured butter, Vietnamese cinnamon, pumpkin pie spices, and sea salt. 2nd batch was peanut butter, brown rice vinegar, plum wine, garlic, green onions, thyme, himalayan pink SeaSalt, turmeric, EVOO and roasted sesame oil.

I think I -and the dehydrator- Will take a break now.

[sweetiepie]

My kids didn't like the lemon juice either. 16 trays, eh? Do you have that many of one produce to dehydrate at a time, or do you mix? If you do, is there a basic rule?
Usually I have enough of different peppers or different herbs that all go together. I do fruit separate. But different peppers or herbs I do together. Right now I have too many peppers. If I happen to have an empty tray or two I always throw on the heels of the bread or bread slices so I can make bread crumbs. So it is always full. Jerky is also all the same batch. I have done tomato's too for powder but this year I won't have enough tomato's to worry. I just don't mix stuff I think might take on a smell that would be weird. After the peppers, I will have to start on mincing onions and then on to potato slices. I usually don't get done with the dehydrator with garden stuff until January and then I start making jerky, slim jims etc.

How do you store the dehydrated stuff? -- Ugh we should start a thread -- or maybe there is one already.
I store the herbs and peppers after I have ground them in a jelly jar. If I think I will be storing them longer than a year I do put in an oxygen absorb-er. I bought a bag of them for cheap and once you open them, I then throw them in a jar so they keep until I need them.

I bought a cheap blender just for herbs and peppers so encase there is oily residue that didn't get washed off the blades I don't get that in my cream when I make butter. I have to use a mask and gloves when I do peppers especially habaneros. There is a reason they use that stuff for tear gas. Awful.

[applestar]

Belated thank-you @sweetiepie

[applestar]

...well not really griping but -- I decided to dehydrate a tray of diced onions as an experiment...

Oh wow, the whole house smells like onions

...and here I am thinking might as well fill up the trays since they are drying up into tiny bits on the tray screen. Maybe I'll combine them with chunky SeaSalt in one of the salt grinders?

[rainbowgardener]

Do you really need dehydrators? I had one that I didn't use very much, so got rid of it in the move. My new stove oven (unlike the old one) has a warm setting that is 100 degrees F. Isn't that about the same as a dehydrator?

[!potatoes!]

the same as one possible temp setting on a dehydrator - does the oven also have a fan like a dehydrator? I'm guessing it can work fine for you but a dehydrator may work faster. my oven doesn't go below 150.

[rainbowgardener]

No, no fan. But being constantly warmed for a long period of time, the air gets pretty dry.

Using the oven is probably less energy efficient than using a dehydrator. A dehydrator seems like just one more thing to have to store and haul out though. Maybe someday if I get the garage and shed really organized and have plenty of storage space......

Especially if some day our apple trees and the planned peach trees are actually fruiting, I will have a stronger incentive.

[digitS']

...well not really griping but -- I decided to dehydrate a tray of diced onions as an experiment...

Oh wow, the whole house smells like onions

...and here I am thinking might as well fill up the trays since they are drying up into tiny bits on the tray screen. Maybe I'll combine them with chunky SeaSalt in one of the salt grinders?

This was exactly what I was thinking to do X years ago when I got DW a dehydrator!

I've already told her that it comes outta the box and upstairs after I've smoked some peppers on the stovetop smoker DS got me for Christmas. Until then, I have a jar of smoked paprika for my marinade .

My oven only goes to 200ºF and after that, "warm." I guess I could put a thermometer in there to see if it drops below 200º.

Steve