No dehydrator?

[girlnamedjane]

Hi all,

Well since I'm new to the raw food diet I'm still in the process of getting my kitchen organized and ready for my lifestyle change. I haven't bought a dehydrator yet, still shopping around, so in the meanwhile, does anyone have any advice on how to dehydrate without it? Any advice on using the oven?

[jenimac]

Someone told me you can use the oven by putting it at a low setting and leave the door open. Not sure if that's correct or not.

[Morn]

Check to see how low your oven goes down to. A lot of ovens will go as low as 100 degrees. I have a jenn-aire and my goes down that low. I have a drying feature on mine as well as convection bake (which uses a fan to circulate the air like a dehydrator). Hope this helps.

[Revvell]

http://www.rawfoodtalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=17996&highlight=oven+dehydrator

[sptygl]

i use my oven for everything, and just adjust the temp accordingly!!
seriously, don't worry about getting a dehydrator............

general rule, i suppose in keeping with the raw philosophy, is about 100- 125 degrees, although i tend to adjust the temp a bit more...........

but you should know, i have made most of these recipes, and have had no issues using an oven.......
all come out very good!!
i love it............ :0
__________________

[lily]

I completely endorse what sptygl says. I've been raw now for a year (on and off at times, but mostly on) and I've now used two different ovens as dehydrators with perfect results. I have an oven thermometer that you can buy (in the UK, anyway) cheaply from any place that sells kitchen bits and pieces. Set your oven to 100F and keep the thermometer in there too so you can keep an eye on it.

The only reason I'd buy a dehydrator now would be that you can get more shelves into it than into an oven.

Good luck!

lily

[girlnamedjane]

i use my oven for everything, and just adjust the temp accordingly!!
seriously, don't worry about getting a dehydrator............

general rule, i suppose in keeping with the raw philosophy, is about 100- 125 degrees, although i tend to adjust the temp a bit more...........

but you should know, i have made most of these recipes, and have had no issues using an oven.......
all come out very good!!
i love it............ :0
__________________

sptygl,

that's great news for me! how do you go about dehydrating? somewhere i read that you need to leave the oven door open slightly, to circulate air. is this what you do?

[lily]

My oven is a fan one, so the air circulates anyway. I keep the door closed but I keep an oven thermometer in the oven all the time and check it from time to time.

I've done this now with two different ovens, and both times it has worked perfectly.

lily