questions? (about dehydrated foods...)

[LadyAngora]

so,

1.) how long does dehydration take, on average?

2.) how long does the dehydrated food keep?

3.) how do you store it?

i'm looking into getting a dehydrator, but am still on the fence. if someone can help me with these questions, i'll have a better idea... i love the idea of being raw, but i'm just not sure i can swing it. TALK ME INTO IT, PLEASE! :)

[Veganforlife]

so,

1.) how long does dehydration take, on average? Well, it depends on what you are dehydrating. Some foods will take a few hours, others overnight.

2.) how long does the dehydrated food keep? That too depends on the food. Technically it SHOULD keep a good while (few weeks).

3.) how do you store it? I store mine in ziplock baggies, which I'd like to get away from - the plastic and all, so I'm hoping someone will pop in with more on this.

i'm looking into getting a dehydrator, but am still on the fence. if someone can help me with these questions, i'll have a better idea... i love the idea of being raw, but i'm just not sure i can swing it. TALK ME INTO IT, PLEASE! :)

You can't go wrong w/a dehydrator. I LOVE MINE! I got a 9 tray - so glad, and it's only me in my household. I'd be lost without it.

[Rawkinlocs]

Veganforlife gave you some wonderful answers!

I would also like to say that what I like to do and what many of us do is to take one or two days to go into the kitchen and make up a bunch of stuff to have on hand for the rest of the week!

You don't have to be in the kitchen dehydrating and blending daily - make up a nice batch of grawnola, a pizza crust, some crackers, maybe even some soaked/seasoned/dehydrated nuts to snack on over the course of a day or two and then you have stuff to eat when you need it or get the urge to munch on something other than fruit and veggies! I have bags of stuff on top of my fridge in a basket for just such emergencies - about 2 or 3 bags of different varieties of crackers, Alissa's nacho cheese dehydrated to eat with the crackers, cookies, and IN the fridge I have bags of that eggplant bacon and some eggplant teriyaki "jerky", dried tomatoes I dried myself and a few other things. In my cabinet, I have some of my own dried parsley, sage, cilantro and dill and when I make an abundance of smoothie that doesn't get drank up, it turns into fruit leather overnight! :)

So, IMO, a dehydrator is very handy for a lot of things. I know people can and do succeed with being raw without one...but I think it's a nifty thing to have and don't mind using it!