chips in the oven

[expopo538]

I would love to make any of the chips but have yet to buy a dehydrator. Can someone tell me how to make them in the oven????

[ren]

My big kitchen stove starts at 170 too high for dehydration. If you have a little toaster over, I suppose you can use that. I bought my dehydrator off the internet for 100 dollars. If you really like dehydrated snacks, etc. get one but you don't have to go crazy about it. I got a Le Quip five shelf thingy. There's a Ron Popeil one but I hear the plastic wraps after a few years.

[DotfromOz]

If you prefer to be careful about how hot a dehydrator can get, don't buy one of the inexpensive ones as they usually have no temperature regulator whatsoever and oftentimes go above 115 degrees. That's a caution in a couple of the raw eating books I have. Since spring and summer are coming, why not use the "original dehydrator", the sun? I've known people who used old or cheapo window screens set on cement blocks or something else to keep them off the ground. A co-worker even dries herbs from her garden in the closets enclosing her furnace and water heater. She says even in spring there's enough heat in there to dry herbs well. The point is to look around your home for creative possibilities.

[Rawkinlocs]

If interested, you can get the model that many of us here have, the Nesco American Harvest Snack Master from Walmart or Walmart.com for $40. It has temp. control ranging from 95-155 degrees and works like a charm! :)

I've also heard you can get a 100 watt lightbulb for the oven and use ONLY that without turning the oven on (I "think" you're supposed to leave the door cracked too, but not sure) and it kinda works like an Easy Bake Oven would work, using the lightbulb as the source of heat.

[DotfromOz]

Ooooo...thanks for the tip on that little dehydrator, Rawkinlocs. It looks great, small enough to store easily and certainly more convenient than messing with windowscreens outdoors. Although, I do hesitate to support the Wal-Monster...oh, well...I do it often enough anyway. < sigh > A bit more won't do that much damage.

[Ahimsa]

Here's a link to a DIY dehydrator.

http://www.k-clements.fsnet.co.uk/dehydrator.html

[rawpriestess]

Before I bought a dehydrator, I used to put my food on a spatter screen (you know the thing you put over a frying pan to keep the grease from spattering all over the stove.) and I put it over my wood stove (on very low), when I wasn't using my wood stove, I put it by my fireplace, of by an electric heater with a fan. It worked fine, for one layer anyway.

I hae also used the sun, but I live in Western Washington, and we have very humid air, so things don't dry well, they just mold. Even in the sun.

[expopo538]

thanks everyone for all the info, i will look up the dehydrator from walmart. :p