Timing/Usage with a Dehydrator

[Soose]

I have a big favor to ask!

I had my son read the part of the thread on "What's in your Dehydrator" and make a list of raw foods he wanted to try to make. If I give you his list...

Cheesy Curly Kale Chips
Marinated Portabella Mushrooms
onion bread
pizza flax crackers
sweet potato fries
Honey Vanilla Flax crackers
garlic mushrooms
eggplant jerky
Banana bread
banana flax cookies
pizza

...can someone suggest how we can make the most efficient use of the dehydrator to try out several recipes at once? (We have a 9-tray Excalibur.)
What would you have cooking when? I don't yet know how LONG these items will take to dehydrate, and how early one needs to start preparing ingredients.

It sounds like he would like some chips, crackers, fries, bread, cookies. Then entrees/snacks -- some type of pizza, appetizers and jerky. I doubt he's very picky about recipes for now, willing to experiment. And of course he doesn't expect ALL of this at once. But we bought the Excalibur back in the winter and I just have not been courageous about using it. I need to learn to use it!

Imagine you are going to have a house full of guests or tours going through your kitchen once or twice per day through this weekend, and you were trying to have samples available of a variety of raw dehydrated foods.

I guess we're not looking for huge quantity but more variety and trying out as many different types of recipes as we can, before he has to go off on a week's camp in 10 days. (His dad is going with him and they will take all their own food.)

I do realize this is a lot to ask!
Thanks in advance if you can help out!
Soose

[snoops]

The kale chips are easy - 3-4 hours. The onion bread is an overnighter maybe even 24 hours all together. I forget as I haven't made it in a while. But I want to again. And need to. I am on a all raw challenge - day 4 and need something bready. That is what I am missing most.

Sorry I can't help you with the other things as I haven't made them.

But this is what I find a areal pain with the dehydrator. You have to plan so far ahead and I am just not used to that yet. If I am going to continue this journey I need to get used to it.

[Soose]

Hi, Snoops. I was just thinking this phase I'm in reminds me of when I converted my dog to a raw diet.

Not to talk too much about that specifically here. But it was so hard at first. So many different ways of feeding, finding out what foods worked well for my dog. Confusing. Also the logistics of foraging for supplies -- where to find them and how to do it economically, how to keep a steady stream of supplies. How to keep enough stuff thawed without letting it ruin, without having to run to the store all the time. Perplexing. How to store it; how to fit it in the fridge and freezer. At first, we hand-packaged each individual meal to freeze, and that took a long time when buying bulk. Exhausting.

Over time, we developed routines and learned when it was important to be picky and when we could cut corners. We knew how long jobs took. Instead of hand-packaging individual meals, we got comfortable enough so we could just slop enough into a large container that would cover about 3 days. We still do that. As one starts getting empty, we pull another out to thaw. Raw feeding is SO EASY now.

I am sure we'll become more efficient in the same way with the people-raw diet, over time here, and the "scramble" I'm in right now will be history. I will develop my own unique way of timing things and routines that won't be hard work to plan ahead. Won't have to think about it -- we'll always be ready for the next meal.

Anyway, thanks for the timing data points on chips and onion bread. You know the Square Foot Garden charts where he charts out the lead time to starting seeds and setting out and harvesting and such? (I don't know if they're online.) If we could have one of those for a dehydrator and for other meals -- that would be awesome! I'm sure it exists in someone's head.

Soose

[Soose]

I'm making a usage plan so we can get the most out of our dehydrator over the next week. My idea is... use the early morning hours to make something shorter; use the time after breakfast to prep an entree for a late lunch; use the time after lunch and into the evening, maybe as far as the next morning to prepare some staples like crackers or granola. Maybe sometimes we can fit two batches in between lunch and morning?

I guess we have to know some "pairs" that work well together. Onion stuff would not go well with sweet granolas.

It's a start of a plan.

Soose