I've just got myself a dehydrator and want to dehydrate meals. I used baking parchment for my first lot but it was a pain to cut out. Just wondering what others use to stop the food falling through the gaps.
Thanks
Jacob
Thanks
Jacob
What to use in the dehydrator ?
- Thread starter Outdoordude
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I use washable silicon sheets cut to size.
You can try it out cheaply by buying the baking tray liners from poundland. They come in a long thin box, and they're excellent.
They're washable and pretty hard wearing.
If you would like better then the ones I use now are cut from silicon sheets meant for rolling out pastry, but tbh, they were expensive and the baking tray liners work very well, even for the stickiness that is the starter for fruit leathers.
cheers,
Toddy
You can try it out cheaply by buying the baking tray liners from poundland. They come in a long thin box, and they're excellent.
They're washable and pretty hard wearing.
If you would like better then the ones I use now are cut from silicon sheets meant for rolling out pastry, but tbh, they were expensive and the baking tray liners work very well, even for the stickiness that is the starter for fruit leathers.
cheers,
Toddy
The same sheets are over a fiver in the cook shops so it's worth it to buy in the poundland shop.
Lidl's do a heavier weight black one sometimes, that's between 2 and 3 £'s iirc.
They save a lot of faffing around, and they're also excellent at the bottom of frying pans or baking pots when cooking at camp. Non stuck eggs or bannock
can only be good
cheers,
M
Lidl's do a heavier weight black one sometimes, that's between 2 and 3 £'s iirc.
They save a lot of faffing around, and they're also excellent at the bottom of frying pans or baking pots when cooking at camp. Non stuck eggs or bannock
can only be good cheers,
M
How the hang do you cut cling film neatly though ? .....mind I've got the little round dehydrator, not the flat tray temp controlled one that you use. I have to turn food on my trays to get it to dry properly.
cheers,
M
cheers,
M
I use parchment paper without any probs Jacob, I usually cut a load of sheets at the same time and put them away until I need them though.
It just so happens I have a couple of items in the kitchen which work perfectly. Our bread board is the right diameter to trace round for the sheet and our drinking glasses are the same size as the centre hole. I cut the round sheet out first, fold into quarters, place a quarter of the glass over the right angle bend of the folded sheet and draw an arc, cut it out and voila you have a perfect sheet. To be honest after you've done two or three you don't really need to use the glass as it's easy enough to guess it.
Another option is to just use your trays to trace round and then mark the centre hole before lifting it off, fold into quarters to make the centre cut easier.
My dehydrator has five trays so I'll do a bunch at the same time and just store them until needed.
It just so happens I have a couple of items in the kitchen which work perfectly. Our bread board is the right diameter to trace round for the sheet and our drinking glasses are the same size as the centre hole. I cut the round sheet out first, fold into quarters, place a quarter of the glass over the right angle bend of the folded sheet and draw an arc, cut it out and voila you have a perfect sheet. To be honest after you've done two or three you don't really need to use the glass as it's easy enough to guess it.
Another option is to just use your trays to trace round and then mark the centre hole before lifting it off, fold into quarters to make the centre cut easier.
My dehydrator has five trays so I'll do a bunch at the same time and just store them until needed.
So did I for a long time
Just cover the whole tray and punch a centre hole
5 gooseberry by British Red, on Flickr
5 rhubarb by British Red, on Flickr
raspberry 5 by British Red, on Flickr
Works great - just lift off and peel away the leather at the end
6 rhubarb by British Red, on Flickr
Thanks guys for all the help. For now I think I'll stick to what shewie says. I just felt it was annoying having to cut around each one but now shewie has told me the right way to do it it seems easier. I'll try to get some of the silicone sheets when I can. I might just give the cling film a whirl one day though. 
Neat BR, very neat I hadn't thought that it was thin enough that it'd not stop the trays stacking 
Tbh, I just don't like clingfilm.....I know the blooming stuff is stabilized now, but as a young mum the stuff was considered toxic, especially when heated, since supposedly it leached the plasticisers into food; it means it's the last stuff I think of using rather than accepting that it's useful stuff.
cheers,
M
I hadn't thought that it was thin enough that it'd not stop the trays stacking Tbh, I just don't like clingfilm.....I know the blooming stuff is stabilized now, but as a young mum the stuff was considered toxic, especially when heated, since supposedly it leached the plasticisers into food; it means it's the last stuff I think of using rather than accepting that it's useful stuff.
cheers,
M
Thanks guys for all the help. For now I think I'll stick to what shewie says. I just felt it was annoying having to cut around each one but now shewie has told me the right way to do it it seems easier. I'll try to get some of the silicone sheets when I can. I might just give the cling film a whirl one day though.
Try 'em all and see which method you're happiest using.
I bought some HDPE plastic mesh and made some round tray toppers for my Westfalia dryer. The mesh I have has holes of 2 mm and my theory was that having the holes reduced drying time due top better air flow? It saves a load of stuff falling through the original tray holes but I still use baking sheet for runny stuff until I make some solid tray toppers from some sheet HDPE?
Steve.
Steve.
I got mine on ebay. Searched for hdpe mesh... http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/FINE-STRO...aping_Garden_Materials_ET&hash=item43b18b3c22 ... something like this. Did a search just now and only got a couple of hits for black 2mm mesh. I got it in white but there would be no difference except maybe black would be harder to clean, there was lots more choice a year ago! You could search for other food safe plastic mesh as well?
Steve.
Steve.
