Dehydrator v Air Fryer

Lmswiggles on 11/07/2022 - 12:52
Last edited 11/07/2022 - 15:25 by 1 other user

Hey bargainers,

I'm looking for the best way to make some home made snacks to save some dough. Budget $150 or less which brings up a wide variety of offering from Amazon and Catch among other places.

Looking to make:

Sweet Potato Chips + other root vege chips
Mushrooms
Flavoured Dried Chickpeas
Wasabi Peas

I love products like Calbee Harvest Snaps Black Bean Sour Cream Baked Crisps and THE SNAK YARD EST. 2018 SHIITAKE MUSHROOMS

Can a simple food dehydrator or air fryer make those or is the process harder.

EG The Shitake mushrooms look fried as well as dried. It it a 2 step process. Videos online I mostly find are about preppers from the dehydrator front thus I wonder where an air fryer with a dehydrator function is better for what I wish to make.

TIA

Squiggly

• 

  dtc on 11/07/2022 - 13:10

  +2

  almost everything you can use the dehydrator for can be made in the oven (or sometimes just by leaving things out in a warm dry location). For example, if you want to dehydrate mushrooms then traditionally you leave them in an open weave basket for a few weeks, but you can do it in the oven as well. Wasabi peas, just use frozen peas and bake.

  I think you should go and look at the recipes for the things you are talking about and see how you actually make them. Most of them do not require dehydration (pretty much only the mushrooms do) or you can do it with the oven (yes a dehydrator may be more convenient but isnt required). Some of them are fried but a lot of them are just baked - you can use the air fryer instead of baking if you want, but you will have to make smaller batches.

  aka - try first with your oven. If that isnt doing the job, then an air fryer.

  • 

    sjj89 on 11/07/2022 - 13:26

    Regular oven is a pricey way to go about it

    • 

      Ugly on 11/07/2022 - 15:20

      How is it pricey using an oven you already have compared to buying a new air fryer?

      • 

        DiscountForThee on 11/07/2022 - 15:46

        +2

        The electricity consumption for long-term usage, is my guess. If you use it a lot then the energy could cost far more than a new dehydrator

        • 

          sjj89 on 11/07/2022 - 18:52

          @DiscountForThee: Particularly if the oven is electric.

          Running an electric over for 6-18 hours will burn $$$

          • 

            dtc on 11/07/2022 - 21:26

            -1

            @sjj89: An oven will cost around 30c per hour more than a dehydrator. So thats about 500 hours of use before recovering the cost of the dehydrator. For sure, if OP decides to use it a lot then buying a dehydrator is worthwhile. But I'm guessing that, like many people, it will be a passing fad…

  • 

    mswiggles on 13/07/2022 - 16:53

    Thanks everyone, I've had a look and the Instapot Vortex Plus 7 in 1 including dehydrator was $179 on Amazon Prime Day - for the #3 listed and $60 off and I'd researched drying foods in it it made sense. Going to give it a try, worst case hand me down to parents to save them some time. My rental place convection oven here is week and not fan forced so I skipped your normal oven suggestion.

• 

  John Kimble on 11/07/2022 - 13:30

  +1

  Not sure about other air fryers, but our Philips one has a strong fan, so if you want do that stuff, you'll need to weigh/sandwich the food down with a grill of some sort, otherwise it will fly all over the place in the tray…perhaps getting stuck in the heating element if light enough or in one heap in the corner.

  I suppose if the air fryer had a dehydrate function it must turn off the fan?

  • 

    mswiggles on 13/07/2022 - 16:54

    +1

    Got the Instapot Vortex Plus with a dehydrate function so I'll report if my food stays in place or moves.

• 

  voiletmay on 11/07/2022 - 13:45

  +1

  I paid $1 for my food dehydrator and I have used it maybe 4 times in 15 years. Airfyer gets used multiple times a day.

  An airfryer taks about 15 minutes to cook things. A dehydrator needs to go overnight atleast and you need the multiple layers of a dehydrator to make enough actual things to eat.

  One of those airfryers that look like a little oven with shelves is probably a feasible idea (kmart has them and aldi sometimes) if you want to play with both functions. But the drawer type airfryer is not the type you want if you want to dehydrate.

  The dehydrator will be a fad you will try once or twice and leave in a cupboard and an airfyer will be used multiple times a day and make your life so much easier.

  Dehydrator is also a lot of work depending on what you make… I once got a box of cherries and using a cherry pitter on those and dehyrating them was pretty awful. Bananas are good as you can just slice them. I did beef jerky (for dog snacks) a few times too. The house smells amazing when you have had fruit dehydrating all night. Not so much with meat snacks for a dog LOL!!

  • 

    iDroid on 11/07/2022 - 15:04

    +1

    I paid $1 for my food dehydrator

    Could explain why you:

    used it maybe 4 times in 15 years

    • 

      voiletmay on 13/07/2022 - 05:03

      +1

      No one but me would eat the dried fruit. Made jerky for the dog too and that was well received LOL!!

• 

  illogicalerror on 11/07/2022 - 15:26

  +2

  I love my dehydrator, dry mangoes, bananas, mushrooms, herbs, make jerky, all sorts. I bought it to dry magic mushrooms.. :P I grew out of that but still have the dehydrator.

  Such great jerky. It's nice to grab a big chunk of beef when it goes on bulk buy special and make a few kilos of fresh jerky. So much more satisfying and cheaper than store bought stuff.

  I probably only use it half a dozen times a year, but it's nice to have.

  • 

    DiscountForThee on 11/07/2022 - 15:49

    +1

    Yeah I also use mine when some fruits are on major clearance. Great way to preserve them and also reduce the space they take for longer term storage

• 

  CheapskateQueen on 11/07/2022 - 21:30

  +1

  FYI, tried making roasted chickpeas in the air fryer twice and it hasn't worked. maybe I'm not drowning it in oil, but then that defeated the purpose.

  I find the chickpeas are mostly rockhard still but if I leave it any longer, they'll turn black

  • 

    mswiggles on 13/07/2022 - 16:55

    Okay I'll give it a go. I think I'm more confident of wasabli frozen peas working than the chickpeas right off the bat.