I am not a huge fan of a lot of kitchen gadgets, they take up space and create clutter. I don’t like that. So, I am choosy about what I have in my kitchen, and my home for that matter.
That being said there are many kitchen gadgets that make things so much easier, I took a leap and decided to get a dehydrator, with some gentle prodding from my husband. He was buying a smoker and I think it made him feel better that I was getting something too 😉
I have a few criteria that I follow for something to take up residence in my kitchen.
4 Things to Consider Before Bringing New Gadgets Home:
- Will it save me expended effort?
- Will it save me time?
- Do I have a place for it, or can I make a place for it by removing something that I no longer have use for?
- Will it save me money and pay for itself in the long run?
I enjoy making and prepping as much of my own food as possible, my hubs loves to cook too which is an added bonus.
I try to avoid buying too many prepackaged processed foods, I aim for most of the processing to take place in my own kitchen, which requires certain specific kitchen gadgets. Then I know what went into it, and that it’s overall better quality, don’t get me wrong there are a lot of quality products out there. I’ll start to cover the ones that I have found and buy, but that’s for another day.
Let’s take a look at the criteria I listed for Kitchen Gadgets in my home, in regards to the dehydrator.
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Will it save me expended effort?
This is big for me. When you only have so much energy for the day and regular tasks, the last thing you need is to add an appliance, or gadget that requires more work than it’s worth.
For my first go-’round I decided to make apple chips.
This required coring and thin slicing of the apples. Note to self, I need an apple corer and slicer, that will make the process much easier and quicker.
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Will it save me time?
I am on the fence about this. I believe that the benefits in the category of saving money will outweigh the prep time required for certain things. And having the healthier, option that is free of artificial preservatives, is a deal breaker for me, so I am happy to invest the time.
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Do I have a place for it, or can I make a place for it by removing something that I no longer have use for?
The easy answer here is YES! 🙂
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Will it save me money and pay for itself in the long run?
Again, Yes.
Depending on what it’s used for of course.
It will preserve foods that I don’t necessarily want to freeze. It also preserves the nutritional value, another bonus.
Dried fruits and berries are great with nuts for a snack. I won’t be doing grapes, apparently, they take DAYS to do, raisins (even organic ones) can be purchased.
I was surprised, and impressed, with the list of things that can be dehydrated. You can dehydrate ANYTHING!
And anything that you can freeze or dehydrate so that it’s not getting thrown away and wasted is key. Within reason of course 😉
The apple chips turned out great by the way.
I have been looking for dried apple that was like what I had as a kid, but I have never found store-bought ones that compared.
Finally, this is it, homemade for the win 🙂
#savvyvitality