Solar fruit leather - another use for a car.

[Jamesqf]

I have far, far more pears than I can eat or give to neighbors (and shortly will have apples), so I've been looking for a good way to preserve them.  One idea was fruit leather.  You puree the fruit in a blender, and pour it into a shallow pan (in a layer about 1/4 inch thick) to dry.

Standard recipes suggest leaving the pans in an oven on very low heat, but I found a cheaper way: just put it outside in a car (or truck, in my case) parked in the sun with the windows closed.   Hereabouts (sunny & dry climate) it takes about 2 days to become pretty good fruit leather, which I can then store in the freezer.

[gooki]

Awesome.

[DocCyane]

Hilarious and brilliant. When you question the norms, you can come up with fantastic solutions.

My grandmother would put rising bread dough in the car.

[travelbug]

That is a brilliant idea.

we have been toying with buying a dehydrator, but who needs one?????!!!!!

And it's coming up to Summer here too.

[kkbmustang]

Travelbug - I had a dehydrator, used it twice in a year and just sold it on CraigsList. It was a total waste. Fortunately, it was a gift, but still a waste. Especially when you can use your oven or, apparently, your car.

[Matt K]

We actually borrowed a friend's dehydrator to dry some currants this past summer. It heated up the house, and sice I don't drive to work in the summer, we did as you did and just used the car. Worked like a charm.

[Jamesqf]

I've been planning on building a solar dehydrator (like this http://ecohearth.com/eco-zine/food-and-garden/650-building-a-solar-powered-food-dehydrator-.html or these http://www.builditsolar.com/Projects/Cooking/cooking.htm#Drying ), but it's a case of so many projects, so little time.  The electric powered ones seem like such a waste...

[PJ]

I borrowed a friend's (electric) dehydrator one time, and I also thought it seemed like a waste.  It took a really long time for the veggies to dry - I was sure I was spending more on electricity than I would have to purchase an equivalent amount of food.  Love the idea of using the car!

[anastrophe]

I have a dehydrator and use it about every two weeks. The local store down the street sells "over-ripe" banananas for .30/lb and I turn them into banana chips. I dehydrate kale and make soups with it. It's one of the most useful appliances in my kitchen and it cost $10 at a tag sale...not sure how the car compares;)

[Jamesqf]

It's not the cost to purchase a dehydrator that bothers me, it's the running cost of the electricity.  And of course using the car (truck, in my case) is free, because it's already fulfulling its primary purpose.

[anastrophe]

Yes, I'm curious about how much electricity it uses, I will borrow a kill-a-watt from the library and report back. As for the vehicle, I suppose if you already have one then it's worth using it for other things; I don't have one so I don't have to find alternate uses for it.

[AJ]

Yes, I'm curious about how much electricity it uses, I will borrow a kill-a-watt from the library and report back. As for the vehicle, I suppose if you already have one then it's worth using it for other things; I don't have one so I don't have to find alternate uses for it.

Well, according to this list, the big fancy dehydrators range between 220 and 600 watts: http://www.discountjuicers.com/dehydratorcompare.html

Using this calculator (because I don't 100% trust my understanding of electricity units), that means these use between 0.22 and 0.60 kwh per hour of usage. My electricity costs me about $0.08 per kwh - so running these would cost between 1.6 and 4.8 cents per hour. But I think we have cheap electricity out here...not sure what average is.

Someone with a better understanding of electricity can maybe correct me if I'm wrong...?

But you can't beat free using the heat of the car ;)

[Jamesqf]

My electric cost is about 11 cents/kWh, so a bit higher there.  How long does it take to dry stuff?

[Matt K]

Using this calculator (because I don't 100% trust my understanding of electricity units), that means these use between 0.22 and 0.60 kwh per hour of usage. My electricity costs me about $0.08 per kwh - so running these would cost between 1.6 and 4.8 cents per hour. But I think we have cheap electricity out here...not sure what average is.

Someone with a better understanding of electricity can maybe correct me if I'm wrong...?

But you can't beat free using the heat of the car ;)

Don't forget that you are also adding a lot of heat to your house. In the winter this is extra heating (less load on the the furnace!), but in the summer (when you want to preserve everything) it is extra load on the A/C if you use it, or just a ton of extra heat to sweat through if you don't. A dehydrator is really just a hair dryer set to medium and run for long periods of time. For us, it was this extra heat, not the cost, that made the car such a great way to dehydrate.

[Jamesqf]

True, but since I know about the extra heat thing, I would set the electric dehydrator out on the patio when it's warm.