A common misconception is that it is expensive, in terms of electricity, to operate a food dehydrator. This is not true, although dehydrators use electricity to operate your heating system and fans for longer periods of time, sometimes up to twelve and eighteen hours.
Food dehydrators are used to dry various foods by removing the water inside the food. The water content of foods is very high, typically between 80% and 95% for various fruits and vegetables and between 50% and 75% for different meats. To minimize dehydration time, best dehydration practices to follow include cutting food into 1/4-inch strips or less and evenly distributing food on unit trays to maximize the amount of food surface area to be used. it is exposed to unit heat and air flow.
However, even following best dehydration practices, a food drying process can take several hours. One temptation is to try to speed up the drying time by increasing the dehydration temperature. This is not recommended and can result in hardened food; that is, food that is dry and hard on the outside, but moist and with water on the inside. Hardened foods will spoil due to microbial growth.
So how much do typical dehydrators cost to operate? Obviously the costs depend on the state and local area you live in, however within the US on average running a 750 watt unit for an hour would cost around 8 cents. The cost per state, per hour, for the same 750-watt unit ranges from about 5 cents at the low end in North Dakota to nearly 22 cents in Hawaii.
A typical dehydrator can run for twelve hours. For example, assuming a dehydrator user lives in the state of California, a food dehydrator calculator can be used to estimate the electricity costs required to run a 750-watt food drying appliance for, say, 12 hours in a row. In this case, the cost of electricity would be approximately $ 1.21. In fact, most food drying units turn on and off during the drying cycle, so this would be a maximum cost for electricity.
If the same Californian user bought about 3.7 pounds of apples at $ 1.29 a pound and dried them during that 12-hour period, the user would have about 1 pound of dried apples and the cost of the dried apples would be $ 4.77. The total operating cost of a pound of dried homemade apples would be approximately $ 5.98. This homemade cost compares favorably to a well-known national brand of dried apples that was recently sold at a major grocery chain for $ 2.79 for a 5-ounce bag or a cost per pound of $ 8.93. Savings on homemade dried apples, made with a dehydrator, compared to store bought: about $ 3.00.
Dehydrate your own dried fruits, dried vegetables, and jerky at home using your food dehydrator. You’ll continually save money compared to store-bought dried fruit and jerky and get a return on the cost of the food dryer. Plus, you can control the ingredients that go into your food (most store-bought dried fruits and jerky contain excess sugars and salts) and make a great-tasting meal.
