Friday, April 20, 2007

What In The World Is This Thing ?

Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without is our family financial motto. Creativity is a key element to living that motto.

Now to answer the question in my post title. What is this thing? It is a "make do" dehydrator. I have wanted a dehydrator for years but I have never been lucky enough to find one secondhand. I realize that I don't do enough drying to justify buying one full price, so I had to come up with a "make it do" solution to fill the gap.

What I did here was use a frame to a TV tray, a pizza pan (the kind with holes), a clamp on shop light with a 100 watt blub, and a cardboard box. It won't win any design awards but it works like a charm to dry the small amounts of food I've tried in it.

So even though I am repeating myself my frugal tip is: Be Creative. This seems to be a theme this week on Frugal Friday tips. There is almost always some way to get what you need without spending the big bucks.

4 comments:

Mommy said...

That is a really neat idea with dehydrating! Have you tried Bananas and Apples in it?

Carrie J said...

I haven't tried apples yet, but I bought a bag a Sams this week and I am planning on trying some this weekend. I will let you know how they turn out.

Meredith said...

That is so clever!
I've seen solar ovens before, but your make-do solution is so easy!

Carrie J said...

Thanks Meredith. I still have not tried apples, but I did dry some strawberries this weekend. They turned out great. Apples are next on my list.