How to Prevent Food From Sticking to Dehydrator Trays

If you’ve been using your food dehydrator frequently, you know that avoiding your food from sticking to the tray or falling through the holes is vital.

Sure, reusable sheets are a great and eco-friendly solution to this problem, but what happens when you’re in a hurry and need a quick fix?

Well, that’s where this easy and cost-effective hack comes into play, using an item you probably already have in your kitchen – parchment paper. Let’s dive into the steps!

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Getting Started: Gather Your Materials

1. Your food dehydrator (pick one from our reviews if you don’t have one yet).
2. A piece of parchment paper, big enough to cover your tray.
3. A pair of scissors.

Step-by-Step Guide to Preparing NonStick Dehydrator Trays

1. Preparation: Begin by cutting a piece of parchment paper. This piece should be just large enough to cover your dehydrator tray.
2. Folding the Parchment Paper: Fold the parchment paper into quarters. Remember, it doesn’t need to be perfect. After tucking into quarters, continue to fold your parchment paper into a triangle, similar to creating snowflakes as a child. Fold the triangle once more to create a smaller, more compact triangle.
3. Aligning and Marking: Bring your dehydrator tray back. Place the triangle’s point at the tray’s center, ensuring that the edge aligns with the tray’s radius. Press the triangle down, creating a crease mark to measure the needed parchment paper size.
4. Cutting the Parchment Paper: With the crease mark as your guide, take your scissors and cut along the crease lines.
5. Unfolding and Positioning: Open up the parchment paper to reveal a circular shape that should fit nicely into your dehydrator tray. Fit the parchment paper inside, aligning it to the inner circumference of the tray.
6. Finalizing the setup: If your dehydrator model is a more affordable one without an extra grate surrounding the exterior, remember to leave room for air to circulate. This precaution prevents the overheating of your dehydrator. For models with gaps allowing air to pass through, you’re all set with no extra steps required!

And that’s it! An easy, cost-effective solution to prevent your food from sticking to your dehydrator tray or falling through. Now you’re ready to continue enjoying your dehydration projects without any hindrance.

Eric Mitchell

Eric is the owner, author, content director and founder of dehydratorlab.com. He is the lead architect and the main man in matters concerning dehydrators, their accessories, guides, reviews and all the accompaniments.Whenever he is not figuring out simple solutions (hacks) involving cookery and their eventual storage, you will find him testing out the different types of dehydrators, to bring us the juicy details regarding these devices.He is a foodie enthusiast, pasionate about making jerky has a knack for healthy and tasty food and won't hesitate to share out any ideas that might be of value around this subject.

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