Homemade Banana Chips

Last year, Hubs and I bought a dehydrator {we bought this one*} with the hopes of being able to dehydrate some herbs from my garden.  I’ve got an entire 4’x4′ bed dedicated to herbs.  It’s gorgeous.  Before my herbs grew enough to give me enough harvest to dry, I did get to test out the dehydrator on strawberry slices.  You’d think my kids hadn’t had anything so delicious before!  Little did I know, I’d expand my dehydrator uses to well beyond herbs to things like blueberries, cherries, and even these banana chips.

So when summer came, I was getting really excited to try my dehydrator on herbs.  Once the middle of June came, my herbs started going through a growth spurt, as most plants do, and it also started to rain for 3 weeks straight.  Trying to dehydrate anything, but especially herbs, during 100% humidity and pouring down rain is painful.  Very painful.  My poor herbs sat on those trays for days on end and didn’t get dry.

When winter came, I thought I was done with our dehydrator.  Until one day Lady Bug and I saw some bananas on sale at Weis.  They were on the verge of being too ripe, and were marked down by $0.20/lb for that reason.  We snatched up a few bunches and bought them home to dehydrate.

Let me tell you… after dehydrating them, the banana chips left the house as fast as I was able to peel them off of the trays!  I’ve never seen snack foods leave so fast!  But since bananas tend to run $0.60/lb in my area, or even $0.25 per banana depending on where you shop, I’m not running back out to the store to get some more and do it again.  I’ll wait for a markdown.

So when I saw Aldi’s was running $0.29/lb bananas, I had to get some more.  I know everyone in the house loves them as a snack, and that price is unheard of in our area!  This was the perfect time to grab some and put our dehydrator in use again for some frugal snacking!

If you’ve never had homemade banana chips, you’re missing out.  They’re not hard and crunchy like the ones you get at the store.  They’re chewy, similar to a gummy.  And because they were dehydrated, most of the the water is gone and the natural sweetness of the fruit is concentrated.  So delicious!  Once you have one, it’s hard to stop.

Making banana chips is really easy.  Slice about 1/4″ thick, toss in some fruit fresh {I buy this kind*}, and dehydrate at 135°F for about 6-8 hours, or more depending on the temperature, weather, and humidity in your area.  You know the banana chips are done when you fold one in half and it doesn’t stick to itself.

I store mine in a quart mason jar.  When I do a full batch {all 6 trays} full of bananas, they’ll fill up a quart jar.  I then label the jar with the date, and place it in my pantry.  Store away from light for 6 months at 80°F, or for a year at 60°F.  They can be kept longer in your freezer.  Long term storage is never an issue with these in my house though because they barely last a week!

Have you made your own banana chips before?  What are some of your favorite frugal snacks?  Let me know in the comments!