OT: food dehydrator brand?

[pilgrimage]

I'm trying to make the most of farmer's market discounts.
What brand of food dehydrator do you recommend? Or
should I just use the stove? I'm wanting to dehydrate
blueberries, tomato slices, and other summer fruit.
Thanks.

 

[alliedogsmom]

Excalibur or L'Equip-I have both and love them!

 

[lovemylife]

My husband just bought a food dehydrater. He bought it from Amazon.com
This is the one he got: Nesco American Harvest FD-61WHC Snackmaster Express Food Dehydrator All-In-One Kit with Jerky Gun"
Kitchen; $69.93
It has been shipped, but we haven't received it yet.
Hope this helps.

 

[DawnM]

I had a Nesco and it didn't hold much and you need to rotate the trays. I found it didn't work all that well.

I now have an Excalibur and LOVE it!

Dawn

 

[Disney Darling]

Square dehydrators are better than round ones for the way the heat is distributed. You can google for this information because it'll explain it better than I could.

But I SECOND the Excalibur! It is awesome!!

 

[StillPinballFamily]

Hmmmm...never heard of/thought about getting one of these before stumbling upon this thread.

Sometimes I hate this "budget" board - I *always* find new things to buy!

Did some research this a.m. on these suckers - since we'd be newbies and would be doing pretty small snack batches (apples, sweet potatoes, pineapples, leathers, MAYBE jerky, etc.), would we be OK with the smaller (4 or 5 screen) Excalibur model? The larger ones get pricey real fast... It seems this is the brand (or at least one of the top two) to buy, in any case.

Thanks for any advice -

 

[DawnM]

Well, I thought the same thing and some folks talked me into getting the 9 tray instead (isn't it a difference of only $65 more?)

I am SO glad they did.

I can fill up 9 trays pretty easily. But I do have a family of 5 also.

I go through periods of wanting to eat 100% raw foods and then I can use my dehydrator daily and fill it up. I feel so much better when I eat this way, but it is hard to stick to all the time.

Dawn

Hmmmm...never heard of/thought about getting one of these before stumbling upon this thread.

Sometimes I hate this "budget" board - I *always* find new things to buy!

Did some research this a.m. on these suckers - since we'd be newbies and would be doing pretty small snack batches (apples, sweet potatoes, pineapples, leathers, MAYBE jerky, etc.), would we be OK with the smaller (4 or 5 screen) Excalibur model? The larger ones get pricey real fast... It seems this is the brand (or at least one of the top two) to buy, in any case.

Thanks for any advice -

 

[StillPinballFamily]

The most inexpensive new 4-tray I've found seems to be $110 (ebay BIN w free shipping). A new 9-tray is $210 (Amazon/free shipping). Used ones on ebay or Amazon are less. ( I MUST be a lot more miserly than you, DawnM - $65 is a lot!!! )

We're a family of 5 too - but not sure how many of us will eat the dehydrated snacks.

To help me (and hopefully the OP too, since I don't want to hijack the thread!!!!), let's compare apples to apples! HA! Can anyone tell me about how many apple slices will fit on one of the trays (and then, by extension) into one of the Excalibur machines? I'm not sure I'd be buying in bulk at a farmers market and then go on marathon drying sprees...I think I'm more a "buy a few (whatevers) when they're on sale and put them through the dehydrator"...-type.