# Dehydrator Reccomendation



## PackerBacker (Dec 13, 2012)

I'm looking to get dehydrator.

After looking around I have more questions than I did when I started.:scratch

What would you all get/have?


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## Dakine (Sep 4, 2012)

I have this one, and I'm pretty happy with it.

http://www.amazon.com/Nesco-America...342956&sr=8-1&keywords=nesco+dehydrator+fd-61

They really improved the design, I had a much older model, maybe 25 years ago, and the fan and heat was on the bottom, which made it a real pain to clean because naturally everything dripped down on to that and you're not able to submerse that for cleaning. Now the fan and heat is on the top! Big improvement.

I still had my trays from the old unit, and a neighbor was throwing hers out because it was broken so I got those trays for free, now I have 12 trays for it!

With that many trays this is a great product, but at 12 bucks for 2 trays... I dont know if I'd want to buy 8 more or not. I probably would I guess.

If you're going to be doing high volume stuff, there's other brands that have drawers and they are professional grade. For me, $60 was exactly in the range I was looking for, it's what I need for making banana chips and dehydrated scrambled egg powder, etc.


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## Country Living (Dec 15, 2009)

Excalibur 9 tray with timer. Just love it!


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## UncleJoe (Jan 11, 2009)

Dakine said:


> I have this one, and I'm pretty happy with it.
> 
> http://www.amazon.com/Nesco-America...342956&sr=8-1&keywords=nesco+dehydrator+fd-61


Yep. I have 3 of them. I bought the first one 4 years ago and it's still going strong. And it gets used hard 7-8 months of the year


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## Davarm (Oct 22, 2011)

I have 2 Nesco 1018P'S
http://www.harvestessentials.com/negaprodefd.html


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## memrymaker (Dec 12, 2012)

I am also in the market for a dehydrator - so this is very helpful to me too!


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## 8thDayStranger (Jan 30, 2013)

I just got the nesco......American harvester I think it is. 5 trays come with it for around $50-$55. I like it. One with a timer would be great but I have an old light timer that I use.


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## CulexPipiens (Nov 17, 2010)

Just got my Excalibur 9 tray (without timer). It's literally running right now on my first batch with it. Spent awhile saving up to get it and so far I'm quite pleased. 

The previous unit I had was a made in china store brand that was $20 and lasted for 2 rounds befor dying. That's when I decided to save up for something better. The one I got now, the Excalibur, is made in US and has a 10 year warranty.


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## k0xxx (Oct 27, 2011)

Country Living said:


> Excalibur 9 tray with timer. Just love it!


Same here. It's a great machine. The wife has some meringue cookies in our at the moment, and I'll be doing jerky tomorrow.


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## Country Living (Dec 15, 2009)

I really like having a timer. The machine turns off when the time is up. If there is a power interruption, it starts again right where it left off. I am so spoiled with this Excalibur. We use the Excalibur book for dehydrating times and temps.


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## cedarguy (Nov 19, 2012)

Country Living said:


> Excalibur 9 tray with timer. Just love it!


Same here..Just bought it last year and have dried lots of fruit. It has a large footprint but its dries even with no need to rotate the shelves.


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## professor (Nov 19, 2012)

I know this is going to sound stupid, but once you dehydrate - how do you store the food?


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## Dakine (Sep 4, 2012)

professor said:


> I know this is going to sound stupid, but once you dehydrate - how do you store the food?


No thats not stupid at all... It depends on the food really. when I've done jerky it's never survived more than a week in the fridge, because thats how fast I eat it lol!

I have some banana chips I put into old jars of various kinds and then vacuum sealed. I dont know how long those will last, quite some time I would imagine.

you can dry all your veggies for do it yourself soupmix and then vac seal that for backpacking, camping or prep purposes and I have heard people say 6 months on that.

If you're really into veggie stew and soups, I would imagine you could rotate through that fast enough you'd never have a problem and your next harvest would restock.

I dehydrated scrambled eggs and those are listed at 25 years in the vacuum sealed coffee cans from Mountain House if I'm not mistaken, but if you cook them with any kind of product that has oil in it at all, you're looking at only a couple months. I used no oil, just non stick pans and then I ground up the dried pieces with my grain mill and then vacuum sealed the jars. We'll see how long that goes. Should be interesting!


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## PackerBacker (Dec 13, 2012)

Dakine said:


> I have this one, and I'm pretty happy with it.
> 
> http://www.amazon.com/Nesco-America...342956&sr=8-1&keywords=nesco+dehydrator+fd-61
> 
> ...





UncleJoe said:


> Yep. I have 3 of them. I bought the first one 4 years ago and it's still going strong. And it gets used hard 7-8 months of the year





Davarm said:


> I have 2 Nesco 1018P'S
> http://www.harvestessentials.com/negaprodefd.html


Are those american made?


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## mma800 (May 7, 2012)

Another thumbs up for the Excalibur 9 tray (no timer)

It is my first one, so no comparison to make. I love it and use it all the time


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## JustCliff (May 21, 2011)

I have two 9 trays and 1 4 tray Excalibur. They work well. The 4 tray is over 20 years old and still going.


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## iceeyes (Jun 25, 2012)

mma800 said:


> Another thumbs up for the Excalibur 9 tray (no timer)
> 
> I have the same one. My advice when buying one is to make sure the fan is in the back and not on bottom. In my experience I have had to rotate the trays when the fan is on the bottom. Excalibur fan is in back and eliminates having to rotate.


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