Best food dehydrator, IMO: Nesco American Harvester
 

I've been recommending the Nesco American Harvester dehydrator to anyone who has seemed interested in food storage (although I don't tell many people that I have 12 dehydrators--in assembly-line sort of setup to dehydrate several cases of fruits, vegetables and meats per week). This dehydrator is the only one I've found with an air-circulating fan:

http://shop.ebay.com/items/__nesco-a...rQQ_trksidZm38


Any other Nesco owners on here?

Re: Best food dehydrator, IMO: Nesco American Harvester
 

I'm thinking to buy a dehydrator in the near future, seems like an easier introduction to preserving than pressure canning.

The Excalibur has very good online reviews, but I'll look more closely at the Nesco as well.

12 dehydrators!? Do you grow your own vegetables and fruits or rely on local produce?

Re: Best food dehydrator, IMO: Nesco American Harvester
 

How do you store the product? How long will it keep? If packed with oxygen absorbers, will it last just like 'factory' dehydrated foods?

Re: Best food dehydrator, IMO: Nesco American Harvester
 

I have an Excalibur but I haven't used it yet. They have specials on their website and all kings of accessories and things.

I plan on filling mason jars with the dried products and then vacuum sealing them. I have a Weston vacuum sealer that works great. Sealerbags.com has a video and bags, rolls in bulk.

Re: Best food dehydrator, IMO: Nesco American Harvester
 

You will love the Excalibur Sam. I just got mine also.(9 tray)

Over the weekend I did 7 lbs of jerky and 10 lbs of diced onions sealed up in jars.

Great investment.

Re: Best food dehydrator, IMO: Nesco American Harvester
 

did you do hamburger jerkey? .... what lean-ness should I get .... I bought their jerkey gun

Re: Best food dehydrator, IMO: Nesco American Harvester
 

How much does your electric bill go up once using a dehydrator? That is one of those hidden costs of food that many might not realize.

Re: Best food dehydrator, IMO: Nesco American Harvester
 

Its impact on my electric bill is negligible. It uses almost no power relative to a refrigerator or even the kitchen lights.

Re: Best food dehydrator, IMO: Nesco American Harvester
 

Sam if you addressed that question to me I would say very lean. I made my jerky from flank steak.

Mine is a 9 tray 500 watt Excaliber. It will do 9 trays of jerky (4+ pounds) in about 5 hours. It has a fan in the back and blows crosswise which I think is better, but that may just be me.

The costs, whatever, are worth it.

Re: Best food dehydrator, IMO: Nesco American Harvester
 

I second your endorsement!!

Re: Best food dehydrator, IMO: Nesco American Harvester
 

I got the Nesco American Harvest FD-1020 Gardenmaster 1000-Watt Digital Food Dehydratorr from [URL="http://www.amazon.com/Nesco�FD-1018P-American-1000-Watt-Gardenmaster-Dehydrator/dp/B001795P4O/ref=pd_sbs_hg_3"] [/ame] I was really impressed with it. I had not used my old dehydrator in several years, when I tried it out this last summer, after 24 hours, I had mold on my food. I got this model because it has a timer on it. And the top blower. Most of my stuff was done in 5 hours. So you can set it when you go to work and it will shut off by itself. I have not ttried jerkey in it. I should do that this weekend.

Re: Best food dehydrator, IMO: Nesco American Harvester
 

I have a couple different brands, some with fan and one without. The one without the fan uses 125 watts, vs 500 to 1000 watts for the ones with fans. The power consumption might be an issue if you were off grid, but the ones with fans do dry things much more quickly. Mostly I've made jerky with mine. I also did onions, but it really stunk up the house.