[Blademaker]

for a dehydrator?

Considering buying one and wanted some input.
How well do they work, most bang for your buck, etc.

We're gonna be using it several times a week for dried veggie, fruit snacks etc.

Thanks for your input.........:mrgreen:

 

[MrsInor]

Had a Nesco then upgraded to an Excalibur. Actually I kept the old one too - redundancy is good. I like the Excalibur because I don't have to rotate the trays.

 

[AvengersAssembled]

I currently have a Nesco Professional Food and Jerky Dehydrator. It has five trays, and also came with a screen to use on small things and a fruit roll sheet. It's simple to use and I think my husband paid $60 for it. So far I've just used it for jerky and dried apples, but I wanna try to make the fruit rolls and I'd like to dry some herbs I'e grown. I'm happy with it, I may upgrade to another one at some point, but I really like it.

 

[Wallimiyama]

I love the excaliber...with the temperature control...it's got more flexibility...I can do some things with it that you can't do without that control.

 

[PrepConsultant]

I have an Excalibur and it is excellent.. Like above, I like not having to rotate the trays...

 

[BigCheeseStick]

I'm at a bit of a loss here.

The SMALLEST unit draws a continuous 440 watts of 120VAC. 5-Tray Stainless Steel w/Stainless Steel Trays - Dehydrators

And requires hours if not days to produce anything (TWO DAYS for beef jerky!). Excalibur Food Dehydrator

If S ever HTF what would provide this kind of power practically? With the initial cost of the unit being over $300 if you got a good deal (again, on the cheapest model), the cost of growing or buying the food to put in the dehydrator to start with, the fact that it draws so much electricity and needs a constant supply...

Aside from using a dehydrator as a fun way to pass time / hobby / toy. I can't see any possible justification.

The initial cost just to buy a dehydrator. Minus what would possibly supply it's thirst for power, or the food for in it is still more than double this. 480 Total Servings of Freeze-Dried and Dehydrated Fruits & Vegetables Food Storage

There must be something I'm missing though.

 

[BigCheeseStick]

I say the things I did in the previous post because I used to have dehydrator I got for $20 on clearance. Used it to make several batches of goodies (many NOT SO "goodies"), and then saw the GIANT electricity bill for the month. O.O I gave it away about a week later.

I did also forget to factor in the cost of all the storage units needed for you dehydrated goodies to last anything similar to the 25 years the COSTCO stuff is rated at. :/

 

[paraquack]

Saw an interesting video (don't know where). A guy set up an old van with oven racks for a dehydrator. Said it worked great, obviously it must have been summer, but in a SHTF event...

 

[AvengersAssembled]

Saw an interesting video (don't know where). A guy set up an old van with oven racks for a dehydrator. Said it worked great, obviously it must have been summer, but in a SHTF event...

My dad said that growing up in SE Arizona, his aunt would dehydrate grapes into raisins in her car every summer. He and his cousins would sneak some every now and again, by the time they were done half would be missing!

 

[Rigged for Quiet]

Saw an interesting video (don't know where). A guy set up an old van with oven racks for a dehydrator. Said it worked great, obviously it must have been summer, but in a SHTF event...

In Texas in July and August you use this method to roast an elephant.

 

[RACH3L]

Solar Cooking
No electricity needed. It uses the sun. In a SHTF situation, there is a good chance electricity won't even be running. This site sells their products at a very low price too.

 

[jimb1972]

Build yourself a smoker, no electricity and that's how it was done for thousands of years before the electric dehydrator was ever thought of.