dehydrator

[lori ann]

Hi
I am getting into this raw lifestyle and want to purchase a dehydrator, but do not have the money to buy the real good ones. I plan on spending about $75-$100. Is Nesco a good one? I would like your opinions please. Thanks!

[puffysmom]

I am assuming that the Nesco is a round one with no temp control. I didnt want to spend the money on the Excaliber either and hunted online until i got the best price. Most r priced the same but some charge more for shipping. Check with Excaliber and see if they might have some scratched ones. Nothing wrong with a little damage as long as it does not affect the workings of it.
The excaliber takes a lot less time dehydrating as those cheaper ones. I have had both. If the cheaper one is the only way u can afford one then go for it but I am glad i bit the bullet and got a better one. My son tainted it with jerky making and the jerky got done in only hours. I have never seen that happen before. Now i have to clean it up good for my good raw foods.;)

[lavendarJ]

I have the nesco and it has a temperature control dial. I think it was only $50 dollars when I bought it last year at a Wal-mart. It works just find. I don't know what kind of texflex sheets you would buy or where you would get them from. The one thing is... I see why people like the excalibur. Being a square, you have a lot more room for dehydrating (nesco is a circular donut so you have to be creative if you are planning on dehydrating many items at the same time). Also, the excalbur has trays that come all the way out and I've seen people post about putting deep dishes in them when preparing foods.

I haven't used mine 10 times yet (just made some pizza crust in it last week). For now, I am sticking with this one becaue I just don't see myself dehydrating enough and I wouldn't want to spend so much money on the excalibur only for it to sit on the shelf. I remember Rawkinlocs posted a long while ago (when I was trying to decide last year) that she initially started out with a Nesco.

[Eva]

I realize that this is $15 or so out of your price range, but the same one on Alissa's site is also sold with just 4 trays for $115 and is supposedly the King of the Dehydrators. :) Here is a link to where I found it (I haven't even bought it myself as my budget for a dehydrator is approx $0 :))... Oh, and shipping is free over $100, so the price is as is. Just a thought, as long as you'll spend that much anyways.

http://www.rawguru.com/store/raw-food/excalibur2400.html

[Veganforlife]

This was posted earlier from JennaBoBenna (one of our members)
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Hello all!!

I thought I needed a dehydrator to stay on the raw food wagon, and I was so excited when I bought it and when it arrived....and then it just sat there. I've only used it once! I bought it in early January and it's been sitting in my closet for the past couple months.

So, now, I'm selling it so I can pay for my classes this semester.
Details:

$140 +shipping
5 tray black Excalibur
4 Teflex sheets
According to Alissa's site (where I purchased it) it weighs 17 pounds, so you can approximate the shipping cost
My zip is 95123

If you have any other questions, feel free to email me, or comment here!
My email: Duodenum[at]gmail[dot]com


__________________
-Jenna(FORMERLY SMELLYDELLY)

[Damzlfly]

I had the Nesco without the temp control...it was OK and did the trick but I couldn't do breads/crackers etc because of the shape. So I bought a used Excalubur 5 tray and I LOVE it. I've made tons of kale chips, regular sweet potato and zucchini chips, flax crackers...it was on for 4 days straight after I brought it home! I have the paraflexx trays on order but parchment paper works too.

[juliebove]

I have the Nesco. It does have a temp. control. They sell fruit leather sheets for it and this is what you would use to make fruit leather, breads, crackers and nut cheese. You can buy extra trays. I did. Works fine. You can make breads and crackers in it. I just shape them into the size squares I want so I don't have to cut them.

[lori ann]

Hey there,

Thank you so much for all the responses. I knew I could count on you guys the fourm is so great. I am going to take all of your opinions and think about what is the best choice for me. Again thanks.