Can anyone recommend a good food dehydrator?

[maggiemae]

Oh and what all do you do with it? TIA

[carfreemama]

I bought the Excalibur 8-tray, the Big Gun, about a year ago. I love it.

It helps me keep from wasting food, for one thing. It also means I have snacks on hand all the time.

I make kale chips; spread olive oil and sea salt on washed kale and dry. Yum. Eat them as-is for veggies-on-the-go or sprinkle them into potato chowder, like dulse.

Wonderful fruit leather. Rolled like jellyrolls with dried yogurt to make "candy." dd loves this.

Don't have time/inclination to make use of something from your garden or CSA? Have too much? Dry it. Baba ganoush (sp?) with dried eggplant is awesome.

Blueberries in season to make dd's favourite--dried blueberries. Chokingly expensive to buy, really cheap to do yourself.

Have a juicer? Use the pulp from beets (and probably other stuff) to make beet powder. Yummy in cakes and cookies or soups.

I forget how much I spent on my dehydrator, but much cheaper to order it from the US (we're in Canada). Bought the dryer sheets, too, for liquid stuff.

I know it was over $300, but it's saved me tons already in food that would otherwise have gone to waste. And I think I've only scratched the surface. Looking forward to drying whole meals for camping!

Bought an excellent book--"Food Dehydrating With An Attitude." Can't give you the author--it and my dehydrator are on loan--but it was a perfect and fun intro. Would not buy a cheapy dehydrator if I could help it.

[elanorh]

Mine is just a Nesco. I've got five trays and a fruit leather tray.

I make dried apple rings, dried bananas (so much better than banana chips), fruit leathers, dried strawberries. Pretty much whatever fruit we have on hand, or if bananas are on sale at the store. The girls are crazy for apple rings and dried bananas.

FIL hasn't had a good pie cherry crop in a couple years; when he does though I plan to pit and dry a TON of sour cherries.

It's a lot of fun to use the dehydrator - it takes up space on our table, but dd2 (3) loves to pick up the apple rings and dip them in the lemon/water solution, then scoop them out with the slotted spoon and put them in the collander to dry before we put them on the drying rack together. It's one of the food preservation jobs (like milling applesauce) which kids can actually assist with.