Hi Everyone!
I am new to raw, and have been vegan for about 9 years. So I am looking at getting a few essentials.. namely a food dehydrator! I am only “cooking” for myself, so I am hoping you guys could recommend something relatively inexpensive and suitable for making smaller amounts of stuff.
So gimme some options! I have been doing some research and reading reviews online, but I would rather get opinions from people using them on a regular basis and for similar purposes.. and not, oh I dunno.. Turkey Jerky?
Also, any other essentials you might all recommend for someone new and slowly getting into this? I don’t exactly have a pile of money to invest into new appliances, but I would like to try and go about this properly!
Thanks so much!
loorin.
Comments
Thanks, Beany! I have read a lot about the Excalibur, and I am sure you are right, making the investment now would save my grief later. I have been able to find the 4 tray on ebay for about $110 which I don’t suppose is too terrible in price.
Thanks so much for the insight. I really appreciate it!
Benay, just out of further curiosity.. Do you reserve those items for the 9 tray simply because of the time needed for them?
I did notice it was smaller and it comes with a few sheets. I really have no idea how much I will be using it, since I don’t even own one now! I suppose I should figure out how to figure that out first! I think I will get the 4 or the 5 and then just add a 2nd in the future. like in… december? hehe. Thanks beany!
Thanks, Emtpdmom.. I like a few others didn’t know Excalibur made a stainless one.. Of course at $6000 that may be a bit out of my market.. Hadn’t come across the Sausage Maker before, and will do some more research! Thanks so much for the link! I love the idea of having less plastic in my life, too!
Penfold, That is great to hear someone that has had success with a relatively inexpensive one. I truthfully have no idea how much I will be using the dehydrator.. so maybe getting a $50 to test it out and figure out exactly how much bigger (or not bigger at all) I will need to go. Thank you!
I also have a inexpencive dehydrator that is called Stockli Dörrex, one where you can set the temperature. I think that it works like a charm. And it only cost half as much as ex. the Excalibur. it costed me about $144
It is a round dehydrator with the fan at the bottom, so yes you might need to rotat the trays. But of you make lets say flaxcrakers they need about 10-12 houres in the mashine. So after about lets say 7 houres you check on the crackers and rotate the trays that takes about 3 seconds. Maby they need to be turned as well so rotating the trays wont take up much extra time ;-)
Im new to rawfood too, and I dident want to spend a fortune on mashines. What if I neve got to use the dehydrator ?? then I would feel bad spending so much money on it. Many long time rawfooders also dont use their dehydrator as much anymore. Dryed food is more of a transhision kind of food :-)
So I feel that my littel dehydrator totaly lives up to what I need and can afford. But ofcoures if you are several people in your household eating dehydratet food or you want to dry a lot of fruit, berries, herbs, crakers a.s.o. then ofcourse a bigger and more expencive mashine would be perfect. I gues that you have to look at what you needs are and what they might be in the future.
ShantiLove, that is very good to know. At this point I have been so focused on just eating raw fruits and veggies i haven’t really seen awhole lot of NEED for a dehydrator, other than I am interested in trying a few recipes. I do have a much bigger veggie garden than I expected this year tho.. So I think it might be a wise investment just so all my produce doesn’t go to waste. I am still researching and am so appreciative of all this feedback! I love how everyone is so devoted to the same raw diet.. but approaching it in so many different ways. Thank you!
I am pretty new to raw. I’ve made some simple raw recipes with food processor and blender but I just bought myself a simple dehydrator at a thrift store to start with and try out. It did not come with an owner’s manual so I have no idea how to use it? Plus since I have never used any kind of dehydrator before, I’m REALLY in the dark!
It is white with 4 or 5 trays and it does not have temperature settings, but on the bottom it has a 1,2,3,4 that you can switch to (I think that may be the adjustable vents, I have NO clue!?). It looks kind of like this:
Can anybody help me out please? :)
Thank you very much for your suggestions/recommendations. I bought the cheapo dehydrator just to try out. It was only $4 and went to a good cause so I guess I’ll just try it out and practice with it. emtpdmom and waterbaby, which model of the SausageMaker dehydrator do you have? I just want to make sure I put the right one on my wish list.