It looks like you're new to The Community. If you'd like to get involved, click one of these buttons!
Login Here Signup Here Signup using Facebookgreetings everyone! I’ve recently started exploring the raw lifestyle by progressively incorporating more and more raw foods into my diet. I figure a good way to help myself along is to purchase an excalibur dehydrator, but I’m a little uncertain about what size would be the wisest. I live with two roommates but seeing as they are both meat eaters and generally uninterested in food preparation, I will very likely be the only one using the dehydrator and presumably the only one regularly consuming anything thereof. with that in mind, I’m wondering which is a better bet, a 5- or 9-tray, and I figured perhaps some of you lovelies with more experience in the matter would be able to offer some wise counsel! did you end up dehydrating WAY more than you ever thought, and the 9-tray turns out to be well worth it even as a single person, or a good investment for the future anyway? or is a 5-tray totally sufficient?
another thing I’m wondering is if one can dehydrate different foods at the same time, or will flavours mix too much to make that worthwhile? if you can, it makes a 9-tray seem more worthwhile, but if you can only do one thing at a time perhaps it would be a waste of energy.
and one last thing… the other concern I have is, our kitchen is not too large and we only have so many circuits and I’m concerned about the potential of blowing breakers if the dehydrator is left on for the usual extended periods and other current-sucking appliances (kettle, microwave, toaster oven) are used on the same circuit, especially with the large 700-watt 9-tray model. is this something i need to take into account when choosing the size? if anyone has any experience with this, that would be super helpful.
thanks so much for any thoughts or advice! unity, aura
Comments
AWW see talking about dehydrators is a passion of mine…haha
Get the 5 tray…. I here the 9 tray sounds like a steam engine running through your kitchen. Some people get the nine tray and put it in there mud room… I however don’t have a mudroom so I went with the four tray.
I have the 9 tray excalibur and I fill it right up. I prepare foods for myself – but I do one full load once a week, and that’s it! It’s great that I can fill 4 trays with crackers, 4 with sundried tomatoes, and leave it for 12 hours. That way, I get the dehydrating done on the weekend and leave the dehydrator off the rest of the week. It’s a tad loud, but not annoying, and since I run it only once a week, it’s definately no trouble. I don’t think it uses too much electricity – the website mentions kilowatt hours amounts. Lightbulbs suck more electricity per hour than dehydrators, I think.