I was wondering if anyone uses a food dehydrator. I was thinking about asking for one for my birthday in April and was wondering anyone had one or had any suggestions. My son loves dried fruit and I thought this would be fun, healthy, and cheaper than always buying it at the store! There is one on amazon that looks nice- the Nesco American Harvest Snackmaster. Any advice?

We love our dehydrator - one piece of advice is once you buy one (look at the reviews by the way - in the case of dehydrators you can really mess up by buying one that is too cheap and doesn't work well) go to the library to check out recipe book on dehydration.

Erica

I have a dehydrator on my wish list right now. My dad uses his all the time and I want one so bad. The dried fruit is always my favorite and since dh hunts, making jerky would be good for us.

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Proud mommy to adorable Kinsley

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good question....ive always wanted one too...i love dried fruit especially!!!

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Jaime

"Live each day like its your last"

I use mine mostly in the summer. I dry herbs, fruits and veggies. I know someone that dries flowers for crafts. Other people make jerky with theirs.

Homemade Jerky is the BEST!!! We do have a CHEAP dehydrater but it works for the beef jerky!!! I am glad you posted this - I think I am going to get that thing out and make us some jerky. How do you all do fruit on yours???

Thank you for your replies! I have looked at a lot of reviews on Amazon and epinions. The Nesco models seem to have good reviews. I am considering the Snackmaster FD-60 and the model that is one up from that from the "Professional Series". Do any of you have any specific brands to steer clear of or that you have had success with?

Also thanks for the cookbook idea. Does anyone make fruit leather? What kinds of fruits and veggies have you had success with? I really want one and I want to make an informed decision. Thank you!!

I received the Nesco Snackmaster as a Christmas present from my MIL. It works great BUT the recipe book that comes with it is way wrong. I followed the instructions exactly and my apples came out tasting like lemons and my bananas were a yucky brown. I was bound and determined not to give up hope. I went to the library and found a wonderful book called Making and Using Dried Foods by Phyllis Hobson. Not only does it tell you how to dehydrate foods/meats/flowers/crafts by machine but also using natural sunlight. It also gives you recipes to use your dehydrated goods in (ex. dried apple pie, dried banana nut bread). This book was so awesome that I plan to buy it. (I copied several pages for the time being.)

Hope this helps!