I have a Nesco that I love. Others rave about the Excalibur as well, although it's a bit pricier.

I love my excalibur...that said, I wouldn't recommend it for the beginner.
Something the size of a nesco is probably good to start with.
Get used to drying times and temps and then, if you really want to get into it go bigger, like the 9 tray excalibur.
I use mine every fall, we dehydrate a lot of produce, some for us and some for the chickens.
Keep in mind though that dehydrators are great for storing food now, but not so much after SHTF.

I agree with Denob. You should start with the smaller one, especially if you are only using it once in a while. I had a Salton for years and it worked just fine. Although I used it all the time and after a while the plastic trays began to crack and break. I extended it's life by cutting plastic needle point sheets into a circle with a hole in the middle and inserted these on top of the trays. Not perfect but it did work quite well until I upgraded to my Excalibur. Which I absolutely love. The Excalibur's are true work horses. They can run 24 hours a day for weeks on end - no problem.

I have had the Salton for years. They have now upgraded them so got another one. Never can have to many. Besides I kinda like to have back ups, even for my back ups.

My 9 shelf Excal is sitting out in the shed due to it being so big. Plus its earned a well deserved rest. 🙂

I only need the smaller area of a Salton to do the job right now. It takes way less counter space.
Tho with many trays stacked, it must be getting close to the dry space of Excal. 😆

Anyone that has 'broken' trays from the round dehydrators ..save the outer ring!
You now have spacers, in case you want to make yogurt and need the extra high.

Not sure but I think CT has them on sale right now.....you might want to check that out.
The demand was so high lately that they keep bringing more in.
That kinda makes me think (hope) more people are getting smart and putting food back for troubled times.

well, its only been this last month I tried this, and its going to take some more testing of different things but I started using my down stairs propane stove's oven. Its old style with standing pilot lights. The pilot lights going anyway so I thought why not use it? I have been impressed so far. I only have two slideable shelves at the moment that I have laid out stainless mesh on, I will have to build a bunch more if this works, but so far for the small batches I have done its working great.

That’s a very good point. You don’t need to run out and buy a dehydrator because you can indeed dehydrate using your oven. I am not an expert by any means, but I used to do it a fair bit when I was starting out. You just need to remember a few things if you are trying this for the first time. Home dehydrators use heat and air circulation to dehydrate, and most ovens do not have a really low temperature setting or a fan option. Still it can be done. Set the temperature at the lowest setting. In my case it was 175 which is much higher than the recommended temperatures of between 105 to 140 (depending upon what you are dehydrating). The higher temperatures have a tendency to cook the food, which limits moisture removal. So be careful to flip and move the food around more often. If you have more than one slideable shelf change their placement from time to time. Plus I used to leave the oven door open about 6 inches which seemed to keep the temperature down and helped with air circulation. Your food will dehydrate much quicker, somewhere around 4 and 8 hours as compared to the home models of 8 to 12 hours. The biggest problem for me was not being able to use the oven for cooking while doing this. Sure it’s ok if you are only doing one or two batches but if you’re doing a lot it becomes a real pain.

The nice thing about peppercorn’s propane stove is if the electricity goes out you still can use this method. You will not be able to use a home model dehydrator. You could always consider sun drying or a solar oven, both would work but have their limitations as well. Best not to wait for the worst case scenario and stock up beforehand. Plus, if you vacuum seal your dehydrated foods they will last a very, very long time.

Thanks OTG, I picked one up at Cdn Tire last night for kids birthday present. I plan on borrowing it for jerky 🙂

You're welcome Scrounger. Enjoy. 🙂

Btw.. in SHTF times.
Those trays work right fine with no juice comin outta a socket.
That's when only the trays themselves come in handy.

I have set them up and put in several places thru out the summer.
Car or van (for more space) with windows down a tad bit, table out on a covered deck or old door over saw horses in grn. house, etc..
Think you get the idea.
Just put some short pieces of 1x's or 2x's (or what have you) under bottom tray for circulation.

That's where the round type trays are more handy due to spacing. With Excal trays, you have to make spacing all around them if you use just the trays, but its doable.

Years ago I have made screened shelving (2' long x 1' w) that will dry food nicely by/on a wood stove. 4 tin cans on each corner and your set to go.
I had made a unit for them to go into, but only used the shelving in the end. I found it was a pain bringing it in and out when needed.

Then there those little hangers with clip pins on the ends...great for drying socks etc. but way better for drying herbs, etc..
Hang 'em up and fill it (them) up by a wood stove, done in no time. 😉

OTG

Leaving the oven light on while drying foods inside generates enough heat. I made apple 'fruit roll-ups' this way for years (before they were 'invented').