Hi all!

I'm in the process of going Raw (maybe not all Raw, I'm shooting for 80% raw, 95-99%vegan). One of the things holding me back is the lack of variety of foods since I don't have a dehydrator to make my own and its too expensive to visit the raw foods restaurant here weekly.

So before I splurge and buy myself a dehydrator, I was hoping I could get recommendations. I would like one that is simple to use and not overly expensive. However, I don't want to buy a good one knowing that a year from now I'll be wanting a great one - especially if the costs only differ by 100 dollars or so (looking at what I've spent at the raw food restaurant over the past two months, its worth the splurge).

Any help is greatly appreciated!

Megs

You can't go wrong with the Excalibur Model #3926T.

http://www.excaliburdehydrator.com/cat7.htm

I have the Excalibur and am very happy with it. You need to make sure you get one with a temperature guage.

Very important, don't forget to order some Teflex sheets. Nothing is more frustrating than getting your new dehydrator only to realize you forgot the Teflex sheets for your raw crackers.

Do you have to use a dehydrator or can you use a regular oven on 100` to dehyrate foods?

most of the serious Raw-Foodists I know swear by the Excalibur.

You could use an oven, but most don't even go as low as required.

I bought my excalibur used so it wasn't so expensive. You could go that route. Plus, I don't have a problem leaving it on for a few days. With the oven, that'd be a different story, I think.

Go to walmart and get a cheap one just to get you started.

As far as using an oven, more than likely they don't go low enough. Even if they did, they don't have air circulating like a dehydrator does.

The 9 tray excalibur is the way to go, but I realize it not cost effective for most. In this case, going with the cheapest dehydrator that walmart sells is the way to go.

I have the excalibur and love it. :)

hi!
i'm thinking about getting an excalibur... i see on the website that the small model says it's the same as the others but with no frills, but i dont see a big difference,

what are the frills?

Go to walmart and get a cheap one just to get you started.

As far as using an oven, more than likely they don't go low enough. Even if they did, they don't have air circulating like a dehydrator does.

The 9 tray excalibur is the way to go, but I realize it not cost effective for most. In this case, going with the cheapest dehydrator that walmart sells is the way to go.
There is no temperature gauge on these kinds so you can't be sure it dehydrates under 118F

Check eBay as well for an excalibur. I bought mine from the company website when they had a sale on them.. but eBay would have been an option otherwise. They are expensive for sure, but SUCH an investment. I have had mine a month and I have made so many goodies- the money I save on dried fruit alone! Not to mention I can make it without all the chemicals and sugars you find on some store shelves. Excalibur has a sale for raw foodist right now, they include free teflex mesh sheets and a guide to dehydrating.

they are coming from the states thou right? i am ordering in canada, so i think i'll get slammed for duty costs. there is a place in canada selling them right now with free shipping... i might go there depending on the prices at the local store.

so what is the diff between the 4 tray no frills model and the bigger ones?

With exaclibur models, even the no frills models are awesome. I personally got the 5 tray small garden dehydrator with the timer (So I can leave the house if I don't get it going before I have to get going!) This one has the "frills" which is simply large trays and a timer.

The MOST important thing you want is a manual temperature dial, which is standard with excalibur dehydrators. The only difference with the smaller 4 tray model is it has smaller trays, and no timer- but this is perfect if you are only dehydrating for yourself and one other person, don't deydrate on a regular basis, or just don't have the room for a larger model. I believe no matter what you get from them, you will enjoy it. :) HTH