Hey everyone,

I'm sure this subject has been hashed out before, but I guess I'm too lazy to search for it this morning. Kicking around the idea of dehydrating my own food for my trips. I would like to add some variety and creativity to my meals. I'm a bit of a foodie and amateur chef so this appeals to me. Also my wife is strictly gluten free so this would open up some meal options.

So question is, for those of you who dehydrate, what dehydrators are you using? I have a drying feature on my oven, but I figured I'd like the idea of setting and forgetting on a dedicated unit. So far what I've seen is that the Excalibur seems to be a favorite among most outdoors folks. How many trays do you like to have as well?

Thanks in advance!

I have a basic Nesco and for a week or two before each of 1 to 3 trips a year it's fine. Stores easily, does the job, easy to clean. No regrets.

I have an Excalibur with 9 trays, no timer. It's fantastic, but probably overkill if you're just going to do meals for trips. It gets used the most for things coming out of the garden or off the fruit trees.

They currently have a refurbished 4 tray model on their site for $90

Refurbed Unit

dbl post

I use an Open Country digital dehydrator. It's got a timer and heat setting which comes in handy. Just dehydrated some chicken yesterday and it worked great

Thanks for the suggestions. I'm leaning towards the Excalibur 5 tray, but that 4 tray refurb looks like a good deal.

Blatz,
How do you dehydrate your chicken? From everything I've read, it seems like it's tough to rehydrate well.

quote Walleye6: "Thanks for the suggestions. I'm leaning towards the Excalibur 5 tray, but that 4 tray refurb looks like a good deal.


Blatz,
How do you dehydrate your chicken? From everything I've read, it seems like it's tough to rehydrate well."

Yes that's why I switched from dehydrated over to buying freeze dried and making up two person servings. FD hydrates easier.

I have a Nesco / Open Country / etc FD-75.... the round model with the top mount fan/heat unit and a dial for temp. No timer. Works great. I use it to make fruit leather, jerky, dehydrated chili, drying taco meat, etc.

If you don't go for the excalibur make sure you have silicone leather inserts for all your trays or stock up on parchment paper. By no means should you ever use wax paper, it'll stick to whatever you're drying & you'll eventually throw it all away.

quote Walleye6: "Thanks for the suggestions. I'm leaning towards the Excalibur 5 tray, but that 4 tray refurb looks like a good deal.


Blatz,
How do you dehydrate your chicken? From everything I've read, it seems like it's tough to rehydrate well."

I don't know how Blatz does it, but I buy cans of chicken from the grocery store. They rehydrate very well.

quote Walleye6: "Thanks for the suggestions. I'm leaning towards the Excalibur 5 tray, but that 4 tray refurb looks like a good deal.


Blatz,
How do you dehydrate your chicken? From everything I've read, it seems like it's tough to rehydrate well."

Get the five tray! Having an auto switch is a big plus.

Ended up going with the 5 tray Excalibur with a timer. Found a warehouse deal on Amazon. I guess the packaging was damaged, but when it showed up it was repacked in a plain cardboard box but the unit itself was perfect.

I'll have to start experimenting with some different foods this weekend. I'll probably sort through some old threads to start getting some ideas. Thanks for the advice everyone.

quote Walleye6: "Ended up going with the 5 tray Excalibur with a timer. Found a warehouse deal on Amazon. I guess the packaging was damaged, but when it showed up it was repacked in a plain cardboard box but the unit itself was perfect.


I'll have to start experimenting with some different foods this weekend. I'll probably sort through some old threads to start getting some ideas. Thanks for the advice everyone."

Fruits and veggies are easy to do and start off with. You can do sliced strawberries, kiwi, and apple rings. For veggies I do a lot of bell peppers, mushrooms and frozen veggies. For the frozen ones just open the bag and place on the trays frozen. You may have to cut up some of the larger pieces but otherwise turn it on and dehydrate the frozen veggies. .

Good luck with all of your dehydrating.

Lots of good sites with loads of info. Here's a few to get you started.

Trail Food

Trail Cooking

Backpacking Chef