The Nesco food dehydrator falls into the category of "I don't need it but it was an awesome gift." We have had fun experimenting with it and coming up with new creations. I think veggies store better in the freezer if they have been dehydrated first, and one of my kids' new favorite snacks is dried zucchini chips. Yup, zucchini with salt, thinly sliced, makes a great healthy substitute for potato chips. If you are doing a paleo diet, have kids with allergies, or are just trying to eat better, this is a great alternative to more expensive systems.

davesgirl79

Springfield, KY

I bought this dehydrater this past summer thinking we would use it all the time. with as much beef jerky and fruit roll ups as we go through, holy cow watch out! it is easy enough to use and i was able to find some recipies my daughter and i bought could do together. the machine is loud, but we got past it. the things we did make so far (jerky and roll ups) have tasted excellent. I am just having a very hard time trying to fit a use into our lives for this machine. it was spendy, so i would love to get my moneys worth.

sewziemarie

Boise, ID

The products I have used in this dehydrator haven't been the best, but it could just be operator error. They usually aren't done enough or too done. To me, the instruction manual isn't detailed enough. I do like that it is a tower and not like an oven. I also like you can add or decrease the amount of layers. There are also accessories such as the solid tray for fruit leather and a mesh tray for better dehydrating. I've dehydrated only fruits so far and have yet to try any meats. I was able to do pineapple really well as well as apple slices. I tried to do the fruit leather however it ended up pretty crackily, I thought I had it thick enough and i know I went over because I thought I had it too thick. But overall better than using an oven.

smilecurls

Eugene, OR

The drawbacks to this pancake-style dehydrator are few but significant: 1. Manufacture quality is suspect. There is nothing wrong with Made in China per se, but I am referring to Nesco's recall of their Gardenmaster dehydrator which was defective and could smoke/spark/light your home on fire. It was pretty shocking to me and makes me wonder what kinds of corners they cut in making their Gardenmaster dehydrator and if this FD 75PR version was dangerous as well, causing me to get rid of it for fear of setting my own home on fire. Just in case, you know? For more information about the recall, see here: www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml11/11104.html 2. Not as energy efficient as Excalibur or other horizontal fan/heating element mounted varieties that blast air horizontally over trays. 3. Trays are better because they don't have holes in them, making for difficult times making good-looking fruit roll-ups, or pie crusts. The rectangular Nesco sort of helps with this problem by giving you more surface area per layer, but not really.. you have more surface area per layer, but you still have that darned hole. Plus, the Nesco mesh isn't as fine (compared to Excalibur) with the Nesco so tiny little pieces of food or drippings can go from one layer to the next via gravity. 4. Forced air circulation is messed up. The hot air up top picks up humidity and loses warmth as it goes down, so you get uneven heating, which isn't a huge deal, but I would prefer not to have to babysit my dehydrator and manually rotate layers.

strata

Oakland, CA

I just got this dehydrator 3 weeks ago and I don't think I have turned it off since I got it! We have made so many yummy snacks with this. I don't even know how many times my husband has made jerky with this. We actually made some jerky, had some friends over and served it to them. They loved it so much they ended up going and buying the exact same dehydrator the next day. My kids love dehydrated strawberries on there cereal in the morning and dehydrated bananas and apples for snack. We have even dehydrated pineapple and watermelon. All I can say is they all taste amazing! It's so nice just picking up a bag of dehyrdated before we go on a road trip or a errand that is going to take a few hours so that kids will stay happy. We have even made trail mixes with the dehydrated fruit. You don't need this dehydrator but if you have one you will thank me!

linz51

Fort Wayne, IN

I looked at a ton of reviews before purchasing a dehydrator to compare rectangular vs round, timer vs no timer, etc. I decided on this little guy because it wasn't enormous, reviews said it wasn't too loud, and I didn't come across any reviews talking about it catching on fire. I came across some reviews about units almost catching on fire for other brands and steered way clear of those! Anyway, I have started eating more raw foods since the start of the year and wanted a dehydrator because I love to munch on things and I wanted to be able to make my own healthy snacks. It's been 2 months now and this little Nesco has been running 24/7 since I got it!! It's perfect! I perpetually have sliced fruit, veggie chips, flax crackers, fruit leathers, and veggie burgers in it and it's running great!! I keep the temp at 105' so there's really no need for a timer cuz things don't go bad or burn, they just get drier! This is literally the best investment I've ever made!! I haven't bothered really cleaning the trays because it's kind of a pain and it really doesn't need constant cleaning. I wash the fruit leather trays after each use which is much less time consuming. If you are wavering on whether to get a dehydrator or not, I strongly encourage this one!

AllisonMarie

Washington, DC

I grew up loving fresh and dried fruits. A little while ago, I decided to look at the label on the dried fruits and noticed there were a lot of perservatives and didn't like that so I went out and bought a Nesco Professional Food Dehydrator. I went to the store bought apples, oranges, pineapple (in a can), peaches, apricots, and bananas. When i got home, I quickly washed and cut everything up and placed them on the racks. Drying fruits isn't a 20 minute job, it's more of like a slow cooker, takes time. The joyful part of it, you don't have to watch it. The next day I checked on my fruits and everything looks so delicious and tasty. I pulled a few pieces of each rack to taste and it was the best thing ever! Now we use it a twice a month to make a big batch! So worth it!

ejvigil

Agoura Hills, CA

I bought the Nesco Food Dehydrator several months ago. It was on the cheeper side and roughly what I was looking for, so I decided to go with this model. I am using it for making beef and deer jerky. I have used other brands in the past and have had to leave them running all night. Not this one! I put my jerky on in the middle of the day, check it in about 2 hours and the thinner pieces are done. Check back in 4 hours and the medium pieces are done. It only takes about 6 hours, if that, for the thick pieces to be done. The temperature is adjustable right on the top. It is the best money I ever spent for my jerky making needs. I love jerky and make it about ever other week or so, this machine is absolutely wonderful. I would suggest every jerky maker in the world to invest in the Nesco Food Dehydrator. I know someone who has bought one of the lower models and just the same, he loves it. So, any product from Nesco would receive 2 thumbs up from this jerky maker! Also, it is very easy to clean...just soak for an hour in the tub, scrub lightly and rinse. A wonderful Dehydrator!

kaybaby793

Latrobe, PA

I'd always wanted a dehydrator and I finally had the opportunity to get one with a Bed Bath and Beyond gift certificate that I got for Christmas. This dehydrator was super affordable and even though I usually don't go for cheap appliances (in my opinion, this one is pretty dang cheap compared to other ones on the market), I figured I'd make an exception this time since I'm inexperienced when it comes to the world of food dehydration. I've used it three times so far and I can't say I have any complaints yet! I made dried banana and kiwi slices, and they were so yummy. I also dried watermelon, which took quite a while due to the nature of the fruit. Next I'm going to make jerky! I love that the dehydrator comes with a little booklet of hints and recipes, as well as recommended dehydration times and temperatures for different fruits/vegetables/meats! This dehydrator is really easy to clean, which is very important to me. So far, so good!

elizzzthomas

Gainesville, FL

I received the Nesco FD-75PR 700 Watt Food Dehydrator from a friend as a birthday gift, and so far I have used it once to make tofu jerky.  I really enjoy the flexibilty and ease of use - the stackable trays are great and I love that you can put on more or fewer of them depending on the quantity of food that you are dehydrating.  I also like the screens and fruit roll sheets, which I am sure will come in handy for drying pineapple and fruit purees in the future.  My tofu jerky came out much better than I expected and with a great texture, however the entire drying process took much longer than I was expecting based upon the estimated times listed in the manual.  However, the plastic construction of the majority of the unit feels a bit cheap and makes me somewhat concerned that it will not hold up well and may warp if subjected to heavy use.  Also, the trays are somewhat tricky to clean afterwards, with so many food fragments caked on.  However, that is a small price that I'm more than willing to pay for the luxury of making my own healthy, preservative-free jerky and fruit/veggie snacks!

worshipsf

Montclair, NJ