Best Food Dehydrator for under $100.00

Don Rearic

Don Rearic

Joined
Oct 8, 1998
Messages
8,917
Looking to purchase one and make some beef jerky, dried fruit and ultimately, a whole lot of pemmican. :D

Any ideas and sources?
 
After purchasing a rather high end dehydrator several years ago my wife and I have since concluded the little chief smoker makes much better jerky and the oven makes much better dried fruit (and decent jerky as well). Just set the oven to about 150 and prop the door slightly open with a canning jar lid. We use metal window screen mesh for trays. The dehydrator just didn't impress us.
 
Thanks for responding, is that the brand that Cabela's carries?

Also, how much meat will that thing hold at once?
 
Take a look at the Nesco FD-75PR. I bought it off the recommendation of the author of this book, and am very happy with it. It is expandable to 12 racks or some ridiculous amount, and has a fan and heat that can handle just about anything. Adjustable heat, fruit leather inserts, easy cleaning. They can be bought for around $70.
 
If you live in a apartment and just want to mess around with drying meat your conventional oven will do a fine job. A few things to keep in mind though,

Heat is the enemy, heat cooks, you want dried. If you get cooked then you risk ending up with rancid meat.

Moisture and humidity are the enemy. What little heat you need from the oven is to get the moisture and humidity out of the meat and the air. Many people confuse this and end up messing up their meat.

Air movement is much more important than temperature, In fact you can just hang thin strips of red meat in you living room with a small fan at room temp for a couple days and get really good results.

Flies laying larva is also a huge enemy, air movement and light smoke will prevent this if your outside and have fly issues.

If you have a yard, The cow is the limit. Remember the Sioux and other natives dried many buffalo at one time on the prairies of America. The smoke was to slightly raise the temp and hold back the flies. Natives in Alaska to this day dry all the Salmon with nothing more than a tarp roof, open for the breeze, and a small fire to create enough smoke to keep the drying area free of flies. The small smokey fire also raises the temperature slightly on cool nights but as long as the air is moving the temperature is of no real matter as your not cooking, you're drying.

Step 1. Clean your meat, the thinner you slice it the faster it will dry. I prefer long thin strips because its easier to hang.

Step 2. Brine, Brine can be any made up of any number of ingredients but the key is always salt. I typically use soy sauce, I have also had good luck with soy sauce mixed with pineapple jelly. I cowboy measure everything so I don't have a specific mix but salt and water mixed together will make a fine brine mix and in emergencies you can skip that process if you have no salt. The mix should taste very salty but not salty enough that you cannot gargle with it. Sugar and honey are fine to mix but again, you're main ingredient is salt. Most people soak in brine for 12 hours but longer is OK if you have control of the temperature.

Step 3. Have a clean place to hang your meat, moving dry air, maybe some smoke to keep the bugs back. While most do not recommend hanging meat in the sun I have seen this done with good results.

Step 4. After your meat is dry, if you live in a high humidity environment you will need to be very careful for long term storage. Vacuum pack and freezing has worked for me in the past. If you live in a cool and dry environment just put the meat in paper bag or some kind of large cotton breathable bag and keep rodents out of it.


If I was going to spend money to preserve meats and other foods I would spend it on a Vacuum Sealer. My views are based on personal experience, for the record I had dried beef fried like bacon, beans, buttered toast, and coffee for breakfast in the past 24 hours.
 
Another thing to mention is that you can get some dried fruits at Trader Joe's that are 100% fruit with no additives. I buy granny smith apples, cherries, white peaches, and a couple other things there since they are WAY cheaper than if I do it myself. One bag is maybe $4 and is an equivalent amount to buying a flat of fruit at Costco for $8-10 and drying it myself. I think my stuff tastes a bit better, but not enough to justify the price difference for as much as I eat dried fruit. One of these days I'll take some pics of their dried stuff and post a thread about it.
 
Bubbanumber1 said:
Step 2. Brine, Brine can be any made up of any number of ingredients but the key is always salt. I typically use soy sauce, I have also had good luck with soy sauce mixed with pineapple jelly.
Click to expand...

How easy can I go on the salt?

When my Dad was alive, he had real crockpots. I mean, we think of crockpots nowadays like my Hamilton Beach and Rival models, I mean, he had CROCKS! He had three that nested inside of each other and the largest one was about 35 gallons. I mean it was HUGE. Hell, he even had a real butter churn but I can't remember him ever making butter or heavy cream in it.

He knew how to make his own sauerkraut and pickles, you name it and he made it. I remember the large boxes of rock salt when he would salt lean, boness pork chops and can them. His canning rig was a thick-walled aluminum pressure cooker that was probably a 10 gallon unit.

Some of the stuff he made was so damned salty I could barely eat it, he just had this mad love affair with salt, to say the least.

If I was going to spend money to preserve meats and other foods I would spend it on a Vacuum Sealer.
Click to expand...

And the only reason you didn't see a second thread with the title of "Best Food Bag Sealer for under $100.00" is because I already know that you can't go wrong with a Tilia or a Rival Brand food sealer unit. Makes good first aid kits and survival kits too!
 
Bubbanumber1,
Just wanted to say thanks for that info. Very informative with no fluff. :thumbup:
 
If you were asking about the smoker, yes cabelas carries it as do most sporting goods stores. The little chief holds 20lbs of meat. Much better jerky than the dehydrator. Plus it's way more fun and well under $100.00.
 
I have a RONCO and Mr.Coffee

The only difference is the RONCO doesn't have a fan
And it's A LOT quieter

The Mr. Coffee has a small fan on the bottom to help circulate
In the beginning it was quiet
After about 500 hrs of use, I guess the ol' ball bearings started to wear out :eek:
It's not earth shattering loud
But it's louder than the RONCO

I think the models with the fan circulate the heat faster and more even
(You still have to rotate the racks for both)

Just something to think about when making a purchasing decision
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top