Food Dehydrators Buyer’s Guide for 2020

Nowadays, eating healthy food is becoming more and more popular. Buying a good food dehydrator can help you get a little closer to that healthy life style.  That way we can eat a lot more and not worry about junk food. Having a small snack with some dried fruits or even a beef jerky can help you feel more full.

However, we shouldn’t forget about being active. So many people have sedentary type of jobs, which is not good for the health. One of the things you can do the ease that process is to eat healthier, and as we are sure you can guess some of the healthiest types of foods are the fruits and vegetables.

So instead of eating chips and other types of snacks, why don’t you get some dehydrated fruits or veggies? You might think, that they are not tasty or they require a lot of effort, but you can make them with easy in your home. They are not expensive, and quite easy to use. Some of them have adjustable temperature and timers making drying fruits and veggies a lot more easier. Having a timer is almost vital in some cases as some of the fruits and other types of food would require a lot of time to dry. They could require even 20 hours. Although not everybody needs a timer it could be worth considering it.

This could take a bit of your time and you can have healthier and even testier snacks at your home or work and feel a lot better during your day-to-day activities.

Nesco FD-75A Snackmaster Pro – Best Food Dehydrator for 2019

This model is a great choice. It comes with many of the great features that is making those machine one of the best choices on the market for 2019.  It has top mounted fan and it has 600 watts of drying power. It generates a lot of speed. It can be used to dehydrate fruits, vegetables, and other foods and it will help you dry the fruits and other foods in a matter of a few hours. The times for dehydration varies depending on the amount and type of food you wish to dehydrate.

This dehydrator comes with its patented drying system that forces the air down the exterior pressurized chamber and then goes through each of the individual trays. This helps for faster and better dehydration.

Some of the small details that are making this one a top pick are that the trays can remain as they are, you don’t need to switch them, the flavors won’t mix. The top fan helps liquids not dripping into the heater chamber. Also an opaque Vita-Save exterior helps the blocking of harmful lights to keep more of the food’s important nutrients. There is also an adjustable thermostat (95-160 degrees F) which provides a lot of flexibility to provide great results.

There are 5 trays, that come with the dryer and it can be expanded up to 12 trays in total

Also there are more accessories : two fruit roll sheets, which can be used for drying semi-liquids like soups, there are also two flexible screens, they allow for a  drying of smaller items like spices, and three original jerky spice packets for making jerky.

The price is good, the design is clean and stylish looking, and its built quality is also good.

PROS:

• Good design
• Works quietly
• Easy to clean and use
• Lightweight
• Provides good temperature for a quality dehydrating

CONS:

• Lacks timer
• The temperature sometimes can be a bit off

Nesco FD-60 Snackmaster Express

This is another product by Nesco. This dryer has the same design, it comes with top mounted fan and 500 watts of power. This ensures quality and fast dehydration of fruits, vegetables and even jerky. It dries the food in few hours. However that really depends on the food and the amount of water it has in it.

This one is relatively smaller and more compact than the previous one. Yet you can still fit a lot of things inside.

The dehydrator comes with 4 trays, but it can be expanded to 12. It comes also with fruit roll sheet and 2 original flavor jerky spice and cure packets.

This one has the same way of working. The hot air is forced horizontally across each tray, converging in the core, which allows fast and sure drying. There won’t be flavor mixing and you won’t need to rotate the trays. The thermostat can be changed from 95 to 155 degrees F. There is also a vita-save exterior that helps block harmful light.  The top fan prevents liquids from dripping into the heating chamber.

It doesn’t have a timer, so you have to make sure that you check them and leave them in there.

The other thing that you have to note is that you have to be careful with the thickness of the slices, if they are too thick you might need to reduce the thickness.

PROS:

• Good design
• Easy clean-up
• Lightweight

CONS:

• No timer
• Less power

Excalibur 3900B – Food Dehydrator

Okay, we are stepping in a different area here. It comes with 9 trays. The trays don’t need to be rotated. This is 15 square feet drying space, this is a lot of space for a lot of food. This is a big one, and you really will feel the extra space that is available.

It is a great option for bigger families and parties. This model is quite easy to use, just load the trays and set the temperature. It dries all the trays evenly. You can remove the trays as needed to increase the height.

It has polyscreen tray inserts to prevent foods from sticking to trays. It comes with 600 watts of power. It comes with a 7 inch fan, and built-in on/off switch. The thermostat is adjustable going from 105 up to 165 F.

The design is good, it’s easy to use but it is on the pricey end.

PROS:

• Big capacity
• Easy to clean
• Adjustable thermostat
• Overall great value

CONS:

• Noisy
• No timer

Hamilton Beach 32100A – Budget Food Dehydrator

This one is another great option. Especially if you are on a budget and are looking for an affordable product this one could be worth taking a look at. It has good price and great design. The dehydrator comes with a timer (up to 48 hours with an auto shut-off) and it has temperature control too (100-160 degrees F).

The controls are easy to use, one button to choose the timer or temperature and two buttons to adjust the setting, and another one to start. It is 500 watts and 5 drying trays that are stacked on top of each other.

It is great option to dry fruits and vegetables. It provides even and quick dehydration of the food. You do not need to rotate the trays. It comes with two specialty sheets for added versatility. One perfectly suited for drying small food or herbs and another one that is perfect for fruit rolls.

PROS:

• Digital temperature control
• Timer
• Good value
• Easy to use and clean

CONS:

• Noisy

Presto 06301 Dehydro – Digital Electric Food Dehydrator

This dehydrator comes with six-trays that can be further expanded to 12. This model is a really compact one especially when not in use as the trays can be nested. One of the great features of this model is that it has digital timer and a thermostat that can provide precise temperature control (starting from 90 and going up to 165 F) and it is 750 watts of power.

It has see-through cover to see the food and the bottom mounted fan and provides good dehydration so there’s no need to rotate the trays. The trays and cover are dishwasher safe.

This model is really easy to use and the timer provides for a easy dehydration of fruits or other items that might need more time in order to prepare them. However the only downside is that it is on the noisy side, but that seems to be a frequent issue found with those type of machinery.

PROS:

• Good build quality
• Digital Timer
• Adjustable thermostat
• Compact
• Good Value

CONS:

• Noisy

Nesco FD-1040 Gardenmaster – Large Food Dehydrator

This model is one little beast. If you are looking for a powerful dehydrator capable of preparing insane amounts of dried food this might be worth taking a look. It comes with 4 trays only, but it can be expanded up to 20 trays.

It has digital timer (up to 48 hours) allowing you to cook even food that needs longer time without worrying. Also it arrives with a adjustable temperature control ranging from 90 up to 160 degrees F. It is 1000 watts and a great air-flow that will help in the quick preparation of the food.

It comes with top mounted fan, which eliminates the liquids dripping into the heather chamber. It has a good build quality and the design is up to par. There is no flavor mixing. No need to rotate the trays too. The opaque exterior blocks the light to retain more nutrients.

PROS:

• Powerful
• Great design
• Easy to clean
• Digital Timer
• Adjustable Thermostat

CONS:

• Big
• Noisy