Misc I just ordered an Excalibur!!

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bluelady

Veteran Member
My Snackmaster (so old the fan is at the bottom) sounds like the motor is going out, and since I use it all the time dh said to start saving up for a new one, just make sure it uses the same trays.

So I went to look at Nesco prices, and an Excalibur sale popped up. Of course I've always wanted one. But when it dawned on me that I would no longer have to lift a stack of full trays to rotate or check, I got serious. (Getting harder as I get older...twice lately I've had to unscrew the whole thing to clean it because I tilted it with liquid in some trays.)

I told dh that no, the old trays won't work...LOL! But he actually was impressed by the plusses, and said, "Sure, Merry Christmas." Yay!!!!

$190, regular $295. Made in U.S.A.; I don't think I'll burn out this one...LOL!

 
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bluelady

Veteran Member
lonestar09 said:
You might also check the Excalibur website, they have sales and even refurbished ones at good prices.
Excaliburdehydrator.com
Click to expand...

Now that I've ordered, I don't want to know if there's a better deal out there...LOL!

I did check this one on their site and on sale it was I think $200. Still a great deal. The decent Nescos are like $80, and they do burn out eventually. So since we have a bit of money right now I think it's well worth it in the long run.
 
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summerthyme

Administrator
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I burned out three of the round ones (I think the brand was American Harvest? I gave all 12 trays and my last working unit to my son and his wife... it worked fine (except for the incessant restocking of trays to get everythung to dry evenly) for fruits and vegetables, but I burned out a unit a year making dried liver treats for the dogs.

I bought a 5 tray Excaliber (if I was still feeding a family I'd want the larger one, but I manage to dry several bushels each of sweet peppers and onions every fall with no problem) in 2013, and it's going strong ever since. I've dried gallons of the liver treats (I get free organic pork livers from my son) as well as many pounds of chicken livers and hearts.

Well worth the money, IMHO.

Summerthyme
 
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bluelady

Veteran Member
Cardinal said:
Very nice! I still have the old round one with stackable trays, but it was free, so the price was right!
I have dehydrator envy ! :lol:
Click to expand...

My old round one was from a thrift store! I'm still pinching myself. We live in a small house (616 sq. ft.) so I don't can, but instead dehydrate *everything* to save space. Right now I'm organizing our food trying to fit more in, and dehydrating older cans of pumpkin & tomatoes. Plus all the free/cheap veggies we can find. So dh realizes it's an important tool. He likes his food!
 
Cardinal

Cardinal

Chickministrator
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bluelady said:
My old round one was from a thrift store! I'm still pinching myself. We live in a small house (616 sq. ft.) so I don't can, but instead dehydrate *everything* to save space. Right now I'm organizing our food trying to fit more in, and dehydrating older cans of pumpkin & tomatoes. Plus all the free/cheap veggies we can find. So dh realizes it's an important tool. He likes his food!
Click to expand...
I'd love to see some of your "recipes."
I have been experimenting with dehydrating potatoes (MUST blanch or they turn black)
and today it will be sweet potatoes.
Mostly it's for meat, as I like my pemmican.
 
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bluelady

Veteran Member
summerthyme said:
I burned out three of the round ones (I think the brand was American Harvest? I gave all 12 trays and my last working unit to my son and his wife... it worked fine (except for the incessant restocking of trays to get everythung to dry evenly) for fruits and vegetables, but I burned out a unit a year making dried liver treats for the dogs.

I bought a 5 tray Excaliber (if I was still feeding a family I'd want the larger one, but I manage to dry several bushels each of sweet peppers and onions every fall with no problem) in 2013, and it's going strong ever since. I've dried gallons of the liver treats (I get free organic pork livers from my son) as well as many pounds of chicken livers and hearts.

Well worth the money, IMHO.

Summerthyme
Click to expand...
Yes, mine is actually an American Harvest. I had the bigger American Harvest Gardenmaster that I bought new years ago (pre-Y2K, possibly). It met a sad death when (long crazy story) we were living in a different house while not really moved out of the first. In the shuffle it got left on the floor of the old house with food still in it. Of course mice got in, :( and since we couldn't clean inside the motor we threw it away. :(
 
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bluelady

Veteran Member
Cardinal said:
I'd love to see some of your "recipes."
I have been experimenting with dehydrating potatoes (MUST blanch or they turn black)
and today it will be sweet potatoes.
Mostly it's for meat, as I like my pemmican.
Click to expand...

My *recipes* are all on YouTube! I got started dehydrating things besides the usual fruit & veggies from Heidi at Rain Country. Others who have great dehydrating info are Mary's Nest, and Purposeful Pantry who even has dehydrating printables for different items.
They both have websites as well as YouTube channels.

www.youtube.com

Rain Country

Living frugal, natural, healthy, and as self sustainable as possible. Sharing what we do and what we have learned along the way plus healthy recipes, herbal ...
www.youtube.com www.youtube.com

www.youtube.com

Mary's Nest

I teach Traditional Cooking Skills for making "Nutrient Dense" Foods including Bone Broths, Cultured Dairy, Ferments, Sourdough Starter (my foolproof starter...
www.youtube.com www.youtube.com

www.youtube.com

The Purposeful Pantry

The Purposeful Pantry is here to help build a community where dehydrating, canning, food storage, meal planning, meal prepping, pantry organization, and all ...
www.youtube.com www.youtube.com
 
H

hummer

Veteran Member
Cardinal said:
I'd love to see some of your "recipes."
I have been experimenting with dehydrating potatoes (MUST blanch or they turn black)
and today it will be sweet potatoes.
Mostly it's for meat, as I like my pemmican.
Click to expand...
when I had mine I dried lots of sweet potatoes, but made sweet potatoes chips... slice 1/4 in thick, blanch, dehydrate. they were delicious as chips. kids loved them.
 
lonestar09

lonestar09

Veteran Member
Dehydrated and delicious : the complete book on dehyrating by Ron popeil is actually pretty good. I got the book years ago with a cylinder dehydrator from good will. But I do like my Excalibur dehydrator. Picked one up with the timer at a goodwill clearance for $1, that was in the original box but a lady took the box to put other stuff in.
 
Millwright

Millwright

Knuckle Dragger
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Looks like you did good finding one in general.

Went to their site, they are sold out of most things.

Dehydrators - Excalibur Dehydrator

Dehydrators All NEW 10 and 6 Tray Dehydrators DH10SSSS13 ✓ ㊂ BUILT-IN TIMER ✓ ☳ DIGITAL CONTROLLER ✓ ▣ CLEAR DOOR Available Colors Sold out DH10SCSS13 ✓ ㊂ BUILT-IN TIMER ✓ ☳ DIGITAL CONTROLLER ✓ ▣ CLEAR DOOR Available Colors Sold out DH06SSSS13 ✓ ㊂ BUILT-IN TIMER ✓ ☳ DIGITAL CONTROLLER ✓ ▣ CLEAR...
excaliburdehydrator.com excaliburdehydrator.com
 
B

bluelady

Veteran Member
Millwright said:
Looks like you did good finding one in general.

Went to their site, they are sold out of most things.

Dehydrators - Excalibur Dehydrator

Dehydrators All NEW 10 and 6 Tray Dehydrators DH10SSSS13 ✓ ㊂ BUILT-IN TIMER ✓ ☳ DIGITAL CONTROLLER ✓ ▣ CLEAR DOOR Available Colors Sold out DH10SCSS13 ✓ ㊂ BUILT-IN TIMER ✓ ☳ DIGITAL CONTROLLER ✓ ▣ CLEAR DOOR Available Colors Sold out DH06SSSS13 ✓ ㊂ BUILT-IN TIMER ✓ ☳ DIGITAL CONTROLLER ✓ ▣ CLEAR...
excaliburdehydrator.com excaliburdehydrator.com
Click to expand...

Amazon says it's arriving Tuesday, but not shipped yet. And two left in stock. Guess I'd better pray mine is on the "ready to ship" stack!
 
briches

briches

Veteran Member
I just had a friend give me one. Not sure of brand - still in the box. I’m excited to give it a try but not sure where to start. Will check the YouTube videos mentioned above.

How do you store your dehydrated foods? Jars? Will other things work? Thanks!
 
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Jeepcats27

Senior Member
I am looking for best ideas on dehydrating stands.
What do you place your Excalibur on when dehydrating?
It is too big for my counters so that doesn't work for me..
I don't think a wood stand would work. (? fire hazzard)
Finding a metal shelf wide enough hasn't worked out as yet.
What else would work?
I'm embaressed to admit I am currently sitting it on a spare garbage can with no lid but it wobbles and I'm afraid my husband will knock it off.
Thank you for any and all ideas!
 
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