NESCO 5-Tray Rectangular Food Dehydrator, 420W Adjustable Temp Food Dehumidifier with Digital Timer and Bottom-Mount Fan for Beef Jerky, Vegetables & Herbs, FD-5TC

This food dehydrator is an excellent and welcome part of my kitchen. My favorite so far has been the beef jerky I made from a roast sliced by the local butcher, tasty and the perfect consistency. I’ve also dehydrated oranges and bananas, these came out great also, sent a care package to a friend and they love them too. The only reservation is the instructions don’t really take into account the constant high humidity of Missouri. Things were not as dehydrated as I had wanted so I turned to chatGPT for some help, most things need a little more time in the dehydrator before they are jerked or dried. Also, make sure you have dessicant packs available as soon as you package the finished items. If you are in a high humidity climate you will need them. I bought my dessicant from a delivery big box store, it’s reasonable. Good buy.

I researched these dehydrators for a while. I used to have a Nesco that you could dial the temperature on but its footprint was much larger. I have used this once and I love it. It can hold quite a bit and is small enough to have on the counter for storage… it’s quite compact.

I purchased this as I needed it quickly for ripening figs from my 5 trees! My mother and sister have one similar and told me the pros and cons. It was delivered in one day and I started to dry figs that evening. It works wonderfully! Easy to operate, works efficiently and I have dried probably about 250-300 figs. It takes 20 hours but the end result tastes great and I can enjoy all winter! The unit can be used for multiple different fruits, vegetables and even meat for jerky. I am anxious to try out other foods but for now it is figs only! I also like the rectangular shape and that the 5 trays can collapse for easier storage.

This dehydrator is much nicer than my old dinosaur! Its easier to store as its not bulky. It works great! And did i mention the very affordable price!

So easy to use and works really well. Doesn't take up much counter space, since the space is limited in my son's kitchen. The digital readout is easy to see and the time for dehydrating listed in the book was spot on for the recipe we made. The only thing I really don't like about it is that there seems to not be a way to order extra trays to expand our replace if they get broken.

Love it! Reviews say uneven but this is top to bottom not side to side. I just rotate the trays. Only criticism is the trays aren’t dishwasher safe (will melt); they should be lexan like food processor parts.

I am going to have a little learning curve with this item, but should have cranked up the temperature sooner. Because I didn't, the drying took iver 18 hours. I set this dehydrator up in the garage and made some delicious dried tomatoes. Clean up was easy.

It takes much longer to dehydrate than my last dehydrator. However, that one did NOT have programmable temperature settings or the ability to set deh. time, which this one DOES and I appreciate that. I kept the control to slightly above the recommendation for what I was dehydrating, so will adjust up next time. This is a bit smaller than I was hoping for, but it is a rectangle and I like that over my last one which was round. Takes a bit of wrangling to get the extra space between trays when placing food, but once you've got that, it's good. Stacks shorter when you store it.

Arrived safe, no damage. Unboxed and washed trays. Ran the unit for 20 min per instructions to clear out smells. Purchased for fruit and veggies. Put my strawberries in, tried 1/4" and 1/2" slices. only used 2 trays worth. Tried various times and temps. I really wanted this to work. Bottom tray got cremated at the temp instruction booklet said. Top Trap OK. Next load, tried switching tray positions, top/ bottom, this still does not dehydrate evenly. Some dried, some cremated onto tray. Well ventilated area, no obstructions for fan. Fan not noisy, I could tell it was running. I would not recommend due to uneven dehydration and getting the strawberries off the plastic, ( push from underneath ) Do not buy.

I liked the size. The control tabs are small and difficult to program. The trays are flimsey and the cover was broken. I have used it three times with extreme care to dry orange slices and still no luck. I am disappointed in this but beleive that if the trays were better made and the temperature/timer were seperate it could be a great addition to the kitchen.