{raw food equipment} Dehydrators: Excalibur (Premium) vs. Nesco (Budget) vs. Weston (Stainless Steel)

After using MANY dehydrators, I’ve put together information about the best options and values for you here, with info on where to buy, costs, and why I like or dislike different details. I hope you find it helpful and look forward to hearing from you if you have any questions or comments on this! xxo~Eva

I have owned the 4-tray, 5-tray, and 9-tray Excalibur dehydrators.

My favorite are the 5- and 9-tray models, but those may not be YOUR favorite! I’ll tell you why…

The 4-tray Model

I actually liked the 4-tray quite a lot. It’s MUCH smaller than the 5-tray because it’s less wide AND long. It was my first dehydrator ever! It’s not just 1 less tray. Which is great for someone who is single or doesn’t have much space. My mom loves hers and says my 5- and 9-trays are too big and clunky.

The 5-tray Model

I bought the 5-tray D when I went to live in Hungary for an extended period. I had it specially made for Hungarian voltage and plug size. (You just contact Excalibur directly to do this, and they will adjust the plugs and voltage for you at a reasonable fee.) I was SO thankful for this! I don’t know that I could have remained raw without it. When I left Hungary in 2008, I gave the dehydrator to a friend who wasn’t able to afford one of her own. She has since created a booming business teaching others the gourmet raw food fun, and has written a published uncookbook! People in Hungary special order from the USA to get the Excalibur in particular, because it is so darn fabulous.

The size of the 5-tray was great for me to make food for myself AND share it with friends and family.

The 9-tray Model

My 9-trays are perfect for teaching classes when I am demonstrating many different foods at once. Every raw restaurant I have taught at or attended classes at has had many 9-tray Excaliburs. With one exception, which I will talk about below. It was in Ohio, and unfortunately the health department there has some particular rules which don’t exclude the Excalibur, but because they were not “certified” by a certain board, they can’t be used.

The Timer

I have found that the timer is completely unnecessary, although some will disagree. If you will be away from home very frequently and would need it to be turned off, then it would come in handy for you. It’s also quite inexpensive to buy a timer at a local hardware store that can be attached to the plug for the dehydrator.

Teflex Sheets

Make sure you buy the ParaFlexx/Teflex sheets for each tray. Otherwise, you will have to “Jerry Rig” the D to make crackers, which is interesting, but gets old quickly!

Nesco is a great budget option, starting at as little as $50!

Nesco Dehydrator

I tested the Nesco 6-tray dehydrator for a client. I tested it with the same recipes and time for the Nesco vs. a 9-tray Excalibur. I found they pretty much dehydrated everything the same, in the same amount of time!

The biggest issue with the Nesco was the fact that it is circular, which meant I had to be very creative with pizza and crackers, in terms of cutting the shapes. It had a temperature knob and everything, so it’s still great for a raw foodie, just isn’t as great as the Excalibur for certain things and making food in bulk quantities.

The Nesco is only about $50-$75 and ships free for people in the USA who buy on Amazon.com. It is a GREAT option for someone on a tight budget who is really jonesing for pizzas or the other indulgent dehydrator yummies!

{accessory} Nesco – Add a Tray

Add a tray One of the really cool things about the Nesco dehydrators is that most of them can be expanded, so you simply add a tray! How cool is that!

{accessory} Nesco – Fruit Roll Sheets

Fruit roll sheets Two of these sheets come with the dehydrator. They are not just for fruit rolls, they are also for crackers and most breads. So if you think you will make more than two trays at a time, you will want to buy additional trays.

{accessory} Nesco – Clean-a-Screen Tray

Clean-a-screen tray Two of these come with the dehydrator, and in my opinion more would likely be unnecessary if you have enough of the fruit trays. There is a tray of course, this just adds a layer to make it easier to clean. Things like stuffed mushrooms, it is not helpful or necessary. You may want to test this out for yourself to see if it would be a help to you to get extra clean-a-screen trays.

Weston has a no-plastic dehydrator, but it was not my favorite.

Weston Stainless Steel Dehydrator

I tested a Weston stainless steel dehydrator for a raw restaurant in Ohio that I traveled to train the staff and help get it open.

I hated it. The trays had so much space in the holes. It didn’t come with the option of Teflexx sheets for making crackers, and was overall a pain to deal with because of that.

For those who do not want to use any plastic at all, it is a good option, but you will have to be VERY creative to use it for crackers, breads, even drying nuts that have been soaked.

I think Excalibur beats them all, hands down! But I love that there are other options for those on a budget or who would prefer not to use plastic.

Final Thoughts

At a raw food workshop I attended in London in 2008, I was in Chad Sarno’s kitchen at SAF and they had ROWS and ROWS of Excaliburs only. The restaurant in Florida where I was a teaching chef used only Excalibur. It’s simply the best option in many cases if you can afford it, and it’s not really that expensive in the grand scheme of things because they last for forever it seems!

But if you don’t even HAVE the money in the bank for it and are struggling to stay raw, the fact that you can spend $50 and enjoy a Nesco 6-tray dehydrator for that little, is truly fabulous!

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