I started backpacking as a kid in the Boy Scouts doing overnighters. I used to hate it with a passion. In the last few months, I have caught this bug that wants me to go out and see things that a relatively few people have seen. This has drawn me back to backpacking. I have found it to be the most enjoyable thing I know. I have gotten my wife involved and we get out and hike at least once a month. I generally carry about 40 lbs (18.14 kg) for a weekend trip.

I tested this dehydrator in my kitchen making everything from fruits and veggies to beef jerky. I have not yet used it to dehydrate any liquids. I think the next thing will be spaghetti sauce. I received this dehydrator several years ago as a gift because I grew up with a custom box dehydrator as a kid. We always had dehydrated fruit and beef jerky around for snacks. I have been using this dehydrator ever since. The dehydrator measures 34.5 cm (13.5 in) across and is shaped like a cylinder. Each tray is 3.25 cm (1.25 in) tall. This height has been adequate for me, as the items that I dry are very thin to speed drying. The dehydrator uses a fan at the bottom as well as a heating element in the bottom. There is no temperature control and I have had no problem with the factory heat setting.
This dehydrator does a speedy job of most vegetables and other items. I was truly surprised at how much faster this dehydrator worked than the one I grew up with. The manufacturer states that bananas take about 12 hours, apples take 6 hours, and potatoes take 12 hours. I would agree with all of these numbers. They also claim that beef jerky is done within 6-8 hours, but I have found this number to be optimistic. If I put in jerky in the evening, it is usually ready about 12 hrs later. I have had no experience with uneven drying, so I do not rotate trays. This has led me to putting it in when we are preparing dinner and then I can take it out before I go to work in the morning. I have never had to rotate trays with the items I have dehydrated, so this saves a trip to the kitchen in the middle of the night.
The dehydrator comes with a power cord that is long enough to reach the closest outlet in our kitchen. It is listed at 40 inches and measures the same. It comes with four trays and one plastic non-perforated sheet for liquid items. The only problem I have with the dehydrator is the tray design. The trays have a grid with spaces that are so big that small items like corn and diced vegetables like onions or carrots fall through the screen of the trays. These spaces measure as large as 8 mm (.31 inches) wide and are 15 mm (.59 inches) long. I use the plastic insert on the bottom tray to keep everything from falling below the bottom tray. The manufacturer could either put four of the liners in with it or they could redesign the trays with more of a grid design that keeps the food in place. The manufacturer does sell additional plastic trays in their instruction manual or on their website, but I think there may be less expensive solutions. I have used other dehydrators that use metal window screen as the grid that the items to be dehydrated sit on. Someone using this dehydrator could cut out metal window screen using the plastic sheet as a template and lay that over the trays. This would allow for air circulation, but I am not sure of the metal content in the screen. I don’t know if there is an issue in using a metal screen in a heated environment next to food. I would assume not when most cookware is metal. This may be an adaptation that would easily fix the issue. I have not tried this solution, but it would be inexpensive enough to try.
Also, I have found that the four trays are never big enough to dry as much as I would like, so I end up doing several batches. There are more trays available at an additional charge as well as the plastic inserts, but I always like to buy things with everything that would be needed included in the original packaging. This is a pretty affordable unit that has held up well for me and has saved me a ton over commercial snacks.
I recently planned for a trip around Mt. Hood in Oregon and purchased 5 lbs (2.27 kg) of rump roast. This created over 2 lbs (.91 kg) of beef jerky. I always freeze my beef jerky before going on the trail so that the only time for it to mold or become rancid is the time I am on the trail. I like to use the beef jerky at all meals to keep the protein levels high. This has reduced my use of packaged tuna and chicken, thus reducing weight. My wife will eat my beef jerky, but not the tuna. I find that the beef jerky will last without refrigeration for about a month, but because I like to do it well ahead of time, I freeze it to keep it up to a year. This allows me to purchase the rump roast when it is on sale. I also dehydrated frozen corn. I just threw it in the dehydrator while it was still frozen. Cut and pour, what could be easier? It came out fantastic. When I dehydrated 2 lbs (.91 kg) of corn, it decreased in weight to about 4 oz (113 g). I had enough for two people for three meals. It took about 6 hours to fully dehydrate it and it hasn’t ever molded or gone bad. When rehydrating, I put it into the water while I am boiling it. I find adding the corn to the pot of boiling water easy to clean and it doesn’t make it much extra work in after-meal cleanup. When I then add it to my meals and let it sit, it is then rehydrated enough to be very tasty. If it is not fully rehydrated, it is slightly chewy, but the flavor is still excellent. This is a great way of adding a fresh flavor to many meals on the trail.

My reason for dehydrating was to save money over using the commercially available freeze-dried meals. While there is definite money savings, the time for rehydration of food that is dehydrated is longer than the freeze-dried meals. I have seen many backpackers carry their rehydrating food in a plastic jar or bottle during the day while they are hiking. This may make the use of strictly dehydrated meals a little heavy in the long run as you are going to be carrying the hydrated weight all day. My conclusion, as someone who is trying to remove weight from my pack, is to still use the commercially available meals, and supplement them with dehydrated foods that rehydrate readily and quickly (e.g. corn, sauces, etc.) and using foods that do not need rehydrating (e.g. beef jerky, bananas, apples, etc.). The use of the dehydrated food in this way will add flavor, variety and a bit of do-it-yourself appeal.