I have had the 5 shelf Excalibur for over 20 years. I tried one of those round types when I picked up a brand new one, still in box at the SalVal for 5.00. To compare the 2 is like comparing apples to oranges. It depends on what you will be using the dehydrator for. I use the Excalibur for drying crafts as well as foods, so I need one that has the features the Excalibur offers. Such as yesterday, I made soap and dried the bars in the dehydrator. With the Excalibur you can use all the trays , some trays or remove them all for taller applications like raising bread or making yogurt and you cannot do that in round models, or at least the one I picked up cheap. If a part gets broken I can order replacements and the cheaper ones don't have a 10 year warranty. I saw on the Excalibur site the Economy 4 tray is one sale and lower priced than the Nesco Pro right now. I found that in the round types ones the food trays lower dried faster and you were constantly moving tray for even drying, you don't need to do that in the Excalibur. Dehydrated green beans with ham and potatoes is awesome. Dried strawberries are intense, and I always make a big batch of dried soup veggies , as those mixes are so pricy to buy. Both manufacturers have recipes/ideas on their websites, maybe those can help you decide.

Yes, these were men who made the decision to do pot luck. and likely the one woman on the board who always buys something to take to a pot luck because she doesn't cook....at all! Last night another woman asked me why they didn't want us to cook....I told her that XXX just didn't want to....she said "you know I really don't think he's very smart"...LOL! The only ones for whom pot luck will be cheaper is those with 2 or 3 kids. So the way this will go is....people will bring a dish when they come to church. Church is at 10:30 but Sunday School is at 9:30 and we have 2 very active adult Sunday School classes and choir practise early. So the kitchen help (not me!!!!) will strive to keep hot dishes hot and cold ones cold for 2 1/2 to 3 hours and then put it all out on the table at noon.....which means there won't be much that I will want to risk eating but rolls and jello salad....because I know if that has been kept cold, because it won't be melted!! I exaggerate a little, but the will be several versions of corn pudding, which I won't eat when I don't know how it's been stored, greenbean casserole...yuk!...several chicken, canned soup and noodles things....which I won't eat unless I know it didn't sit out too long. But I can always eat pie! Unless it's a custard pie....and cake!!...Oh and cookies! So I won't go hungry!

I'm the polar opposite of Grainlady. I don't particularly care for kitchen gadgets (although Elery does) and seldom use them, opting for basic knives, pots, etc. I LOVE my Nesco, though. I have the 6 quart and the 18 quart and I use both of them regularly. I don't have a toaster oven, a counter top convection oven, etc., although Elery does have a countertop rotisserie oven. Of course he does. (grin) The 6 quart does a wonderful roast chicken, and I use it in place of a crockpot. I can cook outside in it when it's hot and the kitchen is steamy, which was an issue in my old house, although for the first time ever I'm living in a house with air conditioning, so it might not be an issue this year. I've cooked in the garage, I did lamb on the back porch so I could avoid the smell, and I've dragged it to my daughters' houses when they were short on space. I use it for additional cooking/oven space on holidays, although now I have double ovens, so I might not have to do that either. The big one I use to simmer large batches of stock for canning or freezing, to make the baked beans or au gratin potatoes for family parties (we have a lot of those, we like to get together, what can I say), I've used it to bake brownies when my oven was on the fritz and I can take it with me and just plug it in and not take up kitchen space when we're at one of the girls' houses. We took it with us when we did Christmas with Elery's family too, so we didn't mess up the oven/stove assignments at his son's house. So I'd say yes you need one, although I would encourage you to borrow one for this particular gathering and see how you like it. You very well might decide that you need one after all. Annie

Looking good Ricky!! I hadn't heard of Rub Bagby but I gargled him and he certainly has an impressive resume. I don't recall seeing his Swamp Boys sauces in the stores around KC either but there are so many to choose from that I may have missed it. I'll have to keep an eye out for it. Not many mustard based sauces around here. Arthur Bryant's original is probably the best known....some people love it and others really hate it. The only time I stop smoking meat is in the coldest part of winter when it can be hard to keep the temperature up. I did about 7 lbs. of pork belly burnt ends last weekend which turned out great.