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.

Try this--it's what I always do with crusty Italian rolls. I leave them in the brown paper bag that the bakery uses for them, and I put the whole thing (rolls and brown paper bag) into a plastic grocery bag and tie it shut. It's the best of both worlds, I find. The brown bag absorbs any excess moisture, so your rolls don't get soggy, the plastic one keeps out the air that makes them go stale. I've found that the fresh rolls I buy at the local place (and I do mean fresh, you catch them, juggling the firey hot rolls, as they come off the conveyer belt from the oven--can't get fresher than that) fresh for days, but in brown paper, they last only one day.

Another who says the meat will be fine... Howa bout a non traditionals tew? Like Italian tos erve over spaghetti? or mexican? Brown the beef, with some onions and garlic and perhaps some chopped green pepper, dump in a can of crushed tomatoes...or 2 cans depending on how much beef you have, add a half a glass of red wint, a teaspoon or so of oregano and about 2 teaspoons of basil, simmer until the meat is tender and serve over spaghetti topped with parm cheese. or for mexican, brown the beef in a little oil, sprinkle with taco seasoning...or do like I do add some garlic powder, some chili powder and some cumin...add a small can of diced tomatoes and a can of Rotel and simmer until tender....serve on a toasted tortilla and top with lettuce chopped tomatoes and cheese or sour cream. Linda C

I agree, jelly is one of the safest things you can preserve, the vinegar and sugar make it mostly above suspicion. Pepper jelly does have the low acid peppers in it, so a specific amount of vinegar for appropriate preservation is required, but that would be my only concern. Fruit spreads including jam/jelly/conserve/preserves are so safe that I can prepare them in my home kitchen and sell them at a roadside stand under the Cottage Food Act here. Unless they are moldy or rancid or obviously spoiled in some manner it's nearly impossible to poison someone with jelly. I'm not allowed to do the same with pepper jelly, because of the low acid vegetable component, but it's still pretty safe as a general rule. Annie