NESCO Snackmaster Encore Food Dehydrator - Gray for Healthy Snacking

Brenda: I purchased this for my Daughter as growing up she helped me prepare jerky. Nesco has stood up to continous batches since 2004 and still going strong! You can add up to 12 trays! Personally I have preferred 10 trays as that will make 6lbs of jerky.
Unfortunately the jerky gun (that came with the dehydrator) didnt hold up after the first use. But it was still the best deal for the money!

Canada on Jan 05, 2022

R P: I have had this for over 2 months now and have made many batches of dried fruits, fruit leathers, and jerky. It works very well and I have had no problems with it.
A few of the trays came a bit warped, where one side of the tray is above the centre hole and the other half is below the centre. But as long as I line up the low sides of the trays with each other, the spacing is still fine.
The fruit leather sheets have worked well for me. Everything is easy to keep clean. I'm actually quite pleased with this product. As a starter dehydrator it's an excellent choice.

A few things I have discovered that would be preferred to have (the next time I buy a dehydrator):
1. An on/off switch.
2. A timer feature so that I can have it run for like 6 hours while I sleep and then shut itself off.
3. I think I would prefer a rectangle or square tray shape without the centre hole. This is mostly for being able to make fruit leather that doesn't have to be pie shaped. But it's also because with the hole in the middle you lose some space.

Canada on Apr 16, 2021

Bikepacking MamaBikepacking Mama: One star removed because jerky gun is a COMPLETE GARBAGE tool. It broke on the first use, let me elaborate. I filled it, chose the strip head, pushed it out, there is no way to properly screw the ring around the head on, just so you know, no mater how you screw it on, it’s never actually on, so you have to kind of hold it on. It worked the first load. It also holds no more than a cup of meat so this takes for EVER. The second load, the ring popped off, ground meat everywhere, no matter what I did, ( took meat out, wiped inside of ring clean, changed from strip head to sausage head) it changed nothing. Then, the pusher/clicker seized up. It refused to push. I ended up handling that raw meat way more than I’d liked to. Please whatever you do do not use this gun it is an absolute mess. I regret it so bad. There are more reviews that will say the same thing. Go and get yourself a good metal jerky gun.
I ended up having to roll the meat on the counter with a rolling pin and cut it myself.

ANYWAYS/ on to the good parts.
The machine itself is great. I didn’t even know it came with all these extra pieces. You get two screens for herbs or berries, and two trays for fruit...

Canada on Jan 19, 2019

Andee: I have wanted a dehydrator for a long time, but always faltered about whether it would become just another expensive kitchen toy I don't use often. After really thinking about it recently, I decided that I wanted to give it a try. Also decided that I was not sure enough to pay for a more upscale model. I chose this basic beauty and I have to say that it is making all of my dehydrating dreams come true! First the good: (1) The trays really aren't that bad to clean up. I thought that it would be a pain. It isn't. Nothing sticks too much and nothing has really stained it. (2) I love using it. It is just plain fun! It works pretty quickly, has nice variable heat control, and things dry quickly. (3) Things taste great after dehydration. Strawberries! Yum! Beef jerky made using ground meat and sliced meat! Yum! Apples! Yum! Just really fun and tasty.(4) I have been using it a lot. While I have only had it a couple of weeks, I have dried every other day or so. It works great. No problems! The cons: (1) the trays are not as sturdy a plastic as perhaps they could be and I worry that they will eventually break. The grid is flexible and it worries me a little. (2) the jerky gun it comes with...

United States on May 24, 2017

Sionainn: I will admit, I did a lot of research before buying a dehydrator. This is our first attempt at dehydrating and I think it is fair to say that it definitely takes practice and experimentation.
The Nesco Snackmaster came with the jerky gun (cool acessory!), jerky seasoning and cure packets, 5 trays, the fruit roll sheet and the clean-a-screen. We have done a few batches of jerky, some dried bananas and cranberries. The fruit roll sheet isn't just for the actual fruit roll-ups as pictured, it would have been a wise choice with the cranberries as they stuck all over the grates...but that was a user error.

Pro's:
- Quiet to operate.
- Dries foods in a reasonable amount of time, keep in mind that if your food holds a lot of water it will take awhile to dry.
- Lots of accessories are included to experiment with, with the option of adding more trays.
- The included jerky seasoning was actually quite tasty!
- Unit is nice looking, not too large or bulky to store (all of the accessories actually fit inside of it with the exception of the jerky gun)
- Has an adjustable thermostat on top of the unit to control temperature.
- Trays are dishwasher safe (although I...

Canada on Jan 10, 2017

Alexandre DAlexandre D: Quel magnifique produit. Cela fait à peine 11 heures que je l'ai reçu, et mon Nesco Snackmaster m'a déjà déshydraté une livre de boeuf jerky (5 étages de croustilles de pommes et de bananes sont en préparation à l'instant où j'écris ces lignes). Le déshydrateur est ultra silencieux (semblable au bruit d'un air climatisé très silencieux), efficace, compact mais spacieux, ergonomique (en plus du très pratique pistolet à jerky, ainsi que les multiples sachets d'épices qui sont inclus). Vraiment, je n'ai que du positif à dire sur cet appareil. Je suis extrêmement satisfait de mon achat, et je le recommande à tout le monde.

Canada on Dec 02, 2015

Michelle: I have never used a dehydrator before, but grew up watching my mother use hers and hearing my sister rave about hers. So I was on a mission to find a good one that was easy to use for first time users. I looked at many dehydrators and reviews and settled on this one. When I opened the box and began to wonder what to do it became intimidating, but I was determined to figure it out and start using it.

I am very excited to report that the manual was a breeze to understand and I had the dehydrator together and was ready to use it. I went out and bought a bag of oranges, since that was my favorite from my sisters dehydrator and cut them as thin as I could manage and placed them on the racks like the manual said to do. I then set the temperature and plugged it in to start it. It was not exactly quiet, but it was not overly loud either. It was just a mid sounding hum. I check on them after about 3 hours just to see where they were in the drying process and they still looked like they had quite a while to go. I ended up having to run it for about 10 hours to get them to the proper dehydration for storing. But it said it could take anywhere from 8 to 12 hours depending on the...

United States on Feb 20, 2015

Greg: I was in the market for a dehydrator mainly for making beef jerky, as I am a jerky lover. I visited frequent local chains such as Walmart (in 4 different cities). All stores seemed to be out of the base Nesco FD-61 model. I reluctantly ordered this kit from [...] as it contained all the 'extras.'

When it arrived I opened the box to see:

o) Nesco American Harvest FD-61 Food Dehydrator. One base, 4 large trays, and a power head rated at 500 watts, variable climate control (~95-155 temp range for various things). Most of the accessories that came with the kit were located inside the trays. Made in the USA! The dehydrator is rated as whisper quiet and is rather quiet. The emitting hum is close to quiet window-mounted AC unit. The unit is very stable and the construction is excellent. This unit really does get warm.

o) One extra tray (totalling 5 trays). Keep in mind that although this unit is expandable to 12 trays, you may have to begin rotating lower trays to the top during the drying process. With the included 5 trays it doesn't seem necessary, though I do trade the top tray with the bottom tray after the first hour during jerky drying.

o) A Jerky Kit....

United States on Aug 24, 2007