Customer Reviews

Ronco Food Dehydrator, Yogurt Maker and Beef Jerky Machine

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(18)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(9)
1 star:		(13)

 

 

A nice inexpensive dehydrator great for those of you on a budget, in school, or just a newbie to dehydrating. I have owned one for at least 3 yrs and love it. However, after these wonderful yrs of daily or weekly consistent use, the trays have now begun to break up. My only drawback is that cost of the replacement trays are looking to cost as much as the actual dehydrator. So now, I am wondering do I buy a different one.

I like the Ronco dehydrator because it makes jerky fast. You don't need to use preservatives when making pet treat jerky as long as you properly dehydrator the food. It is a silent easy to learn dehydrator.

The only real pain was rotating and switching the trays other than that it pretty much runs itself. You can safely run it 24/7 and you not overly worry about something going wrong in the household.

I recommend this product to everyone. Once you get experienced with dehydrating and wear it out. Easily replace it like I am going to do with the same brand or get a more sophisticated one. But I will be buying another Ronco dehydrator in the months to come!

Executive summary: spend ten dollars more and get the Snackmaster model instead. I've got a Snackmaster FD-50 that I bought a year or so ago, and more recently my sister picked up a Ronco FD5, so I've had a chance to compare the two, side-by-side. Buy the FD-50, not the FD5. Details follow.

First, the Ronco FD5 is slower. It takes up to twice as long to dry food as the Snackmaster. This may not seem like a big deal, but it's the difference between being able to dry three batches of apple slices in a single day off, versus only one batch.

Second, and more important, the Ronco FD5 does not dry evenly. This is probably because it doesn't have a fan, but it's very annoying. For one thing, it means you need to rotate trays. Regularly. It's no good to set the thing going and then go do other things for four hours; you have to stay close enough that you can monitor it and rotate the trays every hour or so; otherwise the bottom trays get dry, and the top ones don't. Additionally and worse, there is no consistency in dryness from piece to piece within the same tray. One piece of fruit will be dry while the piece right next to it is still wet on the surface, let alone in the middle. Not only does this necessitate removing some pieces early and letting others dry longer, but, worse, it also means checking each piece for dryness (by tearing to see if there are moisture droplets inside) before removing it from the dryer. With my Snackmaster 50, I can just tear one or two of the thickest pieces on any tray, and if they are dry, I know all the fruit is dry on all the trays, and there is no need to rotate trays.

Finally (and this is a smaller issue), the bottom of the Ronco model is open to the coil, so that when (not if) you're rotating the trays or removing dry pieces and some pieces drop through the trays by mistake, getting them out means reaching past the heating coil, which is a minor annoyance but one that you will encounter frequently. The Snackmaster's base is covered, except for the central fan area, making this largely a non-issue.

All told, you will spend a lot more time babysitting the Ronco; the Snackmaster is a much more hands-off proposition. The ten dollar price difference does not in my opinion justify the extra aggravation and time investment required to use the FD5.

If you garden and raise fruit of any kind, this is a useful device. It's also good if you have kids. Here's why:

You can take apples, peaches, strawberries or other fruits and make candy-like healthy snacks. It's a nice alternative to canning, which uses a lot of sugar. So you can preserve your crop rather easily. All you need to do is slice the peeled or unpeeled fruit. To prevent browning due to an enzymatic reaction, you can dip each slice into a solution of ascorbic acid (available at the pharmacy) or in lemon juice. You can also make yogurt in this, using the gentle heat as the incubator to keep the milk with yogurt starter warm in jars overnight.

The trays feel a bit flimsy; this is a lightweight device and it is a bit large. So you'll probably have to find a place to pack it away unless you have a lot of counter space and use it all the time.

My Ronco dehydrator came to me as a Christmas gift. I love to make jerky with it and it comes out a little cheaper price-wise than what you buy at the store without all the preservatives. I am still in the experiment stage, Jerky and dried apple chips have been my greatest success.

You must practice and experiment to find foods and receipes that work. It's not brain surgery but it takes some patience and time to get things right, like what to soak fruit in so it won't brown while drying, how long to dry things,etc.

I was a little shocked with how flimsy the design was. I was so concerned that I didn't feel right leaving on overnight the first time. The bottom is flimsy and difficult to clean since you can't immerse it and one of the trays had a crack in it and keeps getting worse. Replacements are only available from Ronco too and other accessories like the herb drying tray and yogurt tray are extra ( at least with the 5 tray version).

Like someone else mentioned, this is a good machine to start out with to see if you like dehydrating your own food. I think I might step up to a better quality machine at some point though.

After buying this with 7 racks and a couple of the extra specialty sheets, I thought it was too flimsy to really dehydrate foods properly. I was wrong. It's a great appliance for a vegetarian as well as a carnivore, and I keep the trays moving most days of the week with fruits, vegetables and occasionally fish jerky. I've made a fantastic applesauce, grinding the skins with the apples, and it turned into a delicious fruit leather. When dehydrating garlic and onions, I put nothing else in the dehydrator and my apartment wasn't too overpowered by the aromas. It actually made me crave garlic bread. Bananas are a favorite, as are apples and pears, but the all time best fruit dehydrated is mango. Can't keep enough around here. I sent my daughter a box of dehydrated vegetables, each in a package of it's own, each marked. She, not realizing how much they would rehydrate, put them all into a pot of bean soup. That one pot became two large pots, and it served many, many meals. Yes, the coil is exposed. Yes the base seems flimsy. Yes the trays may crack. Yes, you have to rotate the trays and turn them periodically. But, for a scientist at heart, this is a marvelous contraption because you get to see how foods change as the moisture is removed, and you witness how sugars in foods react to heat if left unattended for too long. Remember, using more trays at a time increases the drying time, so if you're in a rush, try to dry only what you immediately want.

I purchased one of these about five or six years ago. Initially I used it to make beef jerky, which didn't turn out too badly after a little bit of experimentation. What is neat is that you can mix and match, so I once I figured out the a spice mix I liked as well the proper tray rotation, I began using it more often to make my own beef jerky.

Then when I got married, my wife began using it to dry herbs, vegetables and fruits for soups and trail and soup mixes. This was much easier to figure out than with beef, since one does not have to spice fruits and vegetables.

I would be careful, however, about doing fruits and beef together, since the flavor tends to overlap a tad. This is good for the beef, but not so good for the fruits. Also, this unit can be somewhat of a pain to clean, since stuff gets stuck in the spaces in the trays, as well as in the drip pan under the electrical unit.

However, apart from these small problems, this unit makes a wonderful dehydration unit, and it holds quite a bit of food.

I have used my Ronco Dehydrator for quite some time now. I honestly love the beef jerky that you can create. You can spice to your personal preference. This dehydrators like many others has trays that you need to manually rotate. So plan to do this when you are going to be around the house to rotate your trays. The heating element like another suggested isn't protected, so you want to be sure to keep that extra clean, especially when working with herbs that may tend to crackle apart. The trays can be a little tough to clean, but generally nothing that your average dishwasher can't handle.
I have also used my dehydrator to dry vegetables, and banana chips. All in all I think its a great price to see if you enjoy making dehydrated foods. I have not used this machine to make yogurt, but I think it would be a bit cumbersome to make yogurt in this. But a couple of round of beef jerky and you have more than paid for this machine!

The Ronco does work, however, it is very hard to clean. The healting element is not protected, it is ambient heat not forced air. I like the other types better because of the forced air/good circulation and ease of cleaning.

I ordered this dehydrator to replace the one that I dropped and broke! I was disapointed when I opened the package to find that the heating coil was exposed. I make tons of jerky and this could get very messy, with the marinade dripping onto the heating coil and thru the vents at the bottom to my countertop. My other unit (that I broke) had the heating coils and the fan contained. Unfortunately this was not the dehydrator that I was looking for.

Hi there

First off I must say that its fab. My husband loves Jerky and everytime we fly over to the US most of our cash is spent on getting jerky. Last year made the difference. We were visiting friends and they had a dehydrator and I was envious caus u cant get them over here.
So as a xmas gift they sent the it to us and since then I can only recommend it!
It isnt the fastest or the "best" on the market but if your looking for that you should not even be on this page;o)
For all those that want a light weight good and easy dehydrator read on.
Yes the trays are plastik but no none have melted or cracked or even wharped at all. I got it sent from the US and none were broken or damaged.
As its plastik i recommend washing them by hand.The dishwasher is to brutal and as the water is really hot they might wharp. If you prefer the dishwasher then set it to low heat.
The dishes must be rotated but also its like grilling or do u only grill ur meat on one side?
the best thing is its QUIET no noise no humming like with fans and its so easy!!
cleaning the bottom is also easy if you know how. It also says that your meat/fruit should be dripped off. And so even if the bottom is open you shouldnt have to clean that much.
The meat doesnt take 48h to finish 24h is enough.
Im not even scared of leaving it on overnight it has never ever gotten too hot and nothing has ever melted or happend.
So I recommend it to all ppl that love dried "anything" love to cook and dont mind waiting that little bit longer.
For all others there are faster and more complicated ones out there. If you have the cash go ahead for all those cheap but still good lovers buy this you really will be happy with the money u save and still have a good and usable appliance!