Hi there.

I am VERY new to this, so please bear with me.
This journey all started when I happened to come across a Hamilton Beach dehydrator for $16, marked as new, on a local auction site. I purchased, unboxed and found out it is in fact, very much used (yuck).

I decided to just bite the bullet and buy new from Amazon. I selected the Cosori P103. I see now that so many of you have the CP267 and I am wondering if I made a mistake in purchasing the aforementioned model. I liked that it had the temp pre-sets, although I am not sure if I will use them, and the footprint is taller, rather than wider.

We are a very active family of 4, including our Bernedoodle, so the plan is to make PLENTY of jerky, dog treats, dehydrated veggies/fruits/fruit leathers, and give everything in between a fair shot.

Any feedback would be great and I would sincerely appreciate it!

I just picked up this second hand dehydrator and I'm obsessed! It's been going non stop the last 4 days since it arrived, and I have no idea what I'm doing?

I want easy snacks for my kids, and I also want to start to build a stock pile of emergency food.

We made some pumpkin stew last week and I have dehydrated the seeds. Same with sunflower seeds from the kids flowers this summer. I've experimented a bit with just stuff we have at home. I dehydrated onions and have them mushed into a powder for seasoning food. I have dehydrated some apple and plum and banana, just to test out if the kids like them (they do!).

Can literally anything be dehydrated? I was prepping dinner this evening and I'm looking at the broccoli in the fridge. Can broccolis be dehydrated? What about meats?

What about stock? I often have a reserve of stock frozen in the freezer, but if we have power outage that won't be use to us. Can dehydrated stock be made, how?

What about "ready meals" I'm thinking of rice or paste plus dehydrated veggies, beans etc made up into preportioned bags or tubs which can make an instant meal — "just add water"!

I'm saying all this like it's a new idea I just came up with but I'm sure it's all tried and tested. I would just love to know where to glean all this knowledge!!

I can't wait to start drying my own produce from the garden!! :)