We love Weston products! Recently, we had the opportunity to use their canning kit and while it was a pretty straightforward experience it was clear that Weston knew what they were doing when they put this kit together. So, you can imagine our excitement then when we were given the opportunity to review a Weston Food Dehydrator.
The timing couldn’t have been better as my husband had JUST picked up his processed elk from the game processor and was ready and willing at trying his hand making some elk jerky! We weren’t just limited to making elk though, since our freezer was packed full of beef and venison too!
As soon as my husband got the Weston Food Dehydrator, it wasn’t long before I came home to find Peach Mango Habanero Beef, Chipotle Raspberry Elk, Spicy Venison, Peppered Elk, and Peppered Beef all marinating in the fridge! (He’s promised to get me the "recipes" he used to make all of these different kinds of jerky so be on the lookout for them in a future post!) Recipes aside, the dehydrator is just plain awesome. It comes with a ton of features, not the least of which is the capability to adjust the temperature for the different types of foods you want to dehydrate. I can’t reiterate just how key this is to a successful dehydrating experience.
Our previous dehydrator had only two temperature settings: on and off. Frustrating if you want to get your jerky to that perfect dryness without it becoming too tough! That’s where the Weston excels. It has temperature settings that adjusts from 84 to 155 degrees F so you can have a lower temp for dehydrating some veggies and fruits or a higher temp to get your meat all dried out just like you like it. We ended up adjusting the thermostat based on the thickness of the meats and it worked really well! 
This dehydrator is massive! We were able to get four pounds of ground meat and three pounds of steak dehydrating at once using all ten trays. So efficient! I know that sounds like a lot, but when it gets to the jerky state, it gets eaten FAST! And if you’ve had experience with a smaller dehydrator you know how nice it would be to run larger batches through the dehydrator so you can have more yield in less time. The 10 tray is perfect for this! Weston also makes a 6 tray dehydrator if your needs aren’t quite as large.
All in all, the Weston Food Dehydrator was incredibly easy to use and super easy to clean… I just cleaned it the same night, so nothing stuck to it. I popped all 10 trays into the dishwasher and wiped down the inside of the Food Dehydrator. Really simple clean up and didn’t require hardly any effort.
The fact that this unit is self contained and sturdy is a huge plus too. Our previous dehydrator had a lid that didn’t secure well and so moving it from the cabinet to the counter was always a juggling exercise. These trays slide in and secure nicely so when it comes time to pack it away for a week or two it’s no hassle. 
We were really impressed with the build quality of the Weston 10 Tray Dehydrator. You can tell that their products are professional grade because they’re so well built, sturdy, and work like a charm. This is no surprise, of course, because Weston carries a full line of professional meat processing equipment so it’s no wonder their home use products are of the same quality!
By the way, last I heard my husband was offering his homemade jerky to random folks on the ski lifts (he likes to share) and he has gotten nothing but rave reviews… We even gave some away for Christmas this year and it was quite a hit! We definitely recommend this for all of the foodies in your family or those that was a clean food lifestyle. It can make all kinds of delicious snacks like banana chips, fruit roll-ups, yogurt and of course jerky! It’s high quality, easy to use, a cinch to clean, and makes some delicious meats. Can’t go wrong!
Check out our upcoming posts on the Jerky Gun & Meat Cuber/Tenderizer and be on the look out for those recipes too!
Purchase It:
The Weston Dehydrator can be found online at www.westonsupply.com and purchase straight through the manufacturer, at many retailers nationwide or online at Amazon.com (I’ve seen it cheapest here!) Right now it is only $131 plus free super saver shipping on Amazon!
