Best pressure canner, dehydrator?

[Britesea]

I have the Excalibur and the All American pressure canner and love them both. I've found that the Excalibur seems to dry foods faster than my old circular dryer which I think saves me a bit of electricity. I also use it to culture yogurt and such, and also it makes a dandy defroster if I forget to take something out of the freezer in time. It is noisy, but for me that helps since I don't forget that it's running. (I forgot and left the old one running for 4 days once- we were keeping it in a room no one went into very often-- crispy hard brown tomatoes)

I've had my pressure canner for over 10 years now, and it's never given me any trouble at all. The canner and the dryer cost a pretty penny, but we were able to spread the cost by purchasing at different times.

 

[Blaundee]

I just bought the Excalibur 3900. It has 9 trays for a total of 15 square feet for dehydrating. I also got 9 sheets for liquids and have made peach/apple fruit leather. Yum! I had a little cheap dehydrator and borrowed my DD's round 5 tray dehydrator last summer. You might have a $$ in mind, but what ever you buy, you will live with a looooooong time, so get what you want and what will work best for you the FIRST time. I love my Excalibur.

I bought a Montgomery Ward pressure canner over 30 years ago. It has the dial gauge and I have been kicking myself ever since for not buying a canner with the weights instead.

Might I ask why you would prefer the weights over the gauge? I have had other people tell me the opposite, because they want to be able to look at the pressure and know exactly what it is so they can time it... just curious as to why you would NOT want the dial gauge?

 

[baymule]

With the dial gauge, I am always turning the burner (electric) up-down, trying to regulate the gauge and keep it where it should be. With the weighted gauge, which comes in several pressure weights, just put down the #15 for 15 pounds of pressure and when it starts rocking, start timing. Simple. Wish I had bought that style to start with. Now where is that smiley that is kicking my butt?????..................

Spend your money wisely and get what you truly want. Don't "settle" for anything less because of price. If you can only get one this year and the other one next year, then do that, but get what you truly want.

 

[Blaundee]

Thank you SO much everyone I very much appreciate everyone's input.

 

[Britesea]

I agree with baymule- get what you truly want, because you'll be living with it for a loooong time. My next big purchase is a good grain mill. I'm dreaming about the Country Living Grain Mill,

 

[baymule]

I agree with baymule- get what you truly want, because you'll be living with it for a loooong time. My next big purchase is a good grain mill. I'm dreaming about the Country Living Grain Mill,

After researching grain mills, I decided on the Family Grain mill with the motor attachment, hand crank attachment and flaker attachment. I got all that for half the cost of the Country Living Grain Mill. Cost was an issue and I am very happy with the Family Grain Mill. I even have corn growing right now that I plan on making cornmeal with.

Blaundee, after your checkbook recuperates from your purchases, you might look into grain mills......... (stirring up trouble here)

 

[Britesea]

I still want the Country Living Grain Mill; it is better made, and grinds a finer flour. We grind enough whole wheat flour every week to make 3-4 loaves of bread, and our Lehman's grain mill is already showing some wear, after only 2 years; we had to replace the screw that controls the coarseness of the grain this spring. I want a grain mill that will hold up for the long term. A flaker attachment would be nice, but if I can't get one, I can live with cracked cereals instead.

 

[baymule]

I still want the Country Living Grain Mill; it is better made, and grinds a finer flour. We grind enough whole wheat flour every week to make 3-4 loaves of bread, and our Lehman's grain mill is already showing some wear, after only 2 years; we had to replace the screw that controls the coarseness of the grain this spring. I want a grain mill that will hold up for the long term. A flaker attachment would be nice, but if I can't get one, I can live with cracked cereals instead.

Hold out for what you want. I don't have the usage of my mill like you do, so what I have is ok with me. I agree, the Country Living Grain Mill is the best!

 

[ORChick]

I have the Family grain mill and am quite happy with it. The flour can be ground quite fine, and the manual option is not too strenuous. I also have the adaptor for the Kitchen Aide for when I don't feel like I want the exercise of doing it manually. Someone else here (Moolie, maybe?) also has one, and has reported that she grinds legumes as well, without problem. The only thing that the instructions warn against is grinding popcorn, as it is hard enough to possibly damage the works. regular dried corn is fine.

 

[Icu4dzs]

After reading this entire string, I feel absolutely blessed that I have been able to acquire three of the items mentioned here for the purposes of preserving food. I have a 22 quart pressure canner (Presto, I think) a 10 rack LEM dehydrator (it looks like a stainless steel box with 10 racks inside it) and the Country Living Grain mill.

Each has served flawlessly for the past several years. When using the grain mill i find that about 10 loaves worth of wheat and other grains goes through with very little difficulty. I bought a fan motor and hooked it up to the grain mill so the operation takes very little time. I did use it by hand at first and after the wind turbine and solar panels went up, the electric option became more viable. I also recommend the "large grain" modification which allows you to grind not only wheat, but any kind of bean, corn, etc. I haven't tried popcorn in it but then why would I want to grind popcorn? I like to eat it popped!

One word of caution: when grinding chia seeds be certain to clean it right away and during the procedure because chia has a lot of oil and it will gum up the works! I admit that the CLGM was rather spendy, but I am convinced it was worth it in the long run. Since I don't know how long it will be before we REALLY need it, learning to use it now is of paramount importance.

The LEM dehydrator is timer controlled and has a force-fan thermostatically controlled heat source. This is in my mind the Cadillac of dehydrators. I don't remember it costing over $300 but now it might. Even if I didn't have electricity to run it, the box and racks are very sturdy and reliable. My biggest problem is knowing how long to do each operation.

The pressure canner was significantly less expensive than $200 and I also bought spare gaskets for it since that is the one thing that appears to have a limited life span, assuming you are careful with the top i.e. taking it off and putting it on carefully.

I learned a long time ago, buy the best tools, even if it means sacrificing something else because the best tools will serve the longest and the most reliably.