Reddit mentions of Nesco FD-61 Snackmaster Encore Four Tray Food Dehydrator

Protips from someone 6 months into the F2F thang and 40 pounds down, pretty damn amazing since I am a lazy sot who doesn't exercise:

Helps a LOT if you make a week's worth of salad every, say, Sunday (got it ready for the week then). One of those big square disposable Glad boxes is what we do. Certain things in salad go bad quicker (cucumbers, tomatoes, bean sprouts) so they get their own little separate boxes and replenished on Wednesday, they're added to the salad you're about to eat.

Learn to love lighter salad dressings, better yet, to make your own. Lemon vinaigrette? or how about Asian? or, to stave off your sweet tooth, here's orange-raspberry. All quick and easy.

This fills up your fridge considerably so you can't be packing it full of junk.

Other stuff we do: freezer contains no sweets apart from lemon sorbet. Too sour to gobble. Dat palate cleanser. Freezer does contain frozen fish and individually packed frozen boneless/skinless chicken breasts, and about 10 different kinds of frozen veggies (canned are too damn salty), plus a bunch of leftovers.

Another of our rules: avoid instafood. Nothing that comes out of a can, box, bag, or requires a microwave. Okay, so we cook with chilis in adobo sauce which comes out of a can youallknowwhatImeangetoffmytits.

To keep from going nuts, we each get one small bag of chips each Saturday. Any small treat will do, but don't go buying a whole damn cake or anything. Single serving only. Don't keep that shit in the house. If it's there, you're gonna make it harder on yourself.

Snacks are typically homemade beef jerky, dried apples, nuts of various descriptions, unflavored rice cakes, precut-up carrots, celery, radishes, cauliflower, broccoli, watermelon (more room in fridge gone, ta-da; seriously, all we can typically fit is a pitcher of Crystal Light lemonade and whatever's for dinner).

Homemade dried stuff is the bomb, yo, and easy, ask for a dehydrator for your wedding. That's the one we have. I swear it's running constantly. Bitch to clean, but they all are, and this one at least is QUIET. One of the nifty ideas in the manual was drying a bunch of veggies, then stuffing them and hot water or broth into a thermos in the morning before leaving for work. Lunchtime, you've got veggie soup.

(if you do get one, feel free to PM me for tips on this if you want, such as "ignore what cut of meat they recommend for jerky, brisket's cheaper and works better" and "get a mandolin to slice fruit")

Bringing healthy meals and snacks to work instead of going out to lunch or hitting up Ye Olde Vending Machine is a must.

Got healthy meals you know how to make and you both love? Make a BUNCH and freeze in single-serve containers. No excuse for "oh gods, so tired after work, just get fast food" NOPE. Also, slowcookers can be your friend with that "too tired to cook" thing.

EDIT: tip I got from someone else here: if you need to break a soda addiction cough, try getting flavored seltzer water. Same size cans, carbonation, tastes like diet Sprite (at least the lemon-lime flavor does) but zero calories etc. Worked like a charm once I got used to it.

If all this seems condescending, I'm truly sorry. Just passing along painful lessons learned.

TL;DR: part of beating your own fatlogic is tricking it with healthy foods.

You're going to make it!

You can find them anywhere between $40-$75. I got mine about 5-6 years ago, and it's running great still! I usually make Jerky once or twice a month. Great protein snack in the morning and before the Gym. The wife likes to dry herbs and veggies for home made rammen too. I can't recommend getting one enough! Great purchase!

I think this is about the same kind I have at home. https://www.amazon.com/Nesco-American-FD-61-Snackmaster-Dehydrator/dp/B000CEM3WM/ref=sr_1_12?ie=UTF8&qid=1480969396&sr=8-12&keywords=NesCo+dehydrator.

We ended up getting extra trays for it too for pertty cheap at Bed Bath & Beyond at some point too.

I make my own using a food dehydrator. Basic recipes can be found at Trailcooking and Backpackingchef. I use a Nesco FD-61, a fairly basic and inexpensive dehydrator. I plan on having one hot meal per day, usually dinner.

For breakfast I'll eat 1 cup granola mixed with 1/3 cup dry milk and one cup water. I prepack this in a ziploc bag. Alternately, I'll use Quaker 1 minute oatmeal, prepacked with raisins, dry milk, cinammon, and brown sugar. Or couscous mixed with dry milk, brown sugar, crushed pistachios, and cardamom. I like a big breakfast.

Dry salami, cheese, tortillas, dried fruit, dried veggies, rice, tuna, canned chicken, and so forth are all cheaper and more nutritious than Mountain House. Canned chicken dehydrates wonderfully-a 12 oz can can be dehydrated in just a few hours and yields about 2 oz dried meat. To rehydrate just put it in the pot, cover it with water and let it sit for 10~15 minutes. You can add dehydrated veggies at the same time. Then bring it to a boil and add rice, pasta, seasonings, whatever. The chicken will rehydrate perfectly.

Also, there's moose goo for simple bulk food. It's really good on tortillas.

I've been using a Nesco American Harvest for about 6 months. Actually, the first one died but I sent it back and they replaced it.

It doesn't have a timer, but it does a great job making jerky. Mine came with a jerky gun kit and some of their jerky spice, which is fantastic.