Two machines qualify honestly at under $3,000. Below about $2,500 you are usually looking at a dehydrator with the words in the title.

Packaging a gallon bag costs about $0.72. Here are the line items per batch, and the four false economies that cost you the whole load.

A Blue Alpine Medium uses 13 to 21.6 kWh per cycle, costing $2 to $8.60 depending on your rate. Here is the arithmetic and three ways to cut it.