raw foods: I'm trying interested in raw foods and need a GOOD dehydrator with different temps.|||Many years ago my father build his own. It was great. He said that by the time he made it, it may have been cheaper to just purchase one already build, but I could see that the quality was far superior to the store bought ones. If you want to, you can find such books in the library. I even found one in the library totally dedicated to solar dehydrators, since you'll be doing most of your dehydrating in the summer months, right? When things are in season, fresh, and cheaper. If I was going to buy a store bought one, I'd get a stainless steel one. Those plastic ones really suck and are not designed to last. My dad's was made from plywood, fan, heater, and drawers with stainless mesh frames. Pretty simple to make by yourself and you can take pride in your work and customize it to your needs too. I'm sure there are kits out there if you don't want to source your fan and heater yourself.|||The best dehydrator is a box fan with several paper furnace filters attached to it.|||you do know that dehydrated food isn't considered raw anymore? the majoirty of dehydrators cook the food at the same time as dry, but even if you can dry it completely without cooking, its considered dehydrated, which is a form of food preperation (not raw)|||you can get a good food dryer in most department stores. My first one was one of those "Popeils Food dryer" advertised on late night tv. LOL It worked great but very slowly. The next one I got has a fan in it so foods dry faster. The basic unit came with 3 drying trays and a boatload of information and I believe the brand is American Harvester. You can buy other accessories including more drying trays. I still have it and we drag it out now and then to make jerky and fruit leather. Its about 10 years old and stilll works great.|||a friend recommended the five tray garden excalibur and I love love love it! It really RAWked my world! This whole site is actually really interesting if your in to the raw life style. http://www.rawpeople.com/store/dehydrators/5-tray-small-garden-excalibur-3500-white.html