If you have a garden or fruit trees or buy in bulk, then this Nesco food dehydrator is a must in your arsenal of kitchen must haves. We have several apple, plum, pear and peach trees and although I can and freeze as much as I'm able to, I wanted another way to preserve what we produced. I had been reading about drying foods but was a little skeptical on the quality I would have. I purchased this Nesco as it had good reviews and I haven't been sorry I did. I did have a couple of trial mishaps to start with as I cut the fruit either too thin, which left me with almost nothing after it was dried, or cut the items too thick which made them never dry to what they should have and then tended to mold. The most successful item I have tried is, of course, the apple. I found that I didn't have to peel or even core the apple, just slice it, dip it in a fruit fresh solution, pat dry and then lay on the trays. It doesn't really take long at all to dry a dryer full if one is diligent about rotating the trays from top to bottom. I found a jar of apple slices that I had dried three years ago and they were as good as the ones I was currently drying. I experimented with a light sugar water and cinnamon to dip the slices in and they were delicious. These needed to thoroughly dry! I place the dried produce in quart glass jars and either cap the jar with metal lids and rings or the white ball plastic lids and put a piece of tape with the contents and date listed. Just store on a pantry shelf. These are great to snack on, low calorie and very satisfying. I have tried peaches but find that the smaller peaches work best if they are not peeled or sliced. Just pit, halve and place the halves on the racks after dipping in fruit fresh and drying. Zucchini is also a nice item to dry, adding it to soups in the winter. I'm not too wild about strawberries but must admit I didn't give them more than one try. One is only limited to ones imagination. There are recipes for fruit leathers and dried jerky which I haven't ventured to try yet.This dryer is quite easy to operate and has a nice instruction booklet with it. There is some noise involved but as it placed it several rooms away, it didn't bother us much after we got used to the sound. The trays are easy to clean up and if there is any food stuck on, just a little soaking in hot soapy water will do the trick. I did purchase two more trays to increase my productivity with each load and they stack quite nicely. I place the whole unit, extra trays, booklet and all in a kitchen trash bag and tie to close and this keeps the dust off and makes for easy storage.