I buy lean roasts on sale and grind them myself (with a grinder attachment to a Kitchenaid Mixmaster).  I use a jerk "shooter" with commercial jerky mixes and have rave reviews.  This is far more consistent than slicing.  I can dry a batch in less than 6 hours.  Be careful of the commercial mixes...some of the spice packets have added salt.  Use the appropriate amout of salt cure and mix up your own spices to your taste.

beefman

I make a lot of jerky, usually around three pounds at a time.  That equates to about 12 pounds of wet meat.  After several years of trying different cuts, I've settled on Round Steak as my meat of choice.  The first thing is that it is very lean and the second, although no less important is its a cheap cut of meat.  I usually pick up 20 pounds at a time when it goes on sale here (Colorado).  Right now it's going for $1.29/lb on sale, last year it was 0.99/lb.

Like others mentioned above, I cut it into 1/4 inch strips and marinate if for 36 hours or so before I dehydrate it.  I have several different recipes that range from salty and spicy to sweet and tangy.  My friends love it so much that I give it away as gifts.

The best part is that around $5.00 you can make an entire pound (dehydrated).  Thats a savings of $12.00 - $15.00 per pound when compared to the store made brands.  Plus you get to make the flavor you like best.

FWIW Rytec Kutas is the grand-daddy of meat processing as far as I'm concerned.  Check out

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They have everything for sausage, jerky and game meats including finely ground commercial grad spices in smaller quantities. Get their catalog it is an amazing compendium of equipment for smoking and other proessing and I hve the book on sausage making by Kutas, its well worth the money, I use it regularly. 

I have no pecuniary interest in this business I just enthusiasitcally give them my hard earned money!

We are going in Aug this year and doing all our own food.  Look at
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They have some really good recipes for dehydrated meals and we're having a blast testing them out.  Basically if it is something you like to eat at home you may be able to modify it to the point where you can do "freezer bag" style cooking.

We have the American Harvest food dehydrator and love it.  We just need more trays.

In a nutshell it's a meal that has been dehydrated (or the ingredients will be cooked) when you add boiling water to the contents in a freezer bag and let things steep for 5-15 minutes. Viola - meal in a "pot" so to speak. No messy clean up, rinse out the freezer bag after eating, put it in your garbage to pack out and you basically clean your spoon/fork.  Enjoy the rest of your evening in front of the fire.

Many of the recipes use a foil packaged chicken/beef (or shrimp - yum) which is shelf stable and this way you have real meat not dehydrated chunks which can be chewy. Other than turkey burger we have not yet tried to do meat in the freezer bag type cooking.  Turkey burger worked remarkably well, far  better than I thought it would.

We've only done a couple experiments so far but I will never go back to pre-packaged freeze dried stuff now that I know I can take my wife's awesome cooking into the BW.

And it's remarkably easy to do with a dehydrator.

One of the things I've found is that if you go to your local butcher, either the specialty shop or the chain market, talking to the guy behind the counter is worth the effort.
Lots of times they will give you a good price on a large boneless roast or shoulder that for "eye" appeal would have to be trimmed out. You want lean meat, but need a little marbling for flavor and to keep it from being to mealy tasting.
Tell them what you want it for and in my experience they will give you a good deal and even slice it into 1/4" slices and you can cut it from there into the size you want before marinating. Often they have cuts of meat close to expiration date and will discount heavily to get rid of them. For marinating and making jerky, its perfect.
We have Kroger's in my neck of the woods and there meat is excellent.  Buying a big piece of meat with the discount Kroger card can really give you some excellent jerky meat

Your right about that Solotripper.  I found a couple that look like real winners.  I appreciate the direction.

Google jerky-dehydrator jerky and you'll find more recipes than you can shake a stick at.
Yes, cheap meats are best because the marinating process doesn't turn them into mush.
I slice the meat about 1/4" thick and about 1" wide.
Depending on how chewy you like your finished product you slice meat either with or against the grain.
You can buy prepared jerky seasonings on-line or at most outdoor stores, Bass World-Cabelas.
 If your looking to make a lot and often, I would buy the spices from a bulk spice outlet and mix your own.
Either way its sorta like making homemade cookies, you get to taste and tweak the recipe to your individual taste

I just borrowed my son's food dehydrator and was wondering if anyone has any good recipes to prepare meat for dehydrating.  I am assuming you cut meat (steak - pork) into thin strips (how thin?).  Marinate the meat in something?  Fry or grill them to get most of the fat out.  Dehydrate (for how long?) and then keep refrigerated until ready to eat.  As you can see, I know nothing?  I love spicy and heavily peppered jerky.  I also assume you can buy fairly inexpensive cuts of meat, since you are marinating it well before cooking and drying.  Any suggestions would be appreciated.