anyone taken the plunge into a home freeze drying ... - Page 2

kittyloo · ‎03-11-2010

@10sluvr food life of dehydrated food is 6 to 12 months according to Google. Freeze drying shelf life is 25 to 30 years.

also preserves all of the nutrients, and vitamins.

i can freeze dry ice cream sandwiches, and cheesecake bites. woo-hoo.

if you look at backpacking food, its the same thing. upside is its your recipes, and seasoning, it was not processed commercially. you know exactly what is in it.

i can also make my own bullion from broth, freeze dry yougert and sour cream. just found out that today. also eggs. ideas are endless.

i can snack on freeze dried green beans, (ever priced those?) make banana chips. very excited.

10sluvr · ‎03-10-2010

ok, thanks i googled some info, too. we have been buying some "prepper" foods, that have a 25yr shelf life. i need to check into it some more, as i can see a use for both methods.

kittyloo · ‎03-11-2010

@10sluvr my guess is the "prepper" food you have been purchasing is freeze dried. this is what we are making. Have you tasted any of it? this is the up side to making ones own. home cooked by you.

Sooner · ‎03-10-2010

How much are you paying for these? Never heard of it. You would have to be doing a lot of food to make it pay off I'd think. But I assume you aren't doing it to save money because it doesn't sound like something you'd choose to eat.

kittyloo · ‎03-11-2010

@Sooner

@Sooner wrote:
How much are you paying for these? Never heard of it. You would have to be doing a lot of food to make it pay off I'd think. But I assume you aren't doing it to save money because it doesn't sound like something you'd choose to eat.

as far as cost, yes, they are on the high side. i believe only one company is making them right now. Harvest right out of utah. not really to save money, but right now, the USA is on a crazy train. things might be harder to get than one might think. food just keeps going up. we just tried a sample of the seasoned shredded chicken we finished making. poured hot water over it to reconstitute it, let it sit for about 15 minutes. i was shocked. i mean really shocked. if you didn't tell me, i would never have known it was not fresh off the stove. the list is long, of the things i want to try. probably next up is sliced bananas, pineapple, and apples. i can make my own bullion. freeze dried sour cream, yogert, and milk. waiting to try freeze dried ice cream sandwiches!!!!

Icegoddess · ‎03-19-2010

Sorry, I don't know the exact process the freeze drying takes, so I didn't explain more. I just know it is a different process and you can freeze dry a lot more things than what you can dehydrate. You can freeze dry soups, chili mac seems to be popular with the emergency meal folks.

If it were just me, I might consider it. But unless I can get my husband on board it's not going to happen here . I know he has an interest in it too, but not enough to spend a few thousand on even the smallest machine. I'm also not that much of a cook, so there aren't that many home cooked things I could freeze dry.

vabreeze · ‎03-09-2010

A freeze dryer wouldn't be a practical investment for me as I am not on a homestead nor do I have any opportunities to acquire meats, fruits and veggies in large quantities at a steal of a deal. I have purchased, however, quite a supply of freeze-dried pantry containered foods from a company called Thrive which is located in Utah. The 25 year shelf life applies to unopened containers.

depglass · ‎03-10-2010

We did this once years ago, just a novelty for us. Now my interest is piqued again with this thread . . . where is that machine? Its the one with all the round trays, so I guess that is for dehydrating.