# Freeze Dry Your Own Food? Here's an Option.



## Slippy

I've been looking at doing my own "Freeze Drying" and have done a bit of research on this company. Any ideas, suggestions or input?

We Dehydrate but after analyzing the costs, it really doesn't pay off in my opinion. You can buy from some of the larger Long Term Food Processors like Auguson Farms, Wise Foods, Mountain House etc much cheaper than doing it yourself in bulk.

Does the same apply to Freeze Dried?

https://harvestright.com/


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## paraquack

The idea of freeze drying has always been of interest to me. Always thought the cost 
would be serious coin and guess I'm right for my situation. While $500 off is wonderful, 
make me wonder what the starting price is (didn't bother going farther than first page). 
Before a SHTF event, I think it would be very useful for a farmer/prepper who can 
freeze dry his own foods. Same for a prepper group. 
After a SHTF event, it would be especially useful for food preservation, but ability to 
supply power for a freezer and vacuum pump motors might be difficult enough to make 
it near useless.


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## Chipper

Price is way out of line IMHO. Maybe if you have a big group to off set the cost. If you watch the Glenn Beck network they are advertised on his programs daily.


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## SOCOM42

Another thing to consider is the packaging.
The product has to be vacuum or nitrogen pack immediately after drying.
If left to o2 atmosphere for ANY length of time it will begin to be compromised by moisture.
To me, the only way to justify buying the equipment, which I considered years ago was to pack and sell it on the local commercial market.
There is a lot of ancillary machinery needed to complete the process.
Then comes the nightmare of health inspectors.

Just for shits and grins, look at the price of a used Hobart slicing machine for the meats.
They have to be cut thin to be dried properly.
Meats have to be chilled right to 32 Deg. F for proper slicing.

How about a UV sterilizer to kill any anaerobic bacteria post freezing, pre packing?

A great idea, but for me it was impractical.


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## Maine-Marine

good thread


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## MI.oldguy

Good Gawd,those things are expensive!.saw the ad on some tv station and was wondering about them.thanks to Slippy for reminding me to look at them.definitely not in the budget.


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## Slippy

Yes Sir MI OldGuy, For $3500 you would have to get at least 10 family's to pony up $350 each and then keep the machine going 24-7 just to pay for itself. I was shocked at the cost.


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## MI.oldguy

Slippy said:


> Yes Sir MI OldGuy, For $3500 you would have to get at least 10 family's to pony up $350 each and then keep the machine going 24-7 just to pay for itself. I was shocked at the cost.


Slip,you would make an excellent car salesman sir.


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## Salt-N-Pepper

I'd LOVE to have one of those, but... yeah, it's a bit* on the expensive side...




*and by bit I mean GAAAAAAAAGH!!!!!!!!!!


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## Salt-N-Pepper

On the other hand, I have a friend who has a $120,000 race car setup (including hauler/motors/tools/etc), another friend who owns a $250,000 airplane, many friends with $30,000 fishing boats so... yeah, there's that too.


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## Salt-N-Pepper

On the other hand, I have a friend who has a $120,000 race car setup (including hauler/motors/tools/etc), another friend who owns a $250,000 airplane, many friends with $30,000 fishing boats so... yeah, there's that too.

I often carry $6,000 worth of gear in my camera bag with me.


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## Slippy

Salt-N-Pepper said:


> I'd LOVE to have one of those, but... yeah, it's a bit* on the expensive side...
> 
> *and by bit I mean GAAAAAAAAGH!!!!!!!!!!


Right you are Salty! That is exactly what me and Mrs Slippy determined.

However, quick witted and smooth tongued as I am, I recommended to Mrs Slippy that the Food Freeze Dried Machine was out of the question. I then would focus my future monetary allocations on the Barret 98B in .338 Lapua Magnum! And its only $1000 more than the stupid little food freezer thingy!

It only makes good sense right?

View attachment 13938


Barrett


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## TacticalCanuck

I always search for preps that work without electricity ir prep it to have a renewable source (ereader and personal solar panels works wonderfully) this is a great prepping tool - what would be nice is a group of people going in on it together to reduce costs and then rotating it for a week at a time to prep your own.


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## TacticalCanuck

Slippy said:


> Right you are Salty! That is exactly what me and Mrs Slippy determined.
> 
> However, quick witted and smooth tongued as I am, I recommended to Mrs Slippy that the Food Freeze Dried Machine was out of the question. I then would focus my future monetary allocations on the Barret 98B in .338 Lapua Magnum! And its only $1000 more than the stupid little food freezer thingy!
> 
> It only makes good sense right?
> 
> View attachment 13938
> 
> 
> Barrett


Thats some nice hardware.


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## Kauboy

I've been hearing ads on the radio for this freeze dryer for about 6 months now.
The cost makes it terribly impractical, and the need for electricity makes its use limited to times of ample power.
If I could rent one, that would be more than worth it to get a ton of food prepped for darker days.
For now, canning seems like the better choice for cost savings and "grid down" usefulness.


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## paraquack

"So if I take my freezer and hook my shop-vac up to it, can I freeze dry food," he said tongue in cheek.


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## jro1

Slippy said:


> I've been looking at doing my own "Freeze Drying" and have done a bit of research on this company. Any ideas, suggestions or input?
> 
> We Dehydrate but after analyzing the costs, it really doesn't pay off in my opinion. You can buy from some of the larger Long Term Food Processors like Auguson Farms, Wise Foods, Mountain House etc much cheaper than doing it yourself in bulk.
> 
> Does the same apply to Freeze Dried?
> 
> https://harvestright.com/


Mr slippy sir! we are in the business of freeze drying! we bought a commercial freeze dryer back in September, we are still in the trial and error stage! but what I really need from you, is your input on what you'd like from a freeze dried meal?!?! calories, sodium content, flavours, etc etc! anyone else with ideas are welcomed to join in!


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## jro1

Kauboy said:


> I've been hearing ads on the radio for this freeze dryer for about 6 months now.
> The cost makes it terribly impractical, and the need for electricity makes its use limited to times of ample power.
> If I could rent one, that would be more than worth it to get a ton of food prepped for darker days.
> For now, canning seems like the better choice for cost savings and "grid down" usefulness.


its a three phase unit! but commercially like we are getting into, it will pay off! we are going to price competitively but not price gouge like others! unreal the mark up !!


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## jro1

paraquack said:


> The idea of freeze drying has always been of interest to me. Always thought the cost
> would be serious coin and guess I'm right for my situation. While $500 off is wonderful,
> make me wonder what the starting price is (didn't bother going farther than first page).
> Before a SHTF event, I think it would be very useful for a farmer/prepper who can
> freeze dry his own foods. Same for a prepper group.
> After a SHTF event, it would be especially useful for food preservation, but ability to
> supply power for a freezer and vacuum pump motors might be difficult enough to make
> it near useless.


the particular set up we have, uses two vacuum pumps and if need be, can run on one pump using single phase vs three phase to run both, but more time is needed, so....i guess its all relative, you use just as much power in the long run! but if you had to you could run on 120!


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## ND_ponyexpress_

bet you could make a good return on investment renting it out after you are done with it..


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## jro1

this is what we've got so far!


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## oldgrouch

I'd have to consider how much freeze dried food I could purchase for $3500.00 ---- and avoid the work of preparing it. Waaaay out of my price range.


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## jro1

we have cheese, beef patties, pork chops, beans, scrambled egg, bacon wrapped shrimp skewers..that cheese is fetta by the way....oh boy


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## BuckB

I have been thinking about one of those freeze dryers that Slip linked for some time. I am running out things that I want to buy on Amazon with my travel points. So that is a definite possibility. It only takes me about 2 years to save up enough travel points to buy $3500 worth of stuff.


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## jro1

View attachment 15629
View attachment 15630
View attachment 15631

chilli, ham cubes, sorry this is the egg, last post had the shrimp and jalapeno cheese! we do have fetta cheese as well


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## jro1

this is all trial for now, and its starting to get very expensive, but weve almost mastered this thing, freeze dry everything heck!


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## jro1

BuckB said:


> I have been thinking about one of those freeze dryers that Slip linked for some time. I am running out things that I want to buy on Amazon with my travel points. So that is a definite possibility. It only takes me about 2 years to save up enough travel points to buy $3500 worth of stuff.


$3500 is quite the investment! we paid double that for our unit used, obviously we got a rocket ship for that price, but it's paying off even during the trials, cause it still goes towards our prepps! I was just thinking, $3500 US wont even get you a pallet of one year supply of freezedried food!


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## BuckB

jro1 said:


> $3500 is quite the investment! we paid double that for our unit used, obviously we got a rocket ship for that price, but it's paying off even during the trials, cause it still goes towards our prepps! I was just thinking, $3500 US wont even get you a pallet of one year supply of freezedried food!


American Express reward points are wonderful. They have outfitted my wood shop with about $20,000 worth of machines for free plus a whole buttload of Bose products. The problem with them is I have not found a way to use them for guns and ammo.

The really crazy part is the more points you get, the faster they accumulate! When I first opened the card in 2001, I got 1 point for every dollar spent, now I am up to 3 or sometimes even 4 points per dollar! As a general rule, 10,000 points is worth about $100.


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## jro1

BuckB said:


> American Express reward points are wonderful. They have outfitted my wood shop with about $20,000 worth of machine for free plus a whole buttload of Bose products. The problem with them is I have not found a way to use them for guns and ammo.
> 
> The really crazy part is the more points you get, the faster they accumulate! When I first opened the card in 2001, I got 1 point for every dollar spent, now I am up to 3 or sometimes even 4 points per dollar! As a general rule, 10,000 points is worth about $100.


get the freeze dryer buck!! you know you want it! 
you could be eating.....BACON wrapped shrimp, when the bombs are going off and fire breathing giant creatures are flying around wreaking havoc and chaos


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