# Freeze drying food



## akgriffin (Mar 5, 2018)

I am looking into buying a harvest right, but the wife doesnt want to spend the money. I am putting in close to a 1400 sqft garden ( ripping up the front yard) and think canning and deep freezing is tried and true ways but freeze drying is better. Is there a way to prove to the wife its a viable option even with bad reviews given.


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## inceptor (Nov 19, 2012)

akgriffin said:


> I am looking into buying a harvest right, but the wife doesnt want to spend the money. I am putting in close to a 1400 sqft garden ( ripping up the front yard) and think canning and deep freezing is tried and true ways but freeze drying is better. Is there a way to prove to the wife its a viable option even with bad reviews given.


I have never freezed dried food. I just couldn't justify the expense so I dehydrate. One of the best explanations about the difference between air dried and freeze dried is found here.






Air Dried vs Freeze Dried Food


What is the difference between air dried and freeze dried food?




www.northbaytrading.com


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## NMPRN (Dec 25, 2020)

akgriffin said:


> ...Is there a way to prove to the wife its a viable option even with bad reviews given.


The reviews are definitely mixed. You'd hate to end up having a lot of problems with a $3k machine that your wife didn't want to buy in the first place. I'm a big fan of dehydrators so my 2 cents is pretty biased.


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## akgriffin (Mar 5, 2018)

the problem i have with dehydrating is that it robs all the good stuff out of the good. That is why i think freeze dried is the way to go. But i am dehydrating oranges, apples, lemons and pineapples right now.


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## Michael_Js (Dec 4, 2013)

I haven't read this yet, just posting as it might assist: To Freeze-Dry or Not Freeze-Dry, by J.A.

Peace,
Michael J.


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## paraquack (Mar 1, 2013)

While I'd love to have a freeze drying system, I find I can buy a ton of canned food for the money. Besides, you still have to store the freeze dried food. Harvest Right says to store in Mylar bags with oxygen absorbers, so that's another expense and cost. Once you open the Mylar bag, you need a way to store the food. Purchasing "Ziplock" Mylar bags is one way. But the oxygen absorber are deadm so you need new ones to put in and the "Ziplock" will leak. Now if you could find a few friends to go in on the cost.


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## NMPRN (Dec 25, 2020)

akgriffin said:


> the problem i have with dehydrating is that it robs all the good stuff out of the good...


"robbing all the good stuff" is probably a little overstated. Freeze drying does have an edge over dehydrating in preserving the nutrition but it's not a deal breaker (at least to me). 

I'd love to have a (reliable) freeze dryer but it's not in the budget for now.


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## Murby (Jan 29, 2017)

I own a medium Harvest Right and have owned it since early 2019. I am not a casual user making sugar poison for my children, I'm a prepper and I have run that machine hard. We even purchased extra trays for it to speed up the batches. When we first started, we were running a batch every day for the first year.. The second year we did about 3 to 4 batches per week, and now its usually one or two batches. 
We have 55 gallon drums and buried septic tanks filled with freeze dried food.

From my reading, I'm not a fan of the newer software, but my Feb 2019 works perfectly.. In fact, of the hundreds of batches I have done, I have never had a failed batch. 

The issue with the Harvest Right machine is that they have taken a full blown industrial process and tried to turn it into a home appliance.. and they did a pretty good job. The problem is mostly the people operating it are scientifically illiterate and they do stupid things and listen to stupid advice. 

To make a Joke: A park ranger was asked why, with all our technology, bears are still a problem when it comes to trash cans.. His reply: The problem is that there is some overlap between the intelligence level of the smartest bears and the dumbest people.. 

The online groups dealing with Harvest Right freeze driers, like many other groups, are filled with good and bad information. Without an understanding of how the system works, you're stuck guessing. However, if you understand the science behind its operation, you don't even need the groups.

The other problem is that Harvest Right's user manual is designed as a "one size fits all" guide and doesn't take into account that some people are just utterly ignorant. 

I paid $2200 for my machine, it has processed well over $20k worth of food if I had to purchase it all from one of the online retailers. 

Operational Advice:
*Get the oil pump, not the oil free
*Change the oil with every batch by using a brita filter, do not use the filter it comes with. 
*DO NOT EVER freeze your oil to filter. The people suggesting this are morons.
*Prefreeze all your food for 24 hours in a deep freezer. 
*Do not bounce the machine upon installation. 
*Run it in the coolest environment you have available. Mine is in the basement.
*Install a dedicated circuit with extra large wire and as close to your breaker panel as you can, even if they tell you its not required. 
*Install a whole house surge protector
*Make sure the vacuum pump is lower than the freeze dryer unit. 
*Never let a batch finish on its own, always run the machine until the pressure falls below 200mTorr 
*Don't use the defrost function on the machine for more than 15 or 20 minutes, its a waste of energy and wear and tear on the machine. 
*Always remove the rack and use a dish towel to dry up any remaining water. 
*Treat the touch panel gently. Its not a smart phone with unbreakable glass so be gentile with it.

Our freeze dryer is one of the best prepper investments we've made and has saved us a ton of money and provided a level of food security. 

Here are some photos of my stuff


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## Megamom134 (Jan 30, 2021)

I would love a freeze dryer but the ole guy won't let me spend the money. For me doing meat would be the best since I dehydrate almost everything but buy freeze dried meat, cheese and eggs since it doesn't turn out as I like dehydrating them. Course now a days I can barely afford meat so there is that. My dehydrator is going most of the time as it is, right now I am doing a big batch of apples and strawberries since we are almost out the old guy didn't let me know. I would love to find someone to go in on one with me so we could split the cost. My son just isn't into prepping. His bad.


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## Back Pack Hack (Sep 15, 2016)

paraquack said:


> ...... Once you open the Mylar bag, you need a way to store the food. Purchasing "Ziplock" Mylar bags is one way. .........


When you open a mylar bag, you're obviously going to use some of the product in it. That means you have enough material available to reseal it with a vac-sealer or impulse sealer.


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## Beechnut (Sep 6, 2020)

akgriffin said:


> I am looking into buying a harvest right, but the wife doesnt want to spend the money. I am putting in close to a 1400 sqft garden ( ripping up the front yard) and think canning and deep freezing is tried and true ways but freeze drying is better. Is there a way to prove to the wife its a viable option even with bad reviews given.


Murby has some good advice above. One thing though is that even if you have freezer space to prefreeze each load it still isn't likely that you could put everything or even mostly everything from a garden that size through one freeze dryer.


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## I_am_not_atf (3 mo ago)

NMPRN said:


> "robbing all the good stuff" is probably a little overstated. Freeze drying does have an edge over dehydrating in preserving the nutrition but it's not a deal breaker (at least to me).
> 
> I'd love to have a (reliable) freeze dryer but it's not in the budget for now.


Yeah. I'd like to have a freeze dryer. Just can't justify the spend. I bought a bunch of the Augason farms, and some of the readywise. Both are good. If you like strawberry, this is one I just found. I bought a single serving just to try it. It was really good, filling, and makes a good shake to carry when hiking. Very feeling and a lot of carbs and protein. 









Helixx² - The Most Advanced Freeze Dried Life Support Meal


Freedom Gear provides solvent traps, flashlight adapters, and other survivalist supplies all made in the United States of America and shipped to your home.




freedomgear.org


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## CC Pereira (9 mo ago)

I used to drool over freeze dryers, because I have always been interested in high quality food preservation and LTS ... but a freeze dryer is just too expensive, too small to dry much at any one time, and too high maintenance for me. Also, everything processed with a freeze dryer has to be frozen first, and some foods (such as leafy greens, raw tomatoes, cooked rice, milk, yogurt, sour cream, raw cucumbers, etc.) should not be frozen (unless you don't care about quality). Sooo ... I found an alternative, which is affordable, scalable, high quality (up there with freeze dried foods, but no freezing before drying, works for anything that can be air dried, and the texture is more like that of air dried foods until rehydrated), and pretty simple for a DIYer. 

Anywho, have you ever dried herbs or flowers with silica gel? It's a simple process, that basically involves filling a container about half full of silica gel, placing herbs or flowers onto the silica gel, covering with silica gel, closing the container, and setting aside for about 3-6 weeks, or until contents are dry. 

My method is similar, except that any desiccant (such as silica gel, table salt, calcium chloride, etc.) will do, the desiccant is not allowed to directly touch whatever is being dried, the temperature inside the container is kept at 80-100F until dry, and drying time can be reduced from weeks to hours (8-48 hours, depending on what is being dried, how much is being dried, how contents are processed, etc.). Very effective, high quality, simple, affordable, and scalable. If the temperature around the container is 80-100F, a heat source is unnecessary. If not, I have used a hot water bath as the heat source, which works, but requires constant supervision, temperature checks, and adjusting, to maintain a temperature of 80-100F ... so I think this method could be improved with a different heat source, such as a lizard tank heating pad (which has a perfect temperature range), or a heating pad or heat lamp at the proper distance from the container to avoid overheating.


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