If there are, add more hours to the dry cycle. If it needs more dry time (you can check this by breaking a piece of food in half and seeing if there are still any icy/frozen bits in the middle. Once it’s done, the machine will chirp at you to check it.Push start, make sure the drain valve is closed, and let ‘er rip.Place the trays in the machine and place the black circle pad thing (that’s the technical term) over the opening.It doesn’t have to be perfect, but you want it to dry evenly. First off, chop/shred/etc your food in semi-uniform pieces.But I’ll walk you through the process anyway. It’s so easy it almost doesn’t need a tutorial. No, the real question is: how long can you stave off your family from eating it all? If you can master that skill ( I had to threaten my children with severe punishment just in order to have enough yogurt drops left for these photos!) properly contained freeze-dried food can last as long as 25 years. When exposed to air, the dry food will soak up moisture and won’t last as long. However, to make the food last for years, you’ll want to keep it in something like a mylar bag with an oxygen absorber. Well, you *can* freeze-dry bread, but it doesn’t work to rehydrate it with water, because it just gets soggy and gross.įor short term shortage, I’ve been putting mine in tightly sealed mason jars (because it looks pretty). The biggest things you can’t really freeze-dry are straight fats (like butter or coconut oil– although you CAN freeze foods that contain butter or other fats) and bread.
Oh man– everything! Fruits and vegetables are the primary things I’ve been freeze-drying, but you can also dry meats (raw and cooked), dairy products (cheese, yogurt, etc), whole meals (to be rehydrated later). We also found keeping our freeze dryer in a cooler place (our basement) slightly shortened the time, as compared to having it outside in our hot shop during the summer. However, that period is entirely hands-off– you don’t have to do anything or babysit it. It depends on the foods, but usually anywhere from 20-40 hours. How Long Does it Take to Freeze Dry a Batch of Food? It has a detachable vacuum pump that sits to the side of the machine and the pump weighs about 30 lbs. It’s dimensions are 30″ tall, 20″ wide, 25″ deep, and it weighs in at slightly over 100 lbs. It’s smaller than a dishwasher, but larger than a microwave. Freeze-dried food can be eaten as-is, rehydrated, or saved for later. Freeze-dried food keeps much, much more of its texture, nutrition, and taste than canned, dehydrated, or frozen food. It works by first freezing the food (to at least -40 degrees Fahrenheit) and then creating a powerful vacuum seal which vaporizes the ice crystals entirely and leaves you with a thoroughly dry, extremely shelf-stable food. But then I kept using it, and fell in love. I’ll tell you what changed my mind, but first, some specifics:įirst off, let me clarify– this is NOT a dehydrator.
And to be honest? I used it a couple times and wasn’t super impressed. So here it came… In a big ol’ box, delivered by a big ol’ truck. If freeze-dried food is a part of your emergency preparedness plan, in the long run you’ll save a whole bunch by doing it yourself, versus buying freeze-fried food.You can easily freeze dry small quantities or portions– even things like leftover meals can be preserved, which has the potential to reduce a lot of food waste.Freeze dried food tastes better and lasts MUCH longer than canned, frozen, or dehydrated food.All other units are for commercial use, are ginormous, and cost tens of thousands of dollars. It is the ONLY freeze dryer on the market designed for home use.The main aspects of the Harvest Right Home Freeze Dryer that piqued my interest were: But after a quick phone call with their Operations Manager, I decided to give it a try.
I already water bath can, pressure can, freeze stuff, dehydrate stuff, and ferment stuff. It almost seemed a tad redundant to have another way to preserve food. ( Like the email I got the other day from a company asking me to promote their real human hair wigs… Um, NO.) So when the email from Harvest Right came asking me if I wanted to try one of their home freeze dryers, I wasn’t interested at first. I get pitched a lot of different things from a lot of different companies, and I turn down 99% of them. You see, it started out with an email from a company called Harvest Right… that I almost deleted. Although I’m pretty sure the friends and family who’ve walked past the robin egg blue machine in our basement the past few months have silently wondered, “What the heck are these strange people up to now?” It’s a bird… It’s a plane… It’s the world’s tiniest washing machine…
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