DIY Freeze Drying

[Brandon Pattison]

http://harvestright.com/home-freeze-dryer-machine/

Very cool but for $4000 I think a dehydrator will work just fine.

 

[beachbunny]

real old thread but something i started thinking about. i've got my dehydrator,works fine , anybody freeze dry at home.?is it worth it or not?

 

[Dos Perros]

South Cox / Stalker Stick Bows has a freeze drier. If you were savvy at Googling his podcasts you can find an episode or two where he covers it.

My understanding, freeze dried takes up more space, but rehydrates faster than dehydrated. Some foods also freeze dry better than rehydrate.

 

[strousek]

I have the medium Harvest Right Freeze Dryer and absolutely love it. I can make pretty much any meal into a freeze dried meal for backpacking. When packaged correctly these meals can last for 30 years. Takes a while to pay for itself if all you do is backpacking meals but we have found so many other uses around daily life for freeze dried foods.

 

[Trumpkin The Dwarf]

I went way down the rabbit hole looking at building my own freeze dryer... and realized that was just nuts. I just use the dehydrator.

 

[fatlander]

If I made my living in the back country, I could see owning a freeze drier. However, dehydrated meals do me just fine for the time I spend back packing.


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[bsnedeker]

I'll check in on this thread in another 5 years, maybe they will be affordable by then!

 

[Dos Perros]

In a major metro, you dudes think there'd be a market to offer freeze drying as a service? Hunter cooks his own food, provides to freeze drier, freeze drier dries, hunter picks it up. Could also offer packaging.

 

[Neverenoughhntn]

Personally, it has been worth every penny for me. Between hunting, camping, ice-fishing, etc. I’ll go through 50+ meals per year. So in that regard, it pays for itself (in my case) in 5 years or so… beyond that, we have a large garden, and can make all kinds of snacks for kids, etc… also makes it nice for a late night home and need a quick meal…. if making it pay for itself is a concern, one can sell all kinds of novelty items (freeze dried skittles, etc) and turn a decent profit.

… for those that may be interested and are wondering, I get 8 hefty meals per load in the medium harvest right. Also, no need to worry about separating ingredients like dehydrating. Also no concerns with diary, etc. either.

 

[Cervus]

@Dos Perros - Yes, I've had the same thought. I have the medium freeze dryer from HarvestRight and while I haven't offered it for a fee, I have offered it to my hunting buddies who have dietary restrictions and can't eat even the top shelf freeze dried meals. They currently bring coolers into the backcountry with whole, cooked foods and this will save them several pounds of weight and allow them to stay in longer.

 

[Charchar]

Personally, it has been worth every penny for me. Between hunting, camping, ice-fishing, etc. I’ll go through 50+ meals per year. So in that regard, it pays for itself (in my case) in 5 years or so… beyond that, we have a large garden, and can make all kinds of snacks for kids, etc… also makes it nice for a late night home and need a quick meal…. if making it pay for itself is a concern, one can sell all kinds of novelty items (freeze dried skittles, etc) and turn a decent profit.

… for those that may be interested and are wondering, I get 8 hefty meals per load in the medium harvest right. Also, no need to worry about separating ingredients like dehydrating. Also no concerns with diary, etc. either.

How about the maintenance ?

 

[freddyG]

The biggest problem is that the unit can not run in a hot environment. So freeze drying in a hot garage won’t work. The machine gives you a failure/damage warning. That sucks because that’s when everything one grows, ripens.

 

[Charchar]

The biggest problem is that the unit can not run in a hot environment. So freeze drying in a hot garage won’t work. The machine gives you a failure/damage warning. That sucks because that’s when everything one grows, ripens.

I was thinking to put one in the garage.

 

[Neverenoughhntn]

How about the maintenance ?

We keep ours in the house, so we haven’t had the overheating issue. Maintenance is minimal, with oil changes being the only maintenance we’ve done… we opt to change and filter the oil after every few cycles…. For those that are curious, the “retired at 40” YouTube channel has a lot of good content on the harvest right freeze dryers.

 

[crich]

I have the medium Harvest Right Freeze Dryer and absolutely love it. I can make pretty much any meal into a freeze dried meal for backpacking. When packaged correctly these meals can last for 30 years. Takes a while to pay for itself if all you do is backpacking meals but we have found so many other uses around daily life for freeze dried foods.

What other things do you and your family freeze dry the most? Ive been back and forth on one of these for a year or so. We have 2 very small children and my main attraction besides backpack hunting meals is easy healthy non perishable food for the kiddos.

 

[TheAri]

Read a synopsis of time/cost breakdown and DIY freeze dry doesn’t really make sense

 

[strousek]

What other things do you and your family freeze dry the most? Ive been back and forth on one of these for a year or so. We have 2 very small children and my main attraction besides backpack hunting meals is easy healthy non perishable food for the kiddos.

Pretty much any fruit you can freeze dry. Our kids love fruit but it seems to go bad if you buy it in bulk before they eat it all. We FD apples, strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, pineapple, etc. after buying in bulk. The kids love it for snacks and it will last forever. We FD yogurts and dairy products. Eggs are great to FD and always have on hand. There are a couple Facebook groups for Harvest Right that plenty of people have plenty of ideas on.

 

[Dirtscoots]

I'll check in on this thread in another 5 years, maybe they will be affordable by then!

Unfortunately I’ve been drooling over them for 4 years and the price hasn’t budged. Dehydrated meals were a game changer I can only imagine how awesome freeze drying would be.

 

[lerman]

Pretty much any fruit you can freeze dry. Our kids love fruit but it seems to go bad if you buy it in bulk before they eat it all. We FD apples, strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, pineapple, etc. after buying in bulk. The kids love it for snacks and it will last forever. We FD yogurts and dairy products. Eggs are great to FD and always have on hand. There are a couple Facebook groups for Harvest Right that plenty of people have plenty of ideas on.

Have you found that if you don't seal the food in air tight packaging soon after FD does it absorb atmospheric moisture and go soft quickly? What's your preferred packaging for different uses?

 

[Sherman]

For those of you wanting a harvest right, they have a plan where you send them $250 to lock in the price, then pay whatever you want whenever you want....no interest. When you have paid the entire amount, they send you the unit. Wait for it to go on sale, drop the $250, send in $100 every pay day, it’s at your door in less than a year. I didn’t pull the trigger last Black Friday or Christmas (can’t remember which) but will take advantage this year.