Do you have a freeze dryer?

[PopPopT]

I would imagine this could go in a number of different categories. Preppers are likely to have freeze dried food in their stocks.

Anyway, I've seen a few videos about home freeze dryers. They're expensive, but still doable for us. And they look like they would be very useful for some stuff even not exactly "prepping", such as storing an abundance of summer eggs or making your own garlic or onion powder.

The idea of being able to store things in canning jars (or mylar bags) on a shelf, indefinitely, without having to worry about the keeping the electrons flowing for a freezer, I could see how that could uncomplicate at least some things on a homestead power system.

Granted, not everything would be ideal for freeze drying. But I've been rolling around the idea of springing for one.

Whatcha think? Been down this road already? Curious what you think.

 

[Double R]

I’ve wanted one for a while. They are just out of my budget. Seen a lot of good videos on them and they definitely are a good investment pending you continue to have power.

 

[Amish Heart]

Don't have one, but do have purchased freeze dried food. I have heard the maintenance on them takes some work, and they require electricity.

 

[PopPopT]

Don't have one, but do have purchased freeze dried food. I have heard the maintenance on them takes some work, and they require electricity.

I've heard of some maintenance, mostly to the vacuum pump. (They have oil free ones that don't require the maintenance but they're super expensive, like an extra $1500 just for the vacuum pump upgrade. OUCH!

Yup, they take electricity. But so does a freezer, well, at least most freezers.

No freebies, but I still wonder if it's a tool that would be worthwhile having around.

 

[Amish Heart]

Don't know. I can do alot with dehydrated food, so I don't know that I'd put the money out.

 

[Bacpacker]

We've had our eyes on one for a couple years now. Just never had the funds for it.
The oil free pumps are the way to go, but I think as good or better pump could be had for less than $1500. Thats something I need to look into.

 

[Meerkat]

We have a great canner and a Excaliber dehydrater and that is all we need or can afford.

 

[Caribou]

I'd love an oil free pump but you can buy a lot of oil for $1500. Spare pumps can be purchased for far less than factory prices so I expect that oilless pumps can be also.

 

[lilmissy]

I got one for Christmas. Everyone chipped in and that was my gift. I got a medium, regular pump. They ordered it in Aug, I believe and didnt get it until Dec. it pretty much has been running non stop. Cant wait to see the electric bill not! As of now I had a bunch of apples I purchased from a farm. Just got those done and when I canned applesauce I saved all the peelings and such, froze those and just got those fd. We grew pie pumpkins, cooked those and fd that. My plan is to try to empty a freezer. I eat a smoothie a day, so I want to fd all my fruit, add some ice and call it a day. my goal is to empty a freezer and if I see deals on items we eat, grab em up and fd.
We got the regular pump. Changed the oil after each run and filter the oil. Takes 5 seconds. They say tear the pump apart after 6 months for maintenance. Like hubby said, its a regular pump, We can find parts or buy a new pump that will work anywhere. Imho

 

[PopPopT]

Cool! Literally!

Thanks for the feedback, especially about the pump. I did wonder just how much trouble "maintenance" would actually be. What kind of oil do they use?

 

[Double R]

@lilmissy Congrats on the FD er! That’s an awesome gift! Which one did you get?

 

[bamadeb48]

they are expensive,

 

[Caribou]

they are expensive,

I've seen guns that cost more, lots more. It's a tool and worth the price, if you use it. Most here have cars and they all cost way more.

 

[PopPopT]

I've seen guns that cost more, lots more. It's a tool and worth the price, if you use it. Most here have cars and they all cost way more.

Seems like everything is expensive. A trip to the grocery store (yeah, it was nearly a month) was $400.

Sometimes I ask myself, have prices really gone up? Or has the value of my money just gone down?

 

[SheepDog]

The more choices you have the better off your food preps can be, if you can afford it.

 

[Neb]

I got one for Christmas. Everyone chipped in and that was my gift. I got a medium, regular pump. They ordered it in Aug, I believe and didnt get it until Dec. it pretty much has been running non stop. Cant wait to see the electric bill not! As of now I had a bunch of apples I purchased from a farm. Just got those done and when I canned applesauce I saved all the peelings and such, froze those and just got those fd. We grew pie pumpkins, cooked those and fd that. My plan is to try to empty a freezer. I eat a smoothie a day, so I want to fd all my fruit, add some ice and call it a day. my goal is to empty a freezer and if I see deals on items we eat, grab em up and fd.
We got the regular pump. Changed the oil after each run and filter the oil. Takes 5 seconds. They say tear the pump apart after 6 months for maintenance. Like hubby said, its a regular pump, We can find parts or buy a new pump that will work anywhere. Imho

@lilmissy

Please get back to us on the electricity cost.

The Princess has one on her wishlist but I insisted we have to get our batteries. and copper (wire ) to install our solar panels and wind turbine functional so we don't have to pay for the electricity to run it.

Vacuum pumps are electrical pigs.

Until then she is taking advantage of the economy of scale and just purchase the freeze dried stuff.

Ben

 

[hiwall]

Harvest Right Freeze Dryer - Cost Analysis and Optimization
https://commonsensehome.com/harvest-right-freeze-dryer/

 

[Neb]

Harvest Right Freeze Dryer - Cost Analysis and Optimization
https://commonsensehome.com/harvest-right-freeze-dryer/

Most excellent bit of infimatuon there but we still lack a cost per pound of dried produce or did I miss something?

I would like to see a dry it myself including electricity vs mountain house or similar.

Ben

 

[PopPopT]

It would be interesting seeing actual use kinda numbers for what it costs to run. In the videos I did see on YouTube, they talked like it's good to freeze the food before it ever goes in, said it saves on how long the freeze dryer takes to do it's thing. I'm not sure how much energy the thing takes to run the freezer part of it. I've not really noticed that any of our chest freezers are particularly energy hog-ish. And if the thing is pretty well air tight and would hold the vacuum pretty well, I would think the vacuum pump would do the evacuation thing and then shut off rather than run continuously. (??)

I can see it being a bigger concern for off-grid. The cycles on a freeze dryer are typically like 18 - 24 hours from what I hear, so probably not something that could go through the whole cycle on just solar as it's being collected outta the sky. Don't know if ya started at maybe 9:00am whether the bulk of the energy might come from the day's solar production if by the time the sun was gettin' low maybe the contents were pretty much cold already and the vacuum was already there and might not take a huge amount of battery to get through the night. (??)

I've been very spoiled here. I'm not sure exactly why but grid electric is cheap. House is pretty much total electric and the average monthly bill is usually less than $150, rarely over $200 at worst, but not uncommon to have a couple of months under $100. So solar backup is a pretty hard sell on the "savings" angle. Still wanna get a simple setup for emergencies, though.

 

[Caribou]

I would compare the freeze drier to loading your own ammo. You need to freeze dry a lot of bananas to pay for the cost of the setup. If you are freeze drying your own home grown food it will pay faster.

The advantage is not that you save money so much as you can control the quality of your food, you know how it is made, and you can keep drying food long after your $2,000 worth of #10 cans is long gone. There is an advantage to having your own factory.

 

[Neb]

I would compare the freeze drier to loading your own ammo. You need to freeze dry a lot of bananas to pay for the cost of the setup. If you are freeze drying your own home grown food it will pay faster.

The advantage is not that you save money so much as you can control the quality of your food, you know how it is made, and you can keep drying food long after your $2,000 worth of #10 cans is long gone. There is an advantage to having your own factory.

If the electricity is free.

Ben

 

[hiwall]

Most things can be dehydrated or pressure canned at a very small cost. Most people already own a freezer for storage of things they do not want to can or dry.
So does anyone really "need" a freeze-dryer?
And how can they justify the cost?
The only thing the freeze-dryer does is allow extreme long-term storage (though so does pressure canning). Do you really need very long-term storage of food?

 

[Bacpacker]

From my understanding freeze drying not only gives extreme long term storage, 20+ years, but also preserves the most nutrients of any preservation methods. But yes it comes at a high price.

 

[SheepDog]

The down side to a freeze drier is the same as a freezer, as soon as the power goes out you lose that ability to preserve your food. That doesn't happen with canning.
I heard the talk about solar and wind power but batteries have a life expectancy of 5 to 10 years, solar panels have a life of 20 years and wind turbines for homestead use have a life expectancy of only about 5 years. These things will have to be replaced in the future to maintain your electrical grid.
I am not saying not to do it but be aware of the cost over time and maintenance required to keep it all functioning.

 

[lonewolf]

my preps are all geared towards not having electricity post SHTF.

 

[Neb]

Most things can be dehydrated or pressure canned at a very small cost. Most people already own a freezer for storage of things they do not want to can or dry.
So does anyone really "need" a freeze-dryer?
And how can they justify the cost?
The only thing the freeze-dryer does is allow extreme long-term storage (though so does pressure canning). Do you really need very long-term storage of food?

You can freeze dry ice cream.

Ben

 

[hiwall]

You can freeze dry ice cream.

Ben

My freezer is on a solar-powered circuit

 

[lilmissy]

My first regret, should have gotten it sooner. But I wouldnt pay that amount For myself. I do can, pressure can, dehydrate, etc. but the main thing that I liked just like Backpacker said, it saves almost all of the nutrients. I love to garden and I am always looking for deals. We have produce auctions in a few towns around us so I hit those up. i found a great deal on ricotta cheese, grabbed some, taste almost right of the container. FD some of my eggs and they are exactly like fresh. Did some cooked chicken, loved it. So as long as I keep it going and my electric bill isnt off the charts, to me it is well worth it. We dont eat out much, we only have 1 vehicle, etc. So I can justify it I keep telling myself that. To catch up on all that I want to do, I told my friend I should have gotten a commercial one, from what I have researched a lot of people with celiacs, etc cant buy fd food because of all the additives. So they prepare their own. It is great for BOB, light weight. I do want to fd items that do not grow around here.

 

[SheepDog]

my preps are all geared towards not having electricity post SHTF.

That is a great choice! I'm trying to find a way to put up a personal liquid fluoride thorium reactor.

 

[hashbrown]

I would imagine this could go in a number of different categories. Preppers are likely to have freeze dried food in their stocks.

Anyway, I've seen a few videos about home freeze dryers. They're expensive, but still doable for us. And they look like they would be very useful for some stuff even not exactly "prepping", such as storing an abundance of summer eggs or making your own garlic or onion powder.

The idea of being able to store things in canning jars (or mylar bags) on a shelf, indefinitely, without having to worry about the keeping the electrons flowing for a freezer, I could see how that could uncomplicate at least some things on a homestead power system.

Granted, not everything would be ideal for freeze drying. But I've been rolling around the idea of springing for one.

Whatcha think? Been down this road already? Curious what you think.

I'm so close to buying a freeze dryer my wife really wants it and we can afford it at the moment. Did you purchase one?