Freeze dired or dehydrated tomatos?

[edteach]

freeze dried or dehydrated tomatos? And where to buy them for long term storage. I will be putting in vacuum sealed mylar bags.

 

[Dani]

I dehydrate my own. Haven't broken down and bought a freeze drier yet, but there is a member here who has one and from what I have read highly recommends it. As to where to buy, I'm sure Wise foods or even do a search.

I vacuum seal in individual portions and throw in a food grade bucket with lid. Mine will last a few years this way, at least three that I can remember.

 

[Brent S]

Freeze dried is by far the best method to date. It lasts the longest and tastes the closest to fresh. The drawback is the cost of either buying your own dehydrator or even buying the freeze dried products is tough. I found the prices of freeze dried foods best on Walmart’s website with the #10 cans. They are still not cheap by any means, but with a 25 to 35yr shelf life it will be here after I am gone from this world. With gardening skills you can produce a new batch each year and dehydrate the surplus. They won’t have the shelf life but at least you know what went into them.

 

[WGregMiller]

We bought a freeze dryer. It does a lad of tomatoes in about 24 hours. Works very well.

If I were you, I’d try the dehydrated ones IF you’re sure you’ll use them fairly quickly (a few years). We have some put away for the long term, but since we had a ton of them from the garden, we have been using a lot just to get our stock down a little.

Also, my vacuum sealer won’t pull a vacuum on Mylar. That’s why the other bags have the texture.

As far as where to look to buy: didn’t find just tomatoes at Wise, but I didn’t look that hard.

https://www.thereadystore.com/saratoga-farms-freeze-dried-tomato

https://beprepared.com/freeze-dried-tomato-chunks-large-can.html

And Amazon has them as well.

I look at it this way - if your Mylar doesn’t get popped and you have an o2 absorber in it, you’re good to go with a very lightweight package. The LDS store has canned tomatoes, but they’re gonna be heavy and bulky.

 

[Brent S]

Interesting bit about the Mylar bag not pulling a vacuum. I hadn’t tried it yet but will take your word on it.

 

[WGregMiller]

Interesting bit about the Mylar bag not pulling a vacuum. I hadn’t tried it yet but will take your word on it.

Yeah. My wife says that the vacuum bags have teeth to let them pull a vacuum. The Mylar is so smooth it can’t (that’s my wording).

I just try to poof out all the air I can....

Edit to add -I think they make sealers that will vacuum Mylar, but I bet they’re not cheap.

 

[DrHenley]

This YouTuber found a way to vacuum seal mylar bags with a FoodSaver:

 

[Brent S]

This YouTuber found a way to vacuum seal mylar bags with a FoodSaver:

Pretty simple fix! Thanks Doc

 

[DrHenley]

I've seen a number of other "fixes" but none that I liked as much as this one. Most rely on either something stuck in the bag that gets sealed in, or something that you pull out at the last second.

One issue, however, is that it's hard to get all the voids out with a smooth bag. Some of the other methods actually insert something way down in the bag to help get the voids out.

 

[pengyou]

Thanks for your post! I was just going to post a similar question. Yes, the freeze dried machines I have looked at - the least expensive - are about $2,000...pricey but if you had one you might be able to use it for some commercial undertaking. Possibly rent it out? People come to your place to use it...

 

[WGregMiller]

Thanks for your post! I was just going to post a similar question. Yes, the freeze dried machines I have looked at - the least expensive - are about $2,000...pricey but if you had one you might be able to use it for some commercial undertaking. Possibly rent it out? People come to your place to use it...

We have one. I’d never rent it out, but we have considered drying for others.