If you have special dietary requirements, they don’t disappear if the SHTF – If you are diabetic or have other special dietary requirements, finding food that is good for you is going to get a lot more difficult if things break down.
The size of the freeze dryer you decide to buy is where cost analysis comes in handy. Different sizes of freeze dryers have different payback periods, and their costs and variable operating expenses vary.
Anyone who has spent time mountaineering or hunting knows the benefits of freeze dried food. To most everyone else though, the extent of their freeze dried experience doesn’t go much beyond instant coffee. So, let’s look at some of those benefits.
When you get the right blend of these, you can find a reliable freeze dryer that will stock your pantry with a massive shelf life for decades. Below, we break down what each of these features means for the freeze-dryer models that set themselves apart.
Plus, food should be pre-frozen to prevent any messy accidents and reduce the overall time spent in the freeze dryer.
Check the device capacity. Freeze drying a single batch of food takes time, so if you plan to use your machine frequently or use it to process large batches of food items, a higher capacity model speeds up the process.
The oil-free pump adds about $1,500 to the freeze dryer’s price tag. Comparatively, the premier oil pump is included as standard in the retail price of the machine (and costs half as much to replace).
That’s the decibel equivalent of a running dishwasher compared to a running refrigerator. The oil change frequency also increased from 5 batches to 20 batches, making the already minimal maintenance even easier.
How much food you will be freeze drying – If you plan on freeze drying small amounts of food for your future personal use, then a small freeze dryer should serve you well.
Freeze drying maintains nearly all of the nutritional value of fresh food. Other methods of preservation, such as canning and dehydrating, use high temperatures that destroy much of the food value.
When compared to purchasing premade freeze-dried food, processing an emergency mix twice per week on your own Home Pro Medium model should see an investment payback of 20 weeks, according to our freeze dryer calculator. There are many assumptions here that you can see in our calculator section below- but we estimated conservatively when needed.
Investing in a Harvest Right freeze dryer isn’t just about the upfront cost. Currently a medium model with the premier oil pump will set you back about $3,200.
Growing and eating our own organic fruits and vegetables always feels so rewarding, and with the Harvest Right freeze dryer we can enjoy our homegrown produce long after the growing season is over.
Once frozen, the food is then exposed to a vacuum, which pulls nearly all of the moisture from it by way of sublimation (2), which transforms the ice directly into vapor, bypassing the liquid stage. By get more info removing all but a tiny percentage of the water in a food item its lifespan is transformed from a few days to two or even three decades.