Freeze dry machine
Equipment
Has anyone purchased a home freeze dry machine. I don’t think I would use enough freeze dried meals just hunting to justify paying a couple grand for one but maybe might put up enough emergency food considering the times to pay for itself.
Last year when I was out elk hunting I came up with the idea of buying a freeze dryer and fantasized all week about the awesome food I would be eating instead of mtn house. Then I got home and discovered how expensive and large they were, guess I'm sticking to mtn house.
If money weren't a factor and I had the space for one, I would definitely go for it. You could be eating like a king in the woods
I have always wanted one as well. Hunting aside, I think I would pay it off just in making yogurt dot snacks for my kids, and freeze dried fruit for the family.
Curious why you think homemade freeze dried would eat so much better than the ones on the market? I'd think no matter what you do freeze dried is never going to be as good as fresh. But I never really considered freeze drying anything?
Does anyone have any experience with one? Does the food you freeze dry end up tasting like original? It might be interesting to have it to make meals that don't have to be frozen. I'm assuming it takes less energy to freeze dry than to freeze?
An outfitter I hunted with last year had one and made all our freeze dried meals. They were certainly better than mountain house (IMO) but obviously have their limitations. It was their first season with it, so there were some hits and misses but overall positive.
I certainly don’t eat enough freeze dried to justify one, nor do I really enjoy those aspects, so I’ll stick with the store bought stuff for my limited use.
—Jim
Man they would be handy to have. Everything I’ve ever read is the reason people like them if that whatever you make when reconstituted tastes like it’s fresh.
There are people that use them not only to make freeze dry meals but also can save lots of food for years and years. Up to 30 years I believe.
For example people will take fruit when it’s in its prime in summer and freeze dry it and save and then eat it during winter when fruit isn’t as good if that makes sense.
I was interested in them until I saw the price of them. As well as how small of a yield they make for the price. Seems like quite a bit maintenance too (oil)
Seems as though it would pay off exponentially. MH meals are SO low on calories you can't possibly mountain hunt and survive on them. (Or not without losing alot of weight)
I am on the cusp of getting one and sharing the cost with family members
Stock piling years of food could be nice I guess but for the hiker I think this is the win..
Other ways to offset the cost are to sell the product or rent it out maybe?
How much is the one you're looking at?
I don’t have one but, would love to have one. It puts food storage into a whole other realm.
To anyone that has using one. Lets say you freeze dry a bunch of food. You come home from a long day at work. Boil some water and pour over what you freeze dried. Will you be satisfied, think you are eating a good meal or would you wish you would have taking the time to cook something fresh? I find the freeze dried meals like mountain house adequate when hunting but would never choose to eat them when I have access to a way to actually cook a meal.
No one is saying they are going to freeze dry meals and come home from work and have them for dinner every night. We are talking about for hunting trips. The other one mentioned is for food storage not everyday use. It’s nice to have food stored for many years in case of a crisis. The other thing I’m working on for storage in my basement is barrels of water. It’s cool, barrels closed, no sunlight. Add the correct amount of Clorox and it will stay good water for many years.
Another option for cans of freeze dried food is a company called Thrive. Instead of actual meals, they have the ingredients to make your own meals. Butter, milk, potato’s, celery, onions, carrots, ground beef, etc.
butcherboy- well if it tastes good. That would be a nice option to use and to get the money out of the machine. Instead of just using it to make a few meals for hunts every year. If I was to spend the money on a unit I definitely would be using it for other things than just a few backpack hunts. But that’s just me
I used a freeze drying system for research in graduate school. There is a whole lot more to operating a freeze dryer than perhaps meets the eye. I expect commercial systems use mechanical cooling but in our lab system we used large amounts of dry ice which made it rather expensive to run when freeze drying larger amounts of material. The equivalent amount of cooling with a mechanical system would not be cheap. I would be surprised if home freeze drying ever became a common food preservation technique.
I know a handful of people who do it now for home food preservation. Out of commercial units. All are happy with their purchase as far as they tell me.
I researched how to build one but, due to the need for large quantity's of dry ice, I gave up on it.
I’ll give someone a good deal if they have 12k-15k laying around!
When I first saw it, I thought that dog was a badger
I don’t think the home units need dry ice?
This is what I was looking at
It’s crazy to think that someone would want their pet freeze dried but crazier things have happened! Lol mostly use them for antlers and turkey heads and the occasional freeze dried meal. Mac and cheese turned out good. So did sausage gravy and biscuits. A pork chop wasn’t bad either.
The dryer on the right has a dog and a ferret in it. The left one isn’t running but has some whitetail fawns in it and some fish that are all done but not painted.
I don’t think that’s a bad price. People spend way more on their bow and accessories. Some won’t even blink about dropping more than that on optics, clothing, etc. sure would be nice to freeze dry your meals for trips and then make a bunch for home storage.
Go in with some buddies to make the cost cheaper or figure out how to sell them .
There's no better time to sell this to your wives.
"But honey, we need this in case of another pandemic!"
