It's embarassing, but I am a retired chef and have never freeze dried food. I saw an ad the other night on TV about "Harvest Right," freeze dryers and I am wondering about the prospect of getting one. I can easily see *some* of the advantages and disadvantages (easy contamination as a survival cache') but would still like someone to weigh in on the subject. All of the brands I have looked at on line are pretty expensive but if the cost is outweighed by the product it might not be a bad thing to do. Does anybody have a freeze dryer and how would you rate it on a scale of 1-5?
Brother Bob, I have freeze dried a number of things in my freezer, just not generally on purpose.I have known people who do proper freeze drying, and my older son has tried it. It can be done with some things in a standard freezer, but you may not be happy with the results.
It would seem like freeze-drying food in a regular freezer would not work in the same way as a freeze-dryer does, it would just freeze the food unless you have some way to blow the cold air over the food to also dry it. I believe that this is theprocedure with freeze-dryong, just like regular dried food. While you can just leave something to sit out in the sun and dry, it might do that if you have low enough humidity, but having a fan or even a breeze will make it dry much faster. From what I have seem on the internet; the freeze-dryers are pretty expensive, like thousands of dollars; so it is not going to get on my "have to have" list anytime soon.
i was wondering if you purchased a freeze dryer. In Answer to your question 4. 5. The customer service is a 5 . It far out weighs the cost especially if buying freeze dried food.
I don't have a freeze dryer but I know freeze dried food can live up to decades before expiration. You can make foods that are edible after 30 years with them. It is something you will like if you are a survivalist or a doomsday prepper.