I Bought a Freeze Dryer - Harvest Right

[Michael]

Kinda wish I had not started following this thread! Y’all got me wanting one of these things bad!!

Kinda wish I had not started following this thread! Y’all got me wanting one of these things bad!!

Here are a few considerations that may (or may not) temper your enthusiasm.

- The machine and pump are a constant noise, and are relatively loud. We have ours in the utility room, just off the living room, and we sometimes have to adjust the tv volume to overcome it…which adds to the overall noise level in the house.

- It puts off a bit of heat (and runs more efficiently in a cool environment.). We
don’t have an AC vent in the utility room (which is why we typically don’t close the door between the utility and LR to reduce the noise) and it’s noticeably warmer in that room.

- Each batch takes 24-50 hours (most are under 30 hours.) My machine runs almost constantly…when we’re home, save for the couple of hours between batches required to defrost the chamber. This adds to our electricity usage. I need to do some calculations, but I figure it’s costing $1.50-$2 per day in additional electrical costs (not counting increased usage required to keep the house cool.

- it’s quite a bit of work to plan and prepare each batch. I have two sets of trays, so I try to prepare and pre freeze the next batch while a batch is in the machine. Prefrozen, packaged vegetables are easy. Pre cooked meats and meals require, obviously, pre cooking. I prefer to sous vide most meats, which requires a bit of advance planning. I recently had to grind some venison (in my new 1 HP MEAT! grinder ) and then pre-cook it. On fattier meats, it’s recommended to cover the cooked meat with warm water, then let it cool so the fat solidifies on the top for removal before freeze drying. (I figured out that’s not needed with lean venison.) But, there’s still work required ahead of, and after, each batch.

- additional costs may include the cost of the food, Mylar bags (or jars) for LT storage, O2 absorbers, extra trays, pump oil, lids, tray dividers, etc.

I certainly have no regrets with my purchase, but I figure I should mentions a few things that might balance the equation for those considering making the investment.


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[Michael]

I just pulled the lasagna, along with some spaghetti w/axis meat sauce and a couple of trays of shredded cheddar (not pre shredded).







The lasagna needs just a little more time, so I’ll package it up in another couple of hours. I’m going to save a slice to do a couple of rehydration tests and sample the results this evening.


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[flywise]

Cheddar cheese, interesting

[Michael]

I Bought a Freeze Dryer - Harvest Right

Cheddar cheese, interesting

I was surprised to learn that most cheeses freeze dry and store pretty well.

Edit: Apparently, SHREDDED cheese FD and rehydrates much better than sliced or cubed.


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[SaltwaterSlick]

So Michael, I could take already vacuum-sealed/frozen vegetables and process them? Leave them in their bags, or remove and place on trays? I sous vide quite a bit of our venison as I vacuum seal all of our venison. We prefer the sous vide meats because it's much easier to get the doneness where we like it. Half the time I sear with a torch with the meat lying on either my griddle or pit grates... If I understand your process description right, the next step is I could then process the meat in the FD machine and store in bags or jars?

[Michael]

So Michael, I could take already vacuum-sealed/frozen vegetables and process them? Leave them in their bags, or remove and place on trays? I sous vide quite a bit of our venison as I vacuum seal all of our venison. We prefer the sous vide meats because it's much easier to get the doneness where we like it. Half the time I sear with a torch with the meat lying on either my griddle or pit grates... If I understand your process description right, the next step is I could then process the meat in the FD machine and store in bags or jars?

Yes, you can use the already frozen vegetables. You’d have to remove them from the bag (or at least open the bag) to allow the moisture to escape. I suppose you could open the top of the bags, freeze dry them and then vacuum seal them back for storage.

I also prefer SV cooking for most of my meats. You are correct that you could then FD the cooked meats for storage in Mylar bags, jars or vacuum bags (depending on how long you want to store them.) That said, although I did the initial test on a single slice of SV venison steak - and it was VERY good - I’m not ready to proclaim that it is definitely the equivalent of, say, steak straight from the freezer. I still need to do more tests.

This is a pretty good video that tested a few methods of FD steaks. Some were pre-cooked and FD, others were FD raw and then cooked.

https://youtu.be/18gVDKJ25oo

All of the steaks were 1+” thick. His best result was the steak that was SV, then FD, then rehydrated (overnight) and then seared.


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[SaltwaterSlick]

Thanks! I'm thinkin'ol' Santa Claus may bring me n my bride one of these babies!!

[Michael]

I packaged up 5 servings (125g each) of the Stouffer’a lasagna into Mylar meal pouches for future pack trips. (I saved a 6th serving for a rehydration test this week.)


I packaged another 3 pouches (130g) of spaghetti with venison meat sauce.


Based on recommendation from The Elk Thread, I made biscuits and sawmill gravy that is currently in the freeze dryer for trail breakfasts.



I also made chicken pot pie for dinner tonight and will freeze dry a couple of trays of the filling plus pie crusts, separately.




My wife and I are heading to the Durango area in a couple of weeks and will camp for a few days. (We may be meeting a couple of friends there, too). We’ll be able to test some of our home cooked meals on the trail.

[Michael]

I got a fairly decent yield from my habanero plant (still have a lot of work to do on ky gardening skills.) I’m fermenting most of them (along with some onions and pineapple) to make a hot sauce, but I saved several to make habanero powder. (Casey, Devin and I used some in our last batch of sausage, and Casey had to special order it.) I freeze dried several chiles and then ground it in my wife’s coffee grinder! .




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[Strummer]

I got a fairly decent yield from my habanero plant (still have a lot of work to do on ky gardening skills.) I’m fermenting most of them (along with some onions and pineapple) to make a hot sauce, but I saved several to make habanero powder. (Casey, Devin and I used some in our last batch of sausage, and Casey had to special order it.) I freeze dried several chiles and then ground it in my wife’s coffee grinder! .




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Oh she is going to love the nice hot kick in her next batch of coffee . My wife would kill me for doing that [emoji16]

[Michael]

Oh she is going to love the nice hot kick in her next batch of coffee . My wife would kill me for doing that [emoji16]

LOL! She gave me permission. I’ll probably just order a new coffee grinder and make this one my spice grinder.


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[Pedernal]

Oh she is going to love the nice hot kick in her next batch of coffee . My wife would kill me for doing that [emoji16]

LOL! She gave me permission. I’ll probably just order a new coffee grinder and make this one my spice grinder.


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Getting a new one for the wife will be a good idea… I use one exclusively for dried peppers. Mainly for piquin peppers.

[Michael]

I Bought a Freeze Dryer - Harvest Right

We did a blind taste test of freeze dried eggs.

I reconstituted the FD yard egg powder (equivalent of two eggs) and scrambled it in a bowl. I also scrambled two yard eggs and then two store bought eggs. Jeanette and Hannah were able to correctly identify the raw versions of each.




I then scrambled each separately (unseasoned.) Both were able to correctly identify the cooked versions, based on appearance, as well.

Next, we did a blind taste test based on taste and texture.




They were both immediately able to identify which was the store bought eggs, based simply on taste (or lack thereof…we’ve been eating yard eggs for awhile and there’s a huge difference.)

They were split on identifying the fresh yard eggs vs freeze dried, based on taste and texture. Hannah slightly preferred the FD, while Jeanette ever-so-slightly preferred the farm fresh. (Note that Hannah is also the most skeptical of FD foods.) Both agreed that the differences were very minimal, and we all preferred both of the farm varieties over the store bought.

I think we all agree that if we were served the FD for breakfast without any comparison, we’d have no idea we were eating FD, especially if added a touch of milk, cooked in butter and seasoned with salt and pepper.

They were quick to finish all three plates after we quit recording!




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[Michael]

I found some dehydrated peas/carrots in the freezer and thought it would be a good opportunity to illustrate the difference in appearance between dehydrated and freeze dried.




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[Michael]

The freeze dried kale and spinach that we blended into “greens powder” for Hannah’s smoothies came out great. We bought a few more packages of each to do another batch (Courtney wants some now, and we’ll keep some around the house for us! ). We should have some home grown in our garden soon!





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