Full Disclosure! Is Freeze-Drying Worth the Cost and Hassle? 

Check out these affiliate links that help to support our channel. Thanks for using them! **Harvest Right affiliates.harvestright.com/901.html. **The Cube Freeze Dryer from Prep4Life p4lfood.com/?ref=provident_prepper **PackFreshUSA Mylar Bags packfreshusa.com/?rfsn=7503114.ecc85c Use promo code PROVIDENT to receive 10% off your order. I prefer to use smaller sizes for freeze-dried foods. Remember that the important thing is to build a well-stocked pantry that can see you through challenging times. Freeze-drying may or may not be a good option for you. You don't have to have a freeze-dryer to be prepared! But it sure is nice. Thanks for being part of the solution!

My solution to preserve the fruit from two apple trees this summer was to offer my neighbor, who has a large freeze dryer and zero apples, one half of each finished batch! Both of our coffers are full…win-win!

With the Mylar bags, I copy store displays. I put a j hook board on the wall and use a hole punch at the top of my bags and hang them on j hooks. Saves a ton of room unlike the bulky totes. Hope that helps.

Jonathan. I had exactly the same error (mid-batch heater) on my medium freeze dryer last week, and after communicating with HR about the issue and tearing our FD apart, replacing the control board (still didn't work after that either), the solution was as simple as unplugging the shelving unit, pulling it out, and carefully sticking a flat nosed dowel into the little round hole in the back of the heating unit and lightly pressing the "breaker" button until it clicked. Bingo! Everything works great since then. (To HR's credit, this solution was conainted in the 12 item diagnostic checklist they sent me in an email, Item #12, last sentance. The explanation was that the heating unit "over heats" sometimes, and trips the breaker button.)

Thank you, folks. My sister planted the idea into my brain a few months ago and I'm onboard. I'm a tinkerer and fixing stuff is not a problem. These units are a must I do believe. With what I see going on in our World and country, it is imperative to be COMPLETELY READY! As we say in the USMC, "Beans, Bullets, and Bandaids." Love you both!

I used to work in pharmacy and was in charge of inventory and record keeping. One thing we would do to keep up with our many prescriptions is order them in number order (also dated), separated and stacked by 100s, then they got stored in super large totes. Each tote had a master inventory list on it. That way we always knew where to look. So separate into manageable categories wether that’s alphabetical order, nutrient category (protein, carb, etc.), or by type of food (fruit, veggie, complete meal, etc.), place in an appropriate container and make a master list (with contents and dates) to place on the exterior of the container.

I can tell you from experience that you forgot an important disadvantage! I found that as they develop new designs and features they lose the support on their older models. That is a very bad thing after spending so much money for a freeze dryer. I can't get parts that fit as well and my machine isn't that old. My sister got hers about 6 months before mine and they had nothing for her. They don't even have places they can send you to get parts that will work. I do love the machine and the end product! But I desperately need o rings for the tubes and they keep sending me o rings for the new models and they don't fit. So mine is 5 years old and not used as often since I can't use mine in the winter months because my house is totally solar powered and still I need parts. Be prepared for that if you buy one. I would recommend buying spare parts at the same time. I think they have come out with 2 or 3 different models since mine and 1+ more since my sisters so be prepared for that!

Excellent show! I harvested my entire garden this year with the freeze dryer. It was amazing! I also had shoulder surgery right at harvest time and was terrified that all my tomatoes would go to waste because tomato sauce, I thought, was out of the question at that point. However, I saw a lady that used a vita-mix to process tomatoes without skinning and de-seeding and then made sauce. Still had to cook down and all that which would be hard in my situation. I pondered for awhile, being stuck in the old way of doing things, when I glanced at the freeze dryer and realized that I could pulverize the tomatoes and then freeze dry! Problem solved! I filled up my trays for the first load but still had a ton of tomatoes yet to process so I put the sauce in gallon bags and by the time I got done and went to put them in the freezer to wait their turn, to my surprise the water had separated from the pulp! I cut a small hole in the corner of the bag and drained the water which made the FD finish in nearly half the time of the first batch! Now I was doing about 50-75lbs a week and that was a lot of gallon bags to waste so I had another epiphany and started pouring the sauce into one of those canisters with the spout at the bottom, waited for separation and drained the water. Now I have tomato powder that I can turn into paste or sauce as needed. Best purchase I ever made!

My approach to freeze drying is the same as my approach to canning and dehydrating....I focus primarily on preserving individual ingredients rather than on meals. That way I have more options on what I prepare for us to eat. When I compared costs of ready to purchase freeze dried foods to the cost of buying a freeze dryer and doing my own to store, I could clearly see how doing my own would save me money. The savings were significant on meat, cheese and eggs. It hasn't taken me too long to now have recoped the cost of my investment in a freeze dryer. (I've had my freeze dryer a little over a year. And while I've done lots of things from my garden and orchard I've really focused on meat, cheese and eggs.) From here on out it's money saved!!!!

The only reason I'd buy a freeze dryer - and I do, without a doubt, see the utility of it - would be if I had another 25 /30 mote years of life on me - it's a long term prep I'm 71 so I'll stick with tne Cosori Dehydrator - the process time is at least half the time as well !

Maybe a traditional metal file cabinet would work for storing the mylar bags with labels on the front of the drawers indicating what each drawer has. You could probably use some sort of tabbed dividers in each drawer to separate the different foods. The metal of the cabinet would make them rodent proof also, and the keep the darkness too.

You guys are so kind to help your friends and neighbors. Made me tear up. Just don't see people spend that kind of money to help others. Wish I lived close, not to take advantage of your kindness, but to LEARN, and friendship.

My mom purchased a large machine in 2017 and has had great success with her machine. Zero issues. I have helped her run it and am actually the one who talked her into buying it. I bought my own large machine in November of 2022 on black Friday. Took until end of February to receive machine. I didn't run 1st batch until July because I had to install an outlet with a dedicated breaker. Wich I knew I needed but with other things going on it took me 5 months to get around to it. With all that being said I have run approximately 18 batches with my machine and have already had to replace my control/ relay board. Now on 11/3/22 on my 19th batch I got a message saying couldn't get cold enough, wich is indicating a refrigerant leak in the compressor and I also am getting the mid batch heater failure code. Both of these issues started on this batch. So now I'm going to have to wait 5 days to talk to a tech from harvest right, then more than likely send my unit back to Utah to them ,for warranty work. Wich will probably take a month or more turn around time. So yeah they are great when they work. idk if I got a lemon or what but for $4000 I think I should be able to do more than 20 batches without issues like these. Like I said my moms machine has been great, mine not so much. So if your not willing to put up with breakdowns and waiting a week or two on simple parts like the board and then taking the unit apart and installing it yourself,, or boxing up a very heavy machine and hauling it to fedex to be put on a semi and then hauling it back home, then this machine is not for you. They are pretty much the only game in town for freeze drying so if your wanting to do your own food this is pretty much your only option, but you have to be willing to deal with the headaches that come along with it. Im not trying to discourage anyone but I'm also just wanting to be honest about my experience to help anyone thinking about it decide if it's right for them. I don't regret buying my machine yet, but that may change if I continue to have issues like I have had so far.

Thank you for this video. We have been considering one. I appreciate all the information

I’m on the fence about buying one of these machines. But to be honest your statement about helping friends prep may be what pushes me over the edge to buy one. What an excellent thought.!

Great video, thank you! I have wanted a Harvest Right for a long time.

I bought 2 small freeze dryers because I'm a solo. I love the diversity of food...I can...freeze...freeze dry! I just completed fruits that I could powder. Powdering is an AMAZING procedure to make spice mixes for soups and casseroles. The small size gives me the versatility of small batches.Yes small freeze dryers are the more expensive but you can do smaller batches quicker.

Thank you for your honesty. I was really wondering about them.

A way to increase the density of freeze dried produce is to grind it down after drying. I don't think it will work for all fruits and produce. that will depend on what you plan to make with it. Also, if you cut your apples and fruit in smaller cubes you will be able to fit more in per volume compared to apple parts. Again it depends on how you will eat/ prepare it. I don't have one yet, but for me the big advantage would be that, most food that normally is stored in a freezer can be freeze dried. food stored in a freezer can spoil during big power outages unless you have backup power. Freeze dried food does not have that problem. Great video. Thanks

I really appreciate this video. Thanks for your thorough assessment of the pros and cons. I found this very helpful!

I really appreciate the cost breakdowns! Thank you for the information. Nothing like a good spreadsheet.

Thank you for doing a video on this topic . Very useful

Thank you so much for this review, especially the honest review of the drawbacks. I've been concerned about the oil change and most reviews I've watched just kind of breeze over that.

I LOVE my freeze dryer. Got it this spring. I love freezing banana slices…a grandson favorite, as well as apple slices. Just finished a batch with zucchini, garden green onions, red, yellow and orange bell peppers and celery and carrots to make a mirepoix mix. Also done cooked, diced chicken, Cooked ground beef, ham slices and thinly sliced kielbasa. Just fun to try different foods. Use mostly Mason jars and vacuum seal with my vacuum sealer. My hall linen closet is now a pantry lol!

Thank you for your honest opinion. I am about $500 away from owning my very own shiny new freeze dryer 🎉🥳🥰 I’ve been putting aside a little here and a little there. I noticed on your video that prices have gone up some. Mentioned it to my husband and that the sale brought the price back down to the previous price. Looks like we are going to put one on order Friday 💃🏻😃 I missed harvest season but I’m not complaining! Thanks for expediting my purchase 😜. I can’t wait🎉.

We've had a freeze dryer since 2018 I LOVE it!! The food taste is actually more intense and so fresh. My son and I have started to show others how to start storing food. We use the PET bottles, Mylar and glass bottles. We DO have a spread sheet ...The size and type of the container and date it was stored THEN where it is. Under the beds, Under the stairs, Behind the couches. I use beautiful table clothes that hide the boxes then have my house pants on them. I like putting up my families favorite recipes. My dad use to make a killer Red chili stew, he passed away over 40 years ago. My suggestion is to have several families pool the funds every other month and buy large bags of (rice, oats, pop corn, sugar, salt, beans, lentils Etc.) then split it. This way you have a small supply of several products. Then continue to work together. We need to learn how to cook, the cheapest food is the basics. PET is great, food grade containers from Deli or Bakery area of the grocery stores. Go get free items where ever you can.

Great report! Thanks for your service.

Im SO grateful for this video. Seriously considering this sale. Trying to figure out which size would be best. Not yet producing too much of our own food. Great to hear that the medium one finishes faster.

This was fabulous, thank you. I love my freeze dryer, I have had it less than a year, but it's been such a boon to my storage options. One thing I love to freeze-dry is apple slices tossed in the cinnamon sugar mixture that I use for my toast. These aren't meant for long-term storage, but a better snack than M&M's or Oreos :D lol

For storage, I put the mylar bags in either 5 gallon buckets or washed and dried large cat sand buckets, which I have a lot of. All the buckets are labeled with contents and easily stacked. Also, canned food can be freeze dryed to extend it's life. They are already cooked so just need to be rehydrated when you want to use them. A good example are canned beans.

Wow! What great practical information!! Love it!

Thank you for your videos! Freeze dryers are way too expensive for me. If one of my sons had not paid for my eye surgery, I would have been blind no later than Christmas. Very low SocSec income, but thank goodness I started prepping 5 years ago! So I have several #10 cans of freeze dried food I bought when it was still affordable. I have a zillion dried spices and herbs, so I can literally make cheap ramen noodles taste like they came from anywhere in the world, lol. I have canned meats and vegetables. I bought extra cans of things when I could afford them. Slow and steady wins the race, even on a very limited budget!

Great video. Gave me some really good information. Thank you.

I love freeze drying my grass feed milk from the farmer in town. I don’t have cows and this provides me with so much peace knowing I can always have milk.

I had a freeze dryer from harvest right. Never worked properly. My electric bill went up about $30 and that was not using the freeze dryer daily. Storage of the food was the next issue. I sealed a lot of it up in jars just like you have here. They drew moisture and didn’t last. You are in a low humidity environment. It doesn’t work as well in a high humidity area. I had to send mine in for a repair. Customer service was worthless. It took me over 6 months to finally get ahold of someone. By that time I was so upset about it I told them to keep it. I wanted my money back and didn’t want the machine back. Very frustrating.

It is wonderful to see john supporting you and your efforts to care for the Houshold good job and it is good that you work to support you family by providing food and making sure they have their needs met. If you watch a lot of vids or the news you see that there is a lot of people who resent good people such as yourselves i.e. (husband and wife TEAM who support each other) I like videos such as these with real people sharing and supporting one another. by the way you are just as smart as your husband men are logical and love order such as charts but is he as good at the things you are good at.

My favorite so far is tomatoes, sliced, and powdered. They taste like candy. The powdered is used like tomato paste for thickening. I would like to mention that I vacuum seal my jars w/o o2 absorbers and can open numerous times and re-vacuum, seems to work well. Thank you guys for the great content on your channel. Keep up the good work ☺️👍

Thanks for all the information. I bought my freeze dryer a couple of years ago, but I have never used it until now. My husband and I split time between 2 homes. I was scared to use it without my husband around to "fix" any problem. Finally, when our 2 apple trees were bursting with apples, I couldn't let them go to waste. I just started using a freeze dryer last Saturday while my husband was still here. I freeze-dried Jonathan apple slices and fresh, not processed, applesauce cubes. I was so elated with the flavor, especially of the cubes of applesauce. Today, I'm freezing my second batch with grapes, bananas, more apples slices and applesauce, and finally a vanilla yogurt mixed with cheesecake pudding powder in the 1" silicone trays. I'll let you know how they turn out.

My local City Mission has a Harvest Right and I was able to see it up close. It is something that I hope to purchase within the next 2 years. As others have said, it looks like a wonderful tool to help preserve food for long-term storage. Thank you for the video.

Love your video. We are going to purchase one but not until next year. It’s just not in the budget for us this year. BUT you guys explained so much and answered lots of our questions. Thank you…we are now following you. God Bless

Just bought a medium Harvest Right freeze dryer. Thank you for all your information that helped us make this decision. 😁

Great video folks!!!

Thank you for the wonderfully informative and balanced analysis

Thanks to my freeze drier, my children are eating more fruit than ever before. They beg me to freeze dry fruits that they normally will not eat fresh and that's what they take to school for snack. Their friends are always begging them to share their freeze dried fruit. Before my freeze drier many of my apple tree apples were going to waste. Now I'm not wasting hardly any apples because I freeze most of them and they fly off my shelf.

Thanks for the videos. we have a HRFD too and I use the mason jars. I use desiccant packs and vacuum seal the jars.

This has been a great informative video, thank you.

Great video. I love my freeze dryer, for all of the reasons you talked about. Mine is in my basement kitchen, so in an air conditioned and heated area. I started a spreadsheet to keep track of all of my preserved food, because I have it scattered all over the house, but I don’t like to mess with keeping it updated. The jars are easier storage because I can see what is what. The Mylar bags … if I want one out of a tub I have to practically unload the tub to find what I want, and gusseted or no, they do not store neatly. I never considered freezing my used oil. I will try that with my next oil change. Thanks for that one, Jonathan!

Glad you are enjoying the freeze dryer! There is truly a huge difference between the quality of dehydrated and freeze-dried foods. I don't have the budget or the space, unfortunately. But I have been happy with the bulk foods I have purchased. I am using more freeze dried foods versus GMO produce that has very low nutrition. And am converting all my camping meals to home-packed freeze dried versus the expensive $10 to $15 store-bought junk! Thanks The Great Out There

This is all new to us. I'm 67 and my wife is 63. We just got a HR medium and are so excited. We've watched so many videos. Some are really good and others are downright dangerous with advice. I wanted to tell you that you guys are the best. You guys are a lot like me and my wife and I've laughed a lot. The info in your video is very informative too. I like a lot of tech stuff and record keeping lol. The other people we love to watch are the Living Traditions Homestead and Live.Life.Simple retired at 40. So, we are so new at this that we've only done the bread run. Everything was fine and we learned how to reconstitute bread slices perfectly. We've got our first real batch of blueberries, peaches, pears and 2 skinny cow ice cream sandwiches in the deep freeze getting ready. My QUESTION IS: about the heater cord that follows when you pull out the tray rack to clean the interior. When you go to put it back in, sometimes it gets in the back of the rack and you can't get the rack to go in all the way. I've figured to reach in and hold the heater cord on top as I slide the rack back in, but wanted to know if you think it's ok to let the cord sit on top of the rack during a cycle? I was worried about the heat damaging the cord. Please reply and thanks again for your help to the rookies out here lol.

Almost 60 years ago I worked at General Foods Bird's Eye where our lab worked with freeze drying foods. At that time the freeze dried coffee was new, and we tested Awake, an Orange Juice substitute. It was an interesting experience until I returned to start college and take ROTC, because it gave more choices with the upcoming Vietnam War.

You got me at "sounds like a spreadsheet is in order". That's my kind of thinking. I've done that with my freezer contents

Bless you for thinking of others! That’s awesome :)

I'm looking at buying a freeze dryer today :). So happy to see my most trusted preppers reviewing this!

After a rocky start. (issues with the compressor, received a completely new freeze dryer). I love my freezer dryer and am very happy I made the leap and purchased it. I bought the large.

Great presentation. This is a very informative and thorough. I appreciate your transparency.

Thank you for this video. It has helped me make up my mind about buying a freeze dryer.

I do both jars and bags. I’m like you. I like the stand up pint and quart bags as well. My jars are in the pantry away from light. I love having the food in jars so you can just take out what you need. I reseal mine with my food saver vacuum so that saves on oxygen absorbers.

Love my freeze dryer i have had it 2 years and have preserved so much and yes I help others in my circle as needed

Thank you for doing this review and being honest!. Most RU-vidr's DON'T TELL about the problems of HarvestRight units that have been shipping out this year. Living in an apartment and NOT having a Jonathan around to fix mine was SUCH an issue for me!. I REALLY, REALLY WANT to get one, but spending $2,200 plus with the possibly of ME having to FIX IT RIGHT OUT OF THE BOX is NOT cost effective. It's such a hit or miss with HarvestRight. I am STILL WANTING it, but are afraid of getting a bad unit. They are heavy and I can't ship that thing back to Harvest if I CANNOT FIX it. Such a dilemma I have :(

Thank you for sharing. I’m still studying about how this all works. I have no idea as to rehydrate the food for cooking. Lots to learn!

I'm so glad you are showing everything in jars. I was wondering about jars vs mylar bags. Thanks for the info on the heat, too. I was hoping I could put it in the garage, but definitely not with our 100+ temps.

Thank you for sharing this. I can't afford a freeze dryer yet, but this information was very helpful. I would love to be able to freeze dry organic eggs, we constantly loose power where I live and that would be nice to have on hand. So far, I've been dehydrating food - which works great with frozen organic food since the prep work is done for you (huge time saver!). Either way you can make powders from produce for smoothies, soups, nutritional drinks, etc. and they take up much less space (2-3 cups dehydrated = approximately 3 tablespoons).

A great, and informative video… thanks so much

You guys are awesome. So full of great information and willing to share it with all of us. God Bless you both.

Thank you for sharing your experience and knowledge. If I had a freeze dryer I would love to freeze dry meats, soups and my garden (including apple and pear trees). I wish that I could empty my freezers by using a freeze dryer. I dehydrate and bottle all that I can.

We also have a medium and a large freeze dryer! I one of my favorite things to freeze dry is chicken bone broth and the powder it. It maintains its gelatinous properties when reconstituted and cooled whic it losses when I can. I also love to slice De-seed lemons and oranges and the grind most into powder form for easy juice and pectin.

Hi and thanks for the informative video! I have the medium size. Fav foods to freeze dry are cooked meats and leftover soups. My fruit hasnt done so well no matter how much xtra time i dry it. I poached salmon hubby caught and flaked it, dried beautifully. I bought dryer bcuz had multiple power outages then freezer died, all in 1 year. Never want to sweat losing all the food I put up again. I want to start a garden and dry my own food. Love my freeze dryer!

Great info! Thank you!!

Candy is so fun to freeze dry. It is such a fun gift to give. After that fruit. Strawberries, peaches , pears and raspberries. Such great snack foods

Very helpful, thank you.

would love to see some meals and items that you rehydrate to eat and how you feel the taste and textures are once cooked and eaten!

I have started using clear bins with gaskets in the lid.... so keeps bugs out to.... AND I can see what's inside. And each bin is like items. I really want a freeze dryer!😁

We put closet rods in the pantry and use pant hangers to hang the mylar bags. I organize by color so I know to go to the green section for green beans/peas/green bell peppers/etc. Go to the red section for tomato sauce/red bell peppers/etc. It works pretty good but I've considered switching to alphabetized system.

Mrs. K: The ungusseted bags could be placed in an office file storage box many of them come with dividers to separate file folders and you could label the top tabs and keep several in each slot in an upright position. These file folder boxes also stack neatly on top of each other once they are closed and don't have a very large footprint and can easily be placed in a standard closet.

I had a harvest right and got a stayfresh and really impressed with the difference

Had our freeze dryer for 7 years now. I can tell you it has been the best investment for us and has paid for itself 5 fold. So much better for us than any other way to preserve food.

Thank you, very beneficial video

Oh how exciting to do a spreadsheet! (Retired accountant here.) I’ve actually been struggling with same issue of keeping track of what I have in Mylar and 5-gallon buckets with Gamma lids. And it gets worse for items I have in both jars and Mylar. I’m thinking an inventory is necessary but have been procrastinating because I know it won’t be up-to-date. I’m also the cook and that’s a stream-lined process of quickly grabbing ingredients and cooking…without wanting to take time to update inventory. Here is a tip that works for me for certain often-used ingredients. I keep a working jar (pint, quart, or half-gallon) that I fill from other sources (larger jars or Mylar) which I definitely re-seal (often w oxygen absorbers). I try to re-seal jars in my working pantry using a vacuum sealer kit and brake-bleeder or hand-held vacuum sealer. This keeps my working pantry fresh much longer. My family knows that un-sealed jars go on a corner of the kitchen table so I can batch process re-sealing of jars every couple of days. Another advantage of this process is I have more control of managing our inventory since I put the jars away.

Also problem in a garage in the winter with it being too cold. I have a small space heater to help with the cold issues. Only turn it on when needed.

Thank you for the video, great information. My favorites are the sliced strawberries and bananas. I store my FD foods in mason jars w/o oxygen absorbers, instead, I use a mason jar vacuum sealer that comes with both regular and large mouth attachment caps. I can reseal them easily after opening. I am saving the mylar bags for when I am at the over abundant stage.

I do not have a freeze dryer but in listening to others that do, the one thing I would LOVE to try is cilentro. I've heard that it's fabulous and I love cilentro. Thanks for this video. I have been seriously thinking of investing in one and all the info was most helpful.

What a great video. thanks for taking the time to explain everything. I just heard at the end of the video you were talking about turmeric. Actually, what I did that and to cut a step is I just put the tumaeric and the ginger into a food processor and then freeze that, and then after that's done, then I just put it back in the food processor since i'm just going to make powder out of it

I will be definitely ordering the Wallaby MRE pouch. I have their other bags but it hard to eat out of with out cutting the bag.

May not be cost effective but peace of mind is priceless

The storage of my FD item has been a challenge, I’ve settled on Rubbermaid type bins by food types (dairy, meat, fruit, mres etc) Not as convenient as jars, but more practical for me. As I get more put away, I subdivide even more. This week I’m separating cheeses, milks, eggs, yogurts etc, into their own bins.)

Great video! Totally agree with your assessments... I was able to make my grandbaby's baby food, teething biscuits, etc and avoided the worry over ingredients and recalls! Also, i like putting extra fresh veggies thru the processor to chop fairly fine and freeze dry... Then i can use them as seasonings! You can find different colored bags, which helps me visually see if i have veggies-green, fruit-pink, dairy-white, meats-blue, etc.

I’m in agreement with having a spreadsheet!!

So I have a much older Harvest Right than yours and I do love it. After the original pump gave out (under warranty) I got the older version of what was the old standard pump. I had an original Harvey filter, which did waste oil, but b I now have the now-old two decker HR filter. I trashed the mattress stuffing and use a coffee filter and a lot of cotton jammed in there. It works wonderfully and I can draw off the water from the top container with a battery. I have had to rebuild it as HR did not do a good job on it. But I filter every load, which it does while it is on the no-defrost defrost. The oil is not engine oil that is heated, so it lasts a long time. It is a great machine even without the fancy new software and if it is going to finish at an inconvenient time, you know the food can never be too dry and you can just extend the cycle. The HR was for me a way of storing protein and I find that raw chicken stores better than most cooked chicken that is not in a wettish dish. So stir fries not so good, the Chicken Bulha Masala I just packaged is great. Raw chicken for cooking later -- white meat is less fatty. You might consider for food storage the system that Prepper Nerd has -- good tracking and you can access and edit from a tablet or a phone -- and you can download in a spreadsheet. Lots of nutrient tracking, storage containers and measures you can use to identify holes in your storage.

You can vacuum seal the mason jars after you take a portion out and that should keep it fresh. I have a little attachment that goes on top of the jar that I hook up to a vacuum sealer and it sucks all of the air out.

We like freeze dried applesauce. We've done both store bought and homemade. For the medium sz freeze dryer we use 7x7 pans (bottom measurement) and pour the applesauce in - 2 cups per pan. Then we score the top to the size we want to break the pieces into, then we freeze them until we have space to freeze dry them. Very good as a dry snack. (Or you can rehydrate back into applesauce) We've been freeze drying for just over 5 years now. We only use Mylar type bags, never glass jars - I'm toooo much of a clutz. I would have killed myself by now. 😀

I don't have one yet but the one thing that got me hooked on a freeze dryer was a video on tomato soup. Seeing how much fits in a quart jar .

me thinking of getting a freeze drier while living in a tiny cramped flat.... thank you so very much for making me realise exactly WHY it wouldn't work out :D

My suggestion to help with the totes is to put the totes on a shelf unit. One layer of tote to one shelf. This allows you to slide the the tote out like a drawer. Also put a list with a little table grid lined up with the item list. Put the list into a page protector and attach a wet erase marker or grease pencil to the list attached to the tote. Put a check in the grid if you took a cup of corn or mark out if all the corn in one pouch is gone.

Don’t forget, tossing trays in the deep freeze before throwing them in the freeze dryer can reduce energy costs and freeze dry times too. Because the freezer in theory uses less energy to freeze food than it does for the freeze dryer to drop to a lower temp from ambient room temp. It helps when harvest time is stupid busy. Prep everything in trays. Throw them in racks in the freezer. Wait for the cycle to finish on the freeze dryer and throw another set of trays in. Saves food from spoiling.

I love mine! It runs almost 24/7

Something to consider is if you have a common use item. You can have a large bulk Mylar package. As you use it the item (from a mason jar), you open a Mylar bag and put it in a mason jar or two for quick and easy access. Kind of like how you buy bulk items from the store and break them down into smaller packages. The only example I have is taking cereal or oatmeal and adding it to a plastic tub. I love the idea of resealing the bag as you use it.

Good video and fun to watch! Of course, I had to immediately look up freeze dryers. Well, for $3000 and up I better be doing a lot of freeze drying, which I don't think I can justify. I think I'll just have to dream and continue on with freezing and dehydrating, at least for now.

My favorite to freeze dry is Pico de Gallo. I love salsa but the freshness of the uncooked one from my garden produce is something I miss. I tried a large batch last year to try it and i love it. Don't let anyone tell you it's the same as fresh its not, a bit different but it's close.

I don't have one but oh my gosh I would love it all!!!

I love my freeze dried veggies, onions and peppers. It makes preparing meals so quick. I’ve got onions and peppers in the FD right now. We are smoking a beef roast today and the leftovers will head to the FD.