- Jun 6, 2002
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We finally bit the bullet and purchased a Harvest Right Freeze Drier. They have been on sale and we got 500 bucks off the medium drier.
It was still a pretty good sized investment, but at just under 3K, I think we can recoup our investment in about a year and a half. We do not anticipate using it more than once or twice a week. That plan may change if we decide to begin to convert our dehydrated and other preps into freeze dried meals. Beans, rice, oats, potatoes, all veggies, etc. can be cooked, freeze dried into meals. and packed into mylar with an O2 packet. They claim such meals can last up to 25 years. The big benefit is all you have to do is add hot water and let the food reconstitute. These are all pre-cooked meals ready to go. When the day comes, it may not be easy or even safe to be cooking full meals from your preps. We have 700 pounds of rice, at least that much in dried beans, and lots of oats and the like. These could easily be converted to freeze dried meals. This may be a good summer project. We recently bought an instant pot pressure cooker which would aid us greatly in preparing massive amounts of food for meals. The processing time can take from 20 - 28 hours. I hear if you freeze the food in your freezer it will shorten this process. The freeze drier first freezes the food to (I think) -20 degrees, and then the vacuum removes the H2O. I need to read up on that.
So we have an exciting new avenue for our prepping. In for a dime, in for a dollar.
It was still a pretty good sized investment, but at just under 3K, I think we can recoup our investment in about a year and a half. We do not anticipate using it more than once or twice a week. That plan may change if we decide to begin to convert our dehydrated and other preps into freeze dried meals. Beans, rice, oats, potatoes, all veggies, etc. can be cooked, freeze dried into meals. and packed into mylar with an O2 packet. They claim such meals can last up to 25 years. The big benefit is all you have to do is add hot water and let the food reconstitute. These are all pre-cooked meals ready to go. When the day comes, it may not be easy or even safe to be cooking full meals from your preps. We have 700 pounds of rice, at least that much in dried beans, and lots of oats and the like. These could easily be converted to freeze dried meals. This may be a good summer project. We recently bought an instant pot pressure cooker which would aid us greatly in preparing massive amounts of food for meals. The processing time can take from 20 - 28 hours. I hear if you freeze the food in your freezer it will shorten this process. The freeze drier first freezes the food to (I think) -20 degrees, and then the vacuum removes the H2O. I need to read up on that.
So we have an exciting new avenue for our prepping. In for a dime, in for a dollar.
