Let me count the ways.
- Freeze-Dried Skittles.
- Freeze-Dried Ice Cream Sandwiches.
- Freeze Dried Pickles.
For those of you who haven’t ever played around with a freeze dryer before, let me tell you. It’s addictive. I’ve tried to freeze dry almost everything my local HEB sells and it has been a hoot.
The rule of thumb here is, if it’s too fatty or oily, it’s not going to work well. So chocolate, butter, peanut butter… not a great outcome. Foods with tons of sugar and water like jams and jellies can be freeze-dried but it’s not very efficient. Also, freeze-dried bananas taste gross. Dehydrated banana chips are MUCH better. (Note: This is just one farm girl’s opinion.)
Veggies, fruits, and fully-cooked meals? That’s the way to go right there. Oh, and candy. There’s the game changer.
CONSIDERATIONS BEFORE PURCHASING
For those of you who are contemplating Freeze Dryer ownership but are unsure if you want to take the plunge because of the price tag, ask yourself these questions:
Do you find yourself jumping from hobby to hobby? Do you immerse yourself into something interesting, devote all of your waking time to learning about it, do the thing for awhile, then lay it all down and repeat the process with something else? I would actually advise these type of hobbyists to get themselves a freeze dryer. Why? Because when they get bored and move to something else, the freeze dryer will still be there waiting for them when the urge to freeze dry something else strikes again. There won’t be any learning curve to hinder the process, they can just DO THE THING again. My husband and I are both THIS type of hobbyist.
Are you a homesteader or prepper type? Then 100% yes, you will use a freeze-dryer constantly. If the price tag is currently out of your budget, save up as long as it takes and scoop one up. The cost of running is much less than I originally anticipated. Our cycles run about $2.50-$5 each depending on what we’re freeze-drying. The satisfaction we feel about bagging up a perfectly freeze-dried item and ensuring ourselves a bit more food security is a big deal. These grocery prices are crazy.
Are you interested in selling the freeze-dried items? Great! There’s a giant market for these niche foods. However, being able to sell them is just as important as being able to process them. Well, obviously you have to have a product to sell but the ability to get rid of it once it’s dried, packaged, and sitting there is HUGE. Make sure you have a way to market and sell your product before you jump into the deep end and fork over your hard-earned cash.
My favorite thing to do is grab a few bags of frozen fruit and stuff my Harvest Right machine to the gills. It takes less than 10 minutes to prep and, once the cycle is done – a 24 hour process, usually – bagging and labelling is another 10 minutes. Pineapple chunks, mango chunks, and sliced cinnamon apples (these take longer to prep) are our family’s favorites.
I recently found myself inundated with chicken eggs. I cracked all of them into a giant mixing bowl, scrambled the heck out of them, then freeze-dried the raw eggs. Once the cycle was complete, I used my blender to pulverize them into powder and now I have four giant bags of raw egg that will last for a billion years. (Okay, about 25-30 years but you get the point.) It’s super simple to take out two tablespoon of dry egg powder, add two tablespoons of water and (VOILA!) have scrambled eggs ready to cook at your fingertips without worrying about if the egg is bad.
I’m unsure why I decided to make a post extolling the virtue of my freeze dryer but here we are. If you’re in the market, make sure you check out all the information about the different sizes. The large version of mine (Harvest Right) requires a special plug in order to work. I went with the medium only because of that fact, otherwise I would have gone bigger.
Happy Crunching!