Any time I come up with an idea that makes little sense to anyone other than myself, and I start trying to convince Vince that my idea is great, I always start by saying “Don’t say NO til I’m finished and we’ve discussed this, ok?” After all these years, I can see that “NO” look on his face, so without even saying NO, his expression is telling me NO. Can you imagine what it must be like to be Vince? He’s perfectly happy to do the same thing every day and not try anything new and I want to try something new every day.
So, I’m saying to you “Don’t say NO til you’ve hear me out, please!”
When the Harvest Right freeze dryers first came out, they were way more expensive than they are now, and they are not inexpensive now. I wanted one then but I knew it wasn’t going to happen. I showed it to Vince and I don’t know if he let me finish my story or if he said NO before I was done but . . he said NO.
Through the years, I see people talking about what they’re doing in their freeze dryers and I still want one.
Here are the reasons I want one:
- Leftovers – I think we do pretty good with using our leftovers but I think freeze drying leftovers would be so much better than freezing them.
- Food Storage – We have three full size freezers but I am not a fan of freezers. If the power goes off, we have to fire up the generators. If we move (or should I say WHEN we move!) at least half the stuff in the freezers gets tossed or given away and the other half that I try to save ends up ruining. Even with dry ice, in the past, we’ve been a hotel for 2 or 3 weeks between moves and it’s just impossible to try to keep that much stuff frozen. Freeze dried foods can last up to 25 years. Some foods, especially those with more fat, will not last that long but most anything that can be freeze dried will last at least 5 years.
- Nutritional Value – The high heat of canning will destroy many nutrients. On the other hand, freeze drying supposedly preserves most of the nutrients.
- Convenience – After this last trip to MO and back, it was apparent that traveling with a dog during the summer means eating meals in the car. After reading and researching about freeze dryers, I’m amazed at all the things people are able to successfully freeze dry.
- Quality – From what I’m reading, the quality is much better than the quality of the same foods that have been dehydrated.
Some of the foods that have totally impressed me:
- Fruit – strawberries, blueberries, apples, bananas .. probably everything. I’d love to try figs.
- Noodles – one video we watched, the people cooked some kind of Japanese noodles in a Thai chicken broth. When it got time to re-hydrate the foods, the people wanted to keep eating the dry, dehydrated, crunchy noodles and they wanted to put them on top of salads.
- Onions – one lady carmelized the onions, then put them on her hamburger – crunchy, sweet onions!
- Jello – they say it has the consistency of cotton candy. And guess what! There’s currently a cotton candy flavored jello!
- Ice Cream Sandwiches – When I saw this picture, that was it! I couldn’t hold back my excitement . . I said “Vince, don’t say NO . . “
We’ve watched videos where they’ve freeze dried raw meat, cooked meat, soup, sauces, ice cream. I did order a sample of freeze dried food from Harvest Right and I’m waiting to try it before ordering anything. I really hope they send me an ice cream sandwich.
One lady said she cut cooked fajita meat into strips and freeze dried it. She said it had the texture of cheetos. My teeth can’t handle jerky but I can eat cheetos. She said her kids love it and call it “meatos”.
I’m trying to be calm. I’m trying to be reasonable. I’m trying to weigh out all the options before ordering.
Cilla Tyler says
Do tell us the brand, why and price. I am very intrigued!!!
Liz Rogers says
Hi Judy, Laurie at Commonsense Homesteading does have a freeze dryer. She talks about them on her blog fairly often. I bet she’d “chat” with you if you had questions.
Good luck from Airdrie AB Liz
Norece says
I’ve had mine for 6 months and I do three loads a week. I also got a refurbished one, small dent on side, runs perfect. We bought the
Medium unit and wish I had gotten the large.
justquiltin says
Hmmm you definitely lost me at freeze dried jello, ice cream sandwiches and meat that is crunchy like Cheetos. LOL None of that sounds good to me at all – good thing I don’t have need of a freeze dryer.
Joyce in Oregon says
My husband is going on a long kayaking trip and just picked up two books — the Paddling Chef and Backpack Gourmet. They teach you how to take your regular recipes and dry them in a food dehydrator then rehydrate on the trail. One of their points is that if the food is already cooked, you are really hydrating and heating, not trying to cook raw vegetables that you dehydrated (which can take much longer to cook). I’m with justquiltin’ — not so sure about freeze dried jello. Generally, I’ll take any kind of ice cream I can get! 🙂
Sue Edberg says
I’ve wanted one of the Harvest Right units since I first saw them advertised several years ago. Unfortunately, we don’t have a space for it. I will be following your journey very closely!
vivoaks says
I still get emails from the Harvest Right company after looking into them quite a few years ago. Much as I’d love one, I can’t justify the cost. We just don’t have the extra money for something that expensive. I’ll just keep dreaming and follow along with you to see how you like it.
Susan says
For a while, I was buying a lot of freeze-dried foods from Thrive. The taste and quality is excellent and I’m still using some of them. For things that would normally go bad because I didn’t have time to use them all, it’s a wonder and a money saver. I still prefer my red and green bell peppers dehydrated. The freeze-dried just aren’t right, but most things I like freeze dried. You can even freeze dry guacamole and it is still good when you hydrate it! I don’t know if I’d buy one myself. If I were 50, I definitely would, but now … I’m getting awfully lazy. LOL
Susan Jones says
I was SO EXCITED when I saw this blog heading. I purchased a medium unit about 3 months ago. I thought of you when I got mine! I love my machine. I only do 1-2 loads a week as it has to share an outlet with my wash machine and working full time outside the house cuts into my food preserving time.
So far, I’ve done strawberries, bananas, pineapple, chili,meatloaf, ice cream sandwiches, marinara sauce and “raw” cauliflower crust for pizza. Just this morning, before work, I packaged up 4 trays of “crack” chicken (shredded chicken with ranch dressing and cream cheese) that I made in my pressure cooker. I think my next load will be some sort of eggs.
Will I get my money’s worth out of it? Not sure. I did give away my pressure cookers that I use for canning so I guess I’m committed.
My next upgrade will be to get the oil-less pump. The pump is heavy and getting it drained after each cycle is a little cumbersome.
Good Luck – if you lived closer to Cincinnati, you could come take a test run in mine!
If you don’t get ice cream sandwiches from HR, let me know an I’ll send you some…they were a fun experiment for me, but not something I’ll probably do again.
danielle s nabozny says
oh my….just looked at the price! But shelf life is 25 years! Anyway – you can enter to try and win a medium sized one…….and if you win it eventually Vince would be convinced you guys need the large one!