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Freeze Dryer Update

I haven’t mentioned the freeze dryer in a while. I know . . you thought I had forgotten about it and you really don’t want to hear any more about it.  🙂

There is a bit of freeze dryer obsession going on around here. I seem to be planning our meals around things that can be freeze dried. I would love it if when I go to Chad’s I can take all the meals, already prepared and freeze dried and all we have to do is rehydrate, heat and eat. Chad loves to cook so he will be wanting to cook some for me and Nicole, Addie and I will have to go to Joplin a couple of times and we’ll eat out so it won’t be every meal every day but they’re good guinea pigs for my freeze drying experience. Chad will be brutally honest about the foods. Vince will eat anything and though he’s honest about how it tastes, he just doesn’t complain about food.

The other day a friend asked what all I had freeze dried so far and in the month I’ve had it, here’s what I’ve done:

1. Meat loaf – rehydrated when I was sick and Vince said it tasted better than when it was first made!
2. Scalloped potatoes – Vince said the texture of the potatoes was different but still good. I thought it tasted fine.
3. Crack Chicken (with cream cheese) – rehydrated was amazing! Definitely better than when I first made it. (A Favorite!)
4. Figs – Love them! Crunchy and sweet. (Three loads of figs so far.)
5. Sweet onions – we cannot stop eating them. We sometimes eat them in place of chips but they’re so good on salads or sandwiches.
6. Mushrooms – have not tried them rehydrated yet.
7. Tomato Soup – have not tried rehydrating  yet.
8. Cotton Candy flavored jello – Almost too sweet but crunchy and really tastes like real cotton candy.
9. Mini marshmallows dipped in powdered red hot candies – so good!
10. Apples dipped in powdered red hots – amazing!
11. Buttermilk to make powdered buttermilk for biscuits.
12. Strawberry Yogurt – so delicious – almost like eating peppermint bark but strawberry flavored.
13. Blueberry Yogurt – not sure why but it’s kinda chalky.
14. Bananas  – Another favorite.
15. Pineapple – Really good.
16. Pork Jambalaya – It’s good to eat without rehydrating! The pork almost tastes like a pork skin (chip) and the rice has the texture of rice krispies but with a cajun flavor. Vince opened a jar for the air conditioner guys and they ate almost a whole quart.
17. Elderberries (of our bushes) – Saving those to make syrup during flu season.
There may be other things I’ve forgotten about.
Today I want to make a Burrito Squares Casserole. The first step is to line the 9 x 13 dish with crescent roll dough. That doesn’t rehydrate well. Bread of any type doesn’t. I was thinking I’d use part of the roll of dough for what I’m baking for us and go ahead and bake the other 2/3 of the recipe without the dough, cut it into squares and freeze dry it. Then, when I rehydrate it and bake it, I can line smaller baking dishes with crescent roll dough and bake it. Then I said to myself . . not everything has to be freeze dried! I don’t like that idea.
The crack chicken is so good and so versatile. We eat it as a casserole, then we eat it on top of a baked potato as a meal. Vince thinks I should add milk to it and serve it as a soup.
My plans for this week for the freeze dryer:
  • Lasagna is going in today. I’ve read that people had good luck with it. I’m apprehensive. I think some kind of “lasagna casserole” would do better but we’ll see.
  • Chili. I’m being overly optimistic hoping for chili eating weather to arrive soon. Not happening but I’ll be ready when it does.
  • Crack Chicken. I usually make a double recipe in the pressure cooker but I think I’m going to make 4x the recipe and have enough to fill all four trays of the FD.

Since I’m putting the lasagna in today, it will probably be Tuesday morning (or even Wednesday morning) when it comes out. Then I’ll put the chili in and that will take a couple of days. So, next Sunday, the crack chicken will probably be in the FD.

The lasagna is made and on the trays waiting for its turn.  I really don’t like lasagna. When I was making it yesterday, I kept thinking “It smells so good. Maybe my tastes have changed.” They haven’t. This is something I hope will work and Vince will take it out and fix it for himself when I’m away.

The ground meat is thawed so the chili will be next. The chicken breasts are frozen and that’s why I will do the last.

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  3. It’s been busy in that Freeze Dryer! Do you wish you had one twice as big? Or two of them?

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