Another Freeze Dryer Load

Saturday evening after the freeze dryer finished up, I vacuum sealed the items that had been in there while the freeze dryer defrosted.

There was a pint of cilantro that got left in the vacuum chamber so it got left out of the photo.

Left Row: 1-1/2 quarts of avocado
Middle Row: 1 pint of jalapeno, 1 quart of cilantro (plus the pint that got left out) and 1 quart of boiled eggs
Right Row: 1-1/2 quarts bell peppers

You can see that the foods that are freeze dried come out looking almost exactly like they did when they went in and, once rehydrated, they taste pretty close to fresh and have pretty much the same texture as fresh.

As soon as the defrost cycle was finished, I loaded it up again:

Top Row: Bell peppers
Row #2: Avocados
Row #3: Peas, green beans, carrots and corn
Bottom Row: What was left of the avocados and I added something to the back of that row and don’t even remember what it is. That will be a surprise! Maybe it was more peas, beans, corn and carrots. I guess I’ll see when it’s finished.

I always keep bags of frozen veggies in the freezer so when I have something that needs to be freeze dried and I don’t have enough to fill the machine, I can add the frozen veggies. Having them makes it so easy to open a jar of roast beef or a jar of ground beef, add seasonings, a jar of tomatoes and a cup or two of freeze dried veggies and have a nice soup. I could rehydrate the veggies and used them for any recipe that calls for mixed veggies.

The advantage to freeze drying over leaving in the freezer is that once freeze dried, they have a shelf life of over 20 years and are no longer taking up space in the freezer.