[JerseyGiantChick]

Wo can buy a freeze dryer and use it full time to pay the cost back?

[Hippocrates_Garden]

Many people have. Even here in Arkansas a lady at the farmers market was selling freeze dried candy, and said she paid for the equipment, within like a month.

[roj]

look at it as an investment in having another/better way to preserve everything. Years ago I looked into the long term food buckets of mac and cheese and dried fruit and all that. To have a 1 year supply for a family of four, in order to get through the apocalypse or some sort of long term grid down no food kind of disaster, it would cost well over $5k. I was trying to rationalize it as “food insurance” and we all pay a fortune for Insurance that we will never use, (car, home, life, medical etc) year after year. At least with buckets of long term food we can always just eat it, since it lasts 25+ years, right? But after really looking into it, most of the stuff sold for long term food storage, is empty calories, of pasta, rice and cream of something, along with some fruit and tang. No real protein. While this will keep you alive, its a lot of money for substandard food, and again no proteins in the typical packages offered. I’m not saying it doesn’t have its place, but if SHTF I’m pretty sure bland food will not make it better. So a freeze dryer costs less than the expense of a kit for four people for a year. Best part is, that preserving food from the garden its fresh and mostly free. Throw in leftovers and before you know it, you’re trying to throw everything into this thing. Having freeze dried HOME COOKED meals when the SHTF is WAY better than cheesy pasta or chicken flavored rice with no chicken in it. Also, many of the things in the long term packages, you can get locally at the grocery store for less money if you really look at basic ingredients. A freeze dryer is another whole level of food preservation, and preserves food longer than canning, its lighter, and maintains more nutrition. If you can afford one, you wouldn’t regret it.

[Outback]

I’ve owned a Harvest Right freeze dryer for around 4 years. I would take this “advice” with a huge grain of salt. The freeze dryer super freezes the food well below 32 and then brings the temp way up to over 100+ degrees and continues to repeat the process over and over until all moisture is removed. Everything I’ve ever read or seen on seed saving is to avoid huge temperature fluctuations. Also, I would think that completely removing the moisture would also kill the seed. If you going to do this I would test it before you have to depend on the seeds.

[Hippocrates_Garden]

Yeah, there is a whole world of difference between “freezing” and “freeze drying”. The entire purpose of the freeze drying process, is to rupture cell walls with the freezing, so that when heated back up, the moisture can be removed, and the cycle repeated.

[Michale5349]

@Outback, Just to be clear, no ‘advice’ was given. A subject was introduced for discussion and an impetus to begin individual research was provided.

[Outback]

@ Michale. Got it. I was referring to the video, not your thread. I meant no disrespect to you and I’m not even saying it doesn’t work. I’ve never tried it. Just explaining the freeze drying process since I have a machine and we’re all learning together. I also wanted to make sure people try germanating the seeds if they decide to freeze dry them to make sure they’re viable before they have to rely on them.

• This reply was modified 4 months, 1 week ago by  Outback.

[Michale5349]

I’ve been researching this topic, learning the specifics, to utilize the freezedryer optimally, to it’s full capacity. Having a location-specific landrace seed vault is our goal. I’d very much like to hear from others who have successfully freeze dried a seed vault or are in the process of doing so. Perhaps we can share ideas, progress reports, and research.