How do You Freeze Dry Your Own Food?
 

I have been looking at Mountain House and a few other brands of freeze-dried foods. They seem to last forever. Is there a way for me to do that on my own with my own fruits and vegetables and grains and meats? Is there a machine that I can use for that? If so, would I be able to get the same results as MH and other big companies?

I am just wondering if it is worth my money to by Mountain House products for long term food storage and if I could do it more cheaply on my own with a little bit of effort.

Re: How do You Freeze Dry Your Own Food?
 

Buy a $10,000 freeze drying machine.:wink:

Re: How do You Freeze Dry Your Own Food?
 

http://recipes.howstuffworks.com/freeze-drying1.htm

Google is your friend

Re: How do You Freeze Dry Your Own Food?
 

http://www.millrocktech.com/index.aspx

This is what I found so far. I don't know about pricing on these machines.

Re: How do You Freeze Dry Your Own Food?
 

If you look at those, you see that the average temp is under -45C, and you're considering vacumn at under a tenth atmosphere. Huge AC burden and seriously limitted shelf space. And that's all before you consider the cost of the food itself and packaging afterwards.

Sometimes, it's best to leave things up to the pros.

Re: How do You Freeze Dry Your Own Food?
 

If you leave your food unwrapped in the freezer it will get pretty dry after a long time. Thats what I call the poor mans freeze drier. :wink:

Re: How do You Freeze Dry Your Own Food?
 

Thanks, that's what I am looking for - comments on the feasibility of me doing this myself. It sounds like the machines are crazy expensive and they suck a lot of power. Plus, you bring up good points of food costs and packaging.

Don't think I will be quitting my day job to freeze-dry my own food, unless someone out there has some secret way of doing it they want to share.

Re: How do You Freeze Dry Your Own Food?
 

Not unless you live in Peru, no.

That said, there are other ways that you should explore. Smoking, salting and canning. They may not give a 100 year shelf life, but they're more than enough to get you through a winter.