I also love finding clearance deals on produce and other items. My family is no longer surprised when I bring home piles of produce, meat, cheese, or whatever else I find a deal on.

Mylar bags keep food fresh for years The enemies to freeze dried food are moisture, oxygen, and light. Ideally, the food should be stored in a mylar bag with an oxygen absorber. The bag should be heat sealed to keep air from getting in. For best results, use a mylar bag 7 millimeters thick.

My husband has been contemplating cost effective alternative ways to get oil-less vacuum happening... what would the specs needed be, since I don't have a pump to look at. Hopefully I asked that in a way that makes sense.

Many times, you can still freeze dry something if you mix it in. For instance, if there’s a meal that has butter in it, it’s fine to freeze dry. It may just reduce the shelf life a little. So instead of 25 year shelf life, it might have a 10 year shelf life.

” As sponsored posts go, it was very accurate and not nearly as “salesy” as I’ve seen from other sponsored posts. I’ll share it below, but first I want to answer the question directly.

It takes slightly extended to dry than our other picks, and it lacks a speed-dry option, but it surely gets the job accomplished and fees various hundred dollars under very similar dryers.

14 Posted December 16, 2015 On 7/31/2015 at 11:12 PM, TonyC said: Here is my first pass on a Vapor Trap... it is an old whole house water filter that I modified. It failed to reduce the moisture in the oil... I'm in the process of modifying it to catch and suspend the moisture in the container long enough for desiccant beads to absorb the water. The air flow comes into the inlet, down the central pipe to the bottom of the screen and filters up through the beads and out the top. I know this was like forever ago, but I thought I would respond anyway. I haven't been on much in a while, I only run my freeze dryer in the winter. So I think you'll find it's a lot harder to remove water vapor from a vacuum than just using desiccant, as the vacuum will just pull the water out of the desiccant.

Take care of it, change the oil regularly, maintain it, and make sure to read the user manual carefully to keep it in good, working order. You might have to change a pump, change freon or general maintenance, but it’s pelo different than any other more info major appliance.

14 Posted December 16, 2015 (edited) On 7/31/2015 at 11:12 PM, TonyC said: Somehow this post got posted twice so I'll edit the second one with some more useful information. I remember reading somewhere in this thread where somebody was asking how long you run the freeze cycle with pre-frozen food. I have my chest freezer set to -12F, and I usually let the freeze dryer cool for an hour before I put the frozen food in. After I load the food in I wait another half hour to start the drying process. I've had a lot of cycles that the total time between pulling one batch out and starting the drying cycle on the next is around 2 hours. I'm running mine in a cold garage, so it cools down pretty quickly. If you have yours in a warm room it would probably take a little longer.

I personally have a medium Harvest Right Freeze Dryer and love it. I actually wish I had gotten the large! But for our family of 4 (almost 5), it’s a perfect fit, we have it running constantly and fill bins full of homemade freeze dried food.

- Nutritional Preservation: This method retains about 97% of the original nutrients in food, making it superior to other preservation methods like canning or dehydrating.

Cooked eggs can be freeze dried, but they tend to be rubbery when reconstituted. If you want to freeze dry cooked eggs, I recommend slightly undercooking them and then rehydrating them with boiling water. It will finish cooking them without making them rubbery.

Regular maintenance includes cleaning the vacuum pump and ensuring proper drainage after each use; refer to the manufacturer's guidelines for specific maintenance tips.

How often should I change the oil? You can filter the oil using the included oil filter to remove impurities, but it’s best to change the oil every 20-25 batches or when it appears cloudy.