Though you’ll still find us canning, fermenting, dehydrating and preserving our foods in other ways, freeze-drying has quickly moved to the top of the list for my favorite preservation method. And for good reason! Here are the ten reasons why we love freeze-drying.
How We Get It All Done
We’re frequently asked how we “do it all” or “how we get it all done.” This homesteading life has many moving parts. One of the things we’re constantly looking for is hacks or systems to better utilize our time and streamline our processes.
The freeze dryer has been one of our biggest preservation hacks for doing just this!
You all know my love for the freeze dryer, but it’s important to know that I was probably one of the biggest skeptics before I had one!
Though Harvest Right gave us our first freeze dryer for our honest review, we have since purchased two more because they’ve revolutionized our homestead preservation so much!
If you’re looking to learn more about freeze dryers, I recommend checking out this post on freeze dryer FAQs, this post to learn what freeze dryer is right for you, this post on our favorite must-have freeze drying supplies, this post to learn what foods cannot be freeze-dried and this post to learn how to use oxygen absorbers.
Top 10 Reasons We Love Freeze-Drying
#1 – Ease of Preservation
The freeze dryer has cut down significantly on the amount of hands-on time we spend preserving. This is especially true for harder preservation methods like canning tomatoes. By freeze-drying tomatoes, I can essentially line my shelves with the equivalence of canned diced tomatoes, tomato sauce and tomato paste simply by adjusting the way I reconstitute the tomatoes.
Though the preservation time may still be lengthy because of the freeze-drying time, my active working time is next to nothing.
#2 – New Method of Preserving
Many food items, such as broccoli and cauliflower, aren’t great for preserving other than freezing. Then there are foods that are only good when dehydrated but never really rehydrate the same (like mushrooms). However, with the freeze-dryer, I can save my freezer space and line my pantry shelves with jars of freeze-dried potatoes, broccoli, cabbage, peas, mushrooms and cauliflower.
They rehydrate perfectly and our family enjoys these foods that grow so well in our climate.
#3 – Flavor
Many times, when vegetables are canned, they lose their incredible flavor. Not so when you freeze-dry them!
As mentioned above, when we freeze dry corn, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, tomatoes, green beans and more, they all rehydrate so well, and the flavor is as good as the day they were picked from the garden.
#4 – Texture
We wouldn’t be truthful if we said that rehydrated freeze-dried food is just like it is when fresh. Though the flavor is there, the texture can (and usually does) change through the freeze-drying process.
We’ve found that if we blanch certain vegetables before freeze-drying them, when they’re rehydrated, the texture is like perfectly cooked vegetables. Following these 7 basic steps when it comes to freeze drying will save you from making the same mistakes that I made as a beginner.
Homesteading Hack: After rehydrating your vegetables, toss them in a hot pan with some butter. This takes the flavor over the top, making them taste even more like freshly cooked vegetables.
#5 – Nutritional Value
One of the main reasons many people grow and raise their own food is for its nutritional value. Many preservation methods actually degrade that nutritional value quite a bit, but freeze-drying retains about 97% of the nutrients.
Though it’s not the preservation method that retains the most nutritional value (short-term fermentation is the winner there, as it actually increases the nutritional value of many foods), it is the best choice for preserving food longer than six months.
#6 – Convenience Meals
One of our favorite things about the freeze-dryer is the ease of keeping convenience meals on the shelf for quick and easy grab-and-go lunches. Our favorite? This freeze-dried chicken pot pie (pictured above)! Every time I make this recipe, it flies off the shelf because everyone loves it so much.
But it doesn’t stop there, you can freeze dry lasagna, fajitas, spaghetti, chili… the list goes on and on!
Josh has been traveling a lot more with the School of Traditional Skills, and eating well on the road isn’t always easy. With the freeze-dryer, he’s able to bring along his freeze-dried latte and freeze-dried bone broth for breakfast, along with some of our freeze-dried convenience meals for lunch and dinner.
#7 – Saves Freezer Space
There are so many foods we grow or raise here on the homestead that are only good when preserved in the freezer – that is, until we got our freeze-dryers.
As I mentioned above about the texture of freeze-dried food, once we realized that blanching then freeze-drying our vegetables made them taste just as good as fresh, we no longer needed an entire freezer (or more) to store a year’s worth of that produce for our large family.
Some of the other benefits of this are that we are less concerned about having a generator that can power all those freezers. If the power goes out, our freeze-dried food will be just fine on the shelf.
Most of our freezers are reserved for meat storage, but we have been freeze-drying meat and lining our shelves.
#8 – Cost
If you want to know the nitty-gritty breakdown of how much it costs to run a freeze-dryer, check out that blog post. You may be surprised that my research found it doesn’t cost as much as you may think!
I had to take into consideration all the varying electricity costs around the United States and find the averages. I found that it doesn’t cost much more to freeze-dry your food than to store it in the freezer for the year (we’re talking pennies!).
#9 – Less Waste
So many people tell me their kids or their husbands hate eating leftovers because they don’t like eating the same food over and over. This is where the freeze-dryer saves the day!
When you have leftovers, whether made intentionally by batch cooking or just a little left over in the pot at the end of the meal, you can simply freeze those leftovers in individual-sized portions on a freeze-dryer tray and keep them in the freezer until you have enough trays to fill the freeze dryer.
Once they’re freeze-dried, package them up and line your pantry with ready-to-eat meals for easy lunches, quick dinners, lightweight backpacking food or camping meals. All you need is some boiling water to rehydrate it. Learn how to rehydrate freeze-dried food here.
This is another huge cost savings because those leftovers are getting eaten instead of going bad in the refrigerator, only to be tossed into the trash later on.
#10 – Side Hustle
The final reason the freeze-dryer has changed our lives is that it’s allowed me, personally, to dive way deeper into this skillset than I ever thought I would. I never thought I would have written a book about freeze-drying or had a freeze-drying masterclass!
You can pre-order my book, Freeze Drying the Harvest now, and be sure to get on the waitlist for my Freeze Drying Masterclass for your chance to win a FREE Harvest Right freeze-dryer.
If you’re looking for ways to help offset the cost of the freeze-dryer, it can make a great side hustle for your family. I know many people who are trading goods for time in their freeze-dryer. For example, a neighbor has corn ready to preserve. Let the neighbor freeze-dry their corn in your machine in trade for some of the freeze-dried corn. It’s a win-win!
Other friends have started freeze-dried candy businesses, packaging and selling them at the Farmer’s Market. Get creative with how you can make the freeze-dryer work for you!
