If you’re on the fence about buying a freeze dryer, these 10 surprising foods you can freeze dry may convince you to make that purchase. What foods can you freeze dry? Let us share our favorites with you! Make sure you also check out our posts on which freeze dryer is best for you, our one-year freeze dryer review and these freeze dryer FAQs.
Why You’ll Love Your Freeze Dryer
It should be no surprise by now that we love our freeze dryer (if you missed it, here are the 10 reasons why we love freeze drying). It’s why we started with one and now have three freeze dryers running nearly year-round.
We have freeze dried nearly everything, from freeze dried meat to freeze dried candy. Freeze dried berries to freeze dried dog food. You will also want to know what foods cannot be freeze dried!
We’ve freeze dried so many things that I wrote a book about it called Freeze Drying the Harvest. If you want to improve your freeze drying processes (or you’re just getting started), I highly recommend grabbing my book. It’s the freeze drying book I wish I had when I started my freeze drying journey.
If you’re looking to buy a freeze dryer, Harvest Right Freeze Dryers are on sale through May 31, 2025 and with coupon code “HOMESTEAD100” you can get an additional $100 off the price of your freeze dryer (coupon code is only valid through May 31, 2025).
Our Favorite Things to Freeze Dry
Here are the top ten things we love to freeze dry, in no particular order…
Sourdough Starter (& Probiotics)
What I love about freeze dryers is that they keep the beneficial bacteria alive in probiotic foods! You have to know how to adjust your freeze dryer settings to keep the temperatures in the correct range, but you can keep homemade sourdough starter, sauerkraut, homemade yogurt, etc. on the pantry shelf and, when reconstituted, they’ll still be filled with probiotics.
I teach you how to store a sourdough starter by freeze drying, or other methods, here. And you can learn how to make freeze dried yogurt bites here.
Beyond that, you can also freeze dry starter cultures such as whey, sauerkraut juice or kombucha!
Freeze Dried Meals
That photo above may look like a fresh piece of lasagna, but it’s actually been freeze dried! This is one of Josh’s favorite things to use the freeze dryer for. He loves a good home-cooked meal while backpacking, and with the freeze dryer, he can have it!
It’s also a great solution to avoid last-minute meals out! When you have ready-to-eat meals on the shelf, all you need to do is boil water and rehydrate the food!
We’re talking about homey favorites like freeze dried chicken pot pie, freeze dried eggs, freeze dried chicken bouillon, freeze dried chicken and even freeze dried coffee (with cream and sugar)!
You’ll want to know the best way to rehydrate freeze dried food because there are a few different methods to use depending on what you’re reconstituting.
Colostrum
This was an exciting discovery for us because, when you raise meat animals on the homestead, sometimes things happen and you need to buy colostrum for a new baby who can’t get it from mama.
Having freeze dried colostrum on the pantry shelf means we’re set for those emergencies and our baby animals get the nutrition their bodies need in those first days of life.
Again, this requires using the customize button on the freeze dryer to turn the max temperature down to 95°F, then everything will stay alive.
Also, if you’re into using colostrum as a supplement, making it yourself at home is a great, affordable option to those you can buy.
Medicinal & Culinary Herbs
Freeze drying herbs is a game-changer! Not only do herbs like basil and cilantro maintain their flavor when freeze dried (while dehydrating them changes their taste), but freeze drying medicinal herbs can help retain their medicinal value.
When you get into the fine-print, freeze dried foods retain about 94-98% of their nutritional value while dehydrated food is somewhere in the 60% range.
So freeze drying herbs locks in that nutritional value! We love keeping a two or three-year supply of medicinal and culinary herbs on hand, just in case we have a bad crop year and can’t preserve more.
Food Coloring
We’ve just started experimenting with freeze-dried foods that can be used as food coloring. Freeze-dried beet juice, spinach juice or butterfly peas can be a great, natural colorant.
If you turn freeze-dried beet, spinach juice and butterfly peas into powder, you can use that powder to naturally color your homemade frosting!
Dog Treats
We love freeze drying liver and other organ meats to make our own liver capsules and homemade organ meat seasoning, but did you know freeze dried liver makes a fantastic dog treat? Our dogs go crazy for them!
Furthermore, when I took dog training lessons many years ago, they always recommended having liver treats in your pocket as an incentive for the dogs. Not only can you break them up pretty small, but the dogs go crazy for them, and they’re actually good for them!
Learn about the nutritional benefits of organ meats and start making your own supplements (and dog treats) today!
Coffee & Lattes
This one may sound strange, but if you’ve been around here for a while, you know how much we love our coffee! Making homemade lattes is a daily occurrence around here and we don’t like to be without our coffee when on the road.
Making and freeze drying coffee or lattes, just the way we like them, means we can have them every day, even when we’re not home!
In our opinion, though they’re not quite as good as a freshly made latte, they are better than a store-bought coffee shop option.
The trick to reconstituting your freeze dried latte is to have a container that has a lid so you can give it a good shake. This recreates the foaminess of a homemade latte and it’s so delicious!
Yogurt Bites
This was one of the most exciting things we started making when we had our last baby, Nathaniel! With our other kids, we didn’t have a freeze dryer, and buying the yogurt bites from the store was expensive.
Making freeze dried yogurt bites at home is so simple! Be sure to check out our post on how to flavor homemade yogurt as well.
Scrambled Eggs
Having freeze dried eggs on hand is so great for camping trips! Everyone loves a hot breakfast, but when was the last time you successfully backpacked with fresh eggs in your pack?
Freeze dried scrambled eggs are a game changer!
There are two options when it comes to freeze drying scrambled eggs. You can simply stir up the eggs and freeze dry them raw. This means they’ll need to be cooked once reconstituted. Or you can cook them and freeze dry them after they’ve been cooked for a ready-to-eat option.
We love mixing in chopped veggies, grated cheese, cooked meat, salt and pepper, so the egg scramble is a complete meal.
Smoothie Powder
We also love having freeze dried smoothies on hand, but getting all the ingredients out to make a homemade smoothie can be time-consuming.
We love utilizing fresh produce when it’s plentiful and in season, so mixing up multiple large batches at a time and freeze drying them gives us a head start on those busy mornings.
Try mixing up our favorite immune-boosting green smoothie recipe or adding our homemade greens powder to your favorite homemade smoothie and popping it in the freezer dryer.
(Bonus) Freeze Dried Ice Cream
In the video I teased saying I would never freeze dry ice cream again, but what I mean when I say that is that it tasted SO GOOD, none of the ice cream actually made it into storage because the kids and I devoured all of it right when it was finished!
So, if you’d like one of the most delicious treats you’ve ever tasted, then check out our post on how to freeze dry ice cream and try it for yourself. Trust me when I say, you’ve been warned!
FAQs
Great question! There are a number of foods that shouldn’t be freeze dried, namely foods high in fat. Some foods can be freeze dried, but the shelf life is greatly reduced. Foods to avoid are:
– Mayonnaise
– Nut Butter
– Butter
– Chocolate
– Syrup and honey
– Jams and jellies
For a complete list, check out our post on what foods cannot be freeze dried here.
We’ve listed our favorite foods in this post. However, there are so many other great foods to freeze dry. Some of the most common are fruit, vegetables and meals.
Almost! Certain fatty or thick foods (such as mayonnaise, butter, nut butters and honey) shouldn’t be freeze dried due to safety or texture reasons, but we’ve tried freeze drying almost everything! Keep in mind that various foods will have differing shelf lives. For more information on how to freeze dry anything, check out my book Freeze Drying the Harvest.
Conclusion
If you can’t tell by now, we truly do love our freeze dryers and are continually finding more and more ways to use them. The time our freeze dryers have freed up while still lining our shelves with home-preserved food is incredible.
Be sure to check out our freeze drying archives to see everything we’ve done, and grab my book Freeze Drying the Harvest here.
