Unfortunately, freeze-dried food can often be very expensive. We’ve seen this first hand as the only company that sells both frozen beef boxes to store in the freezer for up to a year as well as freeze-dried beef cubes to store in the closet for over a decade.
5 Posted October 24, 2015 Hi everyone - new member to the forum, and I was drawn here by this thread. I have been using my HR freeze dryer for a few months now and it's been great. Reading about all your experiences shows that I'm not alone in loving this machine!
19.7k Location:Ontario, Canada Posted March 8, 2006 Freeze drying works by quickly freezing the item (and that could include flowers or dead animals as this technology is used to preserve wedding bouquets and in taxidermy) to a very low temperature, then placing it under vacuum to remove the air and water vapour.
The only way I know to filter the water vapor out would be a cold trap. They usually use liquid nitrogen or dry ice to keep the temperature low enough that all the water condenses out. Obviously you would need a supply of the liquid nitrogen or dry ice that would probably not be cost effective for most of us. The other option to get that cold would be to use a cryocooler and build a cold trap around it. It could be done, but would be pretty expensive. I've been watching some electronics on ebay that have cryocoolers in them, but the cheapest I've seen is around $600. Still not a cheap option, but you wouldn't need dry ice or liquid nitrogen to feed it.
Removing the ice from between the chamber wall and the insulation (hopefully will never have to do this again)
However, be very careful when buying any machine that was already used. Make sure to test it and see if it works properly before actually buying it.
Buying a freeze dryer in person gives you a better sense of how big it is, while you can also get hands-on advice from the professionals working at the store.
It appears that the ice build up inside the chamber sublimates as well as the ice in the food. Eliminate the ice and the process is faster, and less water ends up in your oil.
The good news is, their collection of home freeze dryers for sale are high-quality and possess so far delivered great results across a wide spectrum of buyers.
Freezing a given number of meals means that you’ll only need to pop them in the microwave to defrost, once you’re ready to eat them. On top of that, they won’t go bad for months on end.
A few packaging methods for your food storage and food that is being preserved. Methods including foil pouches, glass canning, and plastic bottles are discussed.
I want to suggest to Teppy that you get a bunch of oito quart hard plastic foodsaver containers to keep your products in under vacuum, being so low in moisture they attract water and soften rather easily. E-bay is a good source.
Making jerky safely requires either the use of curing salts (containing nitrite) or enough heat in an oven or dehydrator so that the heat will kill organisms before they multiply.
Other Know More companies sell “beef crumbles” or other versions of scrap beef that have nearly as much fat as protein, and they often sell for more than we do.