I mentioned on Instagram recently, that of all the amazing, interesting, and innovative appliances I’ve worked with, this was possibly the most amazing, the most interesting, and the most innovative. It’s the first appliance of its kind for in-home use. I’m going to try really hard to not sound like an infomercial when I tell you about it, but I’ve found that’s sometimes how it comes out, haha. I love sharing cool things with you guys, and bringing light to products and companies that you might not know exist. I’ve been obsessed with this appliance over the past couple of months and I’ve been so anxious to tell you about it! Even if it’s not in your budget, or you’re not interested in purchasing one, I hope that you’ll enjoy reading this post simply to appreciate the technology and see what I’ve been up to in my kitchen lately!
My husband and I actually heard ads on our local radio a few months ago for the Harvest Right Freeze Dryer and we were completely intrigued. I purchase and use freeze-dried foods often for snacking, in recipes, and for my home food storage, and had no idea you could actually purchase an appliance to do it yourself. I called Harvest Right myself and asked if I could come visit their offices to learn more about it before purchasing, since I would be travelling near them for business anyway. Not only were the people behind the company gracious, kind, and inviting, but the Freeze Dryer itself was as awesome as I had hoped it would be. I really loved hearing the story of how this company came to be and about the years of work and engineering that went into making this available for the consumer.
The Freeze Dryer itself carries a substantial price tag, so I realize it’s not an every day appliance like a microwave, or something you buy just “for fun”. For a little perspective, up until now freeze drying technology was only something that large companies could offer in commercially packaged goods. A comparable freeze dryer before Harvest Right cost over $30,000 and it processed about the same amount of food in a single batch as this one. The people behind Harvest Right spent years figuring out a way to make a $30,000 freeze dryer into something that a consumer could purchase for about 1/10 of the price, plug into a regular home electric outlet, and easily use at home. It was a pretty huge technology undertaking. Although still expensive at $3-4K, the freeze dryer can dry about $10,000 worth of freeze dried food in a year. Studies have shown the average American family also throws out about $2,500 – $3000 worth of food each year, so all of that helps put things into perspective a little bit!
I’ve found with appliances that do unique things, it’s crazy expensive if it’s something you’re not interested in, and a sound investment if it is. This is about the same price as both the steam oven and the pellet ice maker I’ve shared before on this blog. So even though this might not be in the budget for some of you, I want to share it, because there area a lot of people, especially those who practice food storing/food storage like myself (where are all of my LDS friends, you guys will get that!), who will be interested in making an investment in something like this. And if that’s not you, then you might just find this post fun to read when you see what happens when you freeze dry stuff! I know of several church groups, families, and groups of friends, who have purchased freeze dryers to share, and I thought that was a cool idea, too. I love things like this, and I’ve already seen the rewards from the investment my family made on it so I thought you might enjoy seeing it, too!
The freeze dryer is about the size of an oven, or mini fridge, but it’s completely movable. The best place to keep it is in a storage room, laundry room, or garage, but you can move it around if needed. It is quite heavy and somewhat noisy when running, so it’s not something you would probably keep in a kitchen. Plus you need some room for the pump and drain. This video helps you see what’s involved in actually setting it up.
I keep mine on a rolling cart and it works great. I’ve had it in my garage, but as the weather heats up, I’m going to keep it in our storage room. It has a heavy-duty vacuum pump that comes with it. It is fully automated and very simple to use. As you can see from the photo below, it has a switch and 2 knobs, and a display panel that let’s you know what’s happening. Although not complicated, there are some very specific instructions for both use and maintenance. Once I figured it out, it was smooth sailing and I’ve literally had a batch of food going just about every day! This machine does require some maintenance, most notably, changing the oil on a regular basis and cleaning the pump.
So let’s get one thing straight right off the bat. This is not a dehydrator. I’ve found that a lot of people don’t know there’s a difference. You can buy dehydrators at Walmart for 30 bucks. That’s not what we’re talking about here. A dehydrator uses warm air to slowly heat and dry out food over time. That’s why things shrink, shrivel, and change texture and flavor in a dehydrator. Imagine putting scoops of ice cream in a dehydrator. Can you picture how they would immediately pool into a sticky liquid when exposed to warm circulating air for 24 hours? Here’s a great visual for you: I put scoops of fresh strawberry ice cream in my freeze dryer and this is what I got:
They are completely dry, airy, light as a cloud, and they melt in your mouth. Almost like a little puff of meringue. When sealed in a mylar bag or a can they’ll still look just like that and taste delicious in 15-25 years. So how does it work? The technology is pretty amazing, and it’s what fascinated me from the get-go about this product. First, you place food on metal trays.
The trays sit on shelves inside of the freeze dryer. Once the door is shut and the fully automated machine is turned on, the food is frozen down to between -30° and -50° degrees (that’s cold!) You can process about 6-10 pounds of food at a time, an amount that generally fills 1-2 #10 cans, or about 2 gallons if that’s easier to visualize.
After it’s frozen sufficiently, a vacuum pump automatically turns on. The interesting scientific fact about water, is that it can’t exist in a liquid state inside of a vacuum. So as the machine very gently warms the frozen food, the water is instantly turned to vapor, leaving your food basically in its original state in form, color, taste, everything. It’s simply missing all liquid. While canning and dehydrating deplete food of up to half of it’s nutritional value, freeze-drying retains almost 100% of the food’s nutritional value. These raspberries below are completely dry. They will melt in your mouth, can be ground into a fine powder, be used in baking and recipes, or can be re-hydrated again with water. See how beautiful they still are?
Speaking of beautiful, I noticed a HUGE difference in the food I freeze-dried myself, and the food that I buy from the store already freeze-dried. Here’s a quick side-by-side of a popular brand of strawberry and banana mix you can find in grocery stores (left) and my own batch on the right.
So, why freeze dry??
There are so many uses for an appliance like this, here’s a few that I personally am enjoying and applying. I’ve seen how through all of these ways, this freeze dryer definitely pays for itself over time:
– Food Storage and Emergency Preparedness: Freeze-dried foods can be sealed in cans, or mylar bags and last up to 25 years or more (remember, retaining almost all of it’s nutritional value). In today’s crazy world of natural disaster, or in times of budgetary challenges, having a good food store is never a bad idea. In addition to fresh fruits and vegetables, you can also freeze complete meals like casseroles, or meats, cheeses, dairy, etc. Even eggs! It’s a great way to add more protein to your food storage, locking in good prices if you find them.
–Cuts down on at-home food waste: I am notorious for freezing leftovers only to then throw them away months later. You can freeze-dry entire meals and then re-hydrate, and food actually returns to its original state in color, appearance, and flavor. I made waaaay too many mashed potatoes the other day, so I simply freeze-dried the leftovers! They are loaded with all of the good stuff, and now they have become instant-potato packs in my pantry.
–Preserving Garden Bounty: This is one I’m excited to use as summer is approaching. I can never eat my garden goodies as fast as they grow and so much quality food from my garden goes to waste, which is sad. There are some things I love to can or freeze, but I can’t wait to preserve my fresh produce in the freeze dryer because it plumps back to life so beautifully. It’s the absolute BEST way to preserve herbs, especially, as they retain 100% of their flavor. I freeze dried tons of Zoodles this week and popped them in bags. They’re so easy to drop in a pot of soup and ready in literally seconds.
–Culinary Creativity: At the most basic level, freeze-dried foods simply taste great and are really fun to snack on! This is bonus feature to me, since my main motivation in getting a freeze dryer were the reasons mentioned above. Have you ever bought the little packs of freeze-dried fruits commonly available at grocery stores these days? Since all of the water is removed, the flavor is concentrated and foods take on a whole new level of deliciousness. I’ve found that the uses in the kitchen are endless. Often, the biggest challenge in introducing fresh fruits into recipes, for example, is that the water adds too much moisture, and interferes with the fat. Removing all of the water allows you to add concentrated flavor. For example, I took those raspberries you saw above and gave them a quick pulse in my food processor, creating a beautiful red berry powder. 100% fruit and nothing else:
Then I added the raspberry powder to a fluffy buttercream frosting, something that’s usually hard to do since the high water content in fruit often separates frosting and waters it down. The result? Gorgeous, fluffy pink frosting with perfect fresh raspberry flavor.
What Can be Freeze-Dried?
Almost anything. Fresh fruits and vegetables are the most basic, but you can also freeze dry full meals, like a plate of lasagna or your favorite soups or stews. Even meat! I freeze dried a bunch of rotisserie chicken and then added it to soups during the week. You can freeze-dry cheeses, and dairy as well. I found my favorite coconut Greek yogurt on sale so I freeze-dried it and then pulsed it in my blender into a powder. I’ve been adding it to smoothies, pancake mix, and baked goods. I keep it in a jar next to powdered sour cream and powdered cream cheese. All of them work so beautifully in recipes.
I have always purchased freeze-dried foods for my babies as their first solids because they just melt in their mouth and make it so easy to eat. Our very favorite are yogurt drops! Simply drop yogurt in little drops onto the trays and you have these crunchy, delicate little drops of fruity deliciousness.
I cannot make these fast enough to keep up with demand at our house! They make the best snack to keep in my purse or take in the car. And it’s simply 100% yogurt. We found sugar free instant pudding was also a hit. Such a fun sweet treat, that my kids love to munch on.
When we visited Harvest Right, my kids got to sample a freeze-dried gummy bear and it’s all they could talk about! So of course we had to give those a go. These started as itty-bitty bears. They puffed up and turned into giant, airy, sweet, crunchy little snacks. Almost the texture of Pirate’s Booty!
All of the items in these glass jars are freeze dried. Don’t they look fresh? They taste just as fresh as they look. Check out that bright green asparagus and those ruby red berries.
Did you spy the avocados? You can freeze dry avocados! They’re just as colorful and flavorful as when they were fresh. I re-hydrated them and made guacamole and it tasted fantastic. This is a game changer, considering the very short window you have after purchasing an avocado! As an example of just how gentle this process is on your food, take a look at this kale:
That is AFTER freeze-drying. It’s completely dry. If I were to crush it in my palm it would turn to dust, but if you spritz it with water is pops right back to life and it isn’t wilted and gross, it’s green and beautiful. Isn’t that amazing?? This is another good one for keeping in powder form if you’re into green smoothies.
Don’t even get me started on freeze-dried pineapple. It is literally like candy.
I can’t even describe how yummy it is. All of that sweetness and flavor is concentrated in these melt-in-your-mouth drops of crunchy deliciousness. My kids reach for these jars more than the boxes of store-bought snacks in our pantry. Last night when we watched a movie, they wanted to snack on the jar of grapes instead of skittles. They’re that good!
Besides all of the useful reasons of freeze-drying, it’s also just plain fun. I have been having such a great time experimenting in the kitchen with the different foods. Once of our favorites was taking those freeze-dried strawberry ice cream scoops from the start of this post and dunking them in chocolate. The outside is creamy and decadent,
and then you get the light airy crunch of the center with rich strawberry-cream flavor. Pretty killer!
If you want to keep up with Harvest Right, make sure to follow them on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest. And their You Tube Channel has tons of great info as well. I totally loved this segment of Glenn Beck talking about his freeze dried ice cream! They just barely joined the Instagram party as well, so go show them some love and follow them there as well!
Let me know if you guys have any questions, and especially let me know if you get one! I’d love to swap recipe ideas and come up with cool stuff to make with the freeze dried food, or share tips on building your family food storage if you do that.
This post contains affiliate links, read more about them, here.
Questions & Reviews
This is THE CRAZIEST thing I’ve ever seen… and I mean that in a good way! my mind is boggled. I love looking at all these pictures and I can’t even imagine the limitless “foodsperiment” options (the gummy bears… holy cow!!) Totally can’t justify it for myself (we don’t even buy freeze dried food as it is) but I still loved this post. (Oh and I was obsessed with the astronaut ice cream as a kid, too! LOL!)
Side note, if anyone cares to explain to me… in your post and in some of the comments here I saw a reference to something I’ve seen elsewhere on the internet, namely the idea of stocking up on food to prepare for possible financial lean times… and I don’t get it. I mean, I get stocking up on items when they’re on sale or buying in bulk when it’s cheaper, but it seems like people are talking about something different here… but wouldn’t it be better to just save MONEY in an interest-bearing savings account rather than store up food for that particular purpose? LOL, I might just be clueless but maybe someone can enlighten me 🙂
I’ve had experiences in times of natural disaster where food just could not be purchased at the grocery store. I remember going to the grocery store before a big storm in the Midwest, and the basics were gone; you couldn’t buy milk, bread, or eggs for any price. Fortunately, after a week the snow melted and the shelves were full again, but I’ve heard that most grocery stores have only a two-day supply of groceries for the community that shops there. Also, in recent years, I’ve seen basic items like rice & wheat spike in their price. Food shortages are pretty rare here in First World America, and hopefully they always will be, but in politically and economically uncertain times, it makes sense to build up a storage at home.
Wow! What an awesome contraption! My mother, sister, and I are thinking of getting one and splitting the cost since we all live so close to eachother. Just wondering though. Some people say it is difficult to get the freeze dry right depending on the food? But it looks to me like yours is pretty easy to use and there’s not much of a learning curve??
It took me a few batches to understand how the different foods worked, but once I did it was pretty smooth sailing. It’s not complicated, but some things with really high water content, like melon or soups, need to dry longer, and some things with really high sugar content, like pineapple and grapes, need to freeze longer. Once I understood those “rules” I was able to get everything just right. Plus, if you open the door and food isn’t quite done, you can close it up again and turn on the drying phase to finish it. There’s definitely a bit of trial and error involved, but if I’m doing anything ‘experimental” or trying something for the first time, I do a little sample piece first along with a batch that I know will work great so I don’t waste anything. I also called their customer service line a few times to ask for tips on specific foods and they were super helpful! If you end up getting one and want any pointers, shoot me an email any time!
Thanks so much! I’ve been in contact with Scott and he’s been helping me with some of my questions. They are super helpful! Thanks again!
Have you tried a meal that you freeze dried and then “brought back to life”? I’m always looking for ways to store meals for later. And if I could have yummy meals instead of cans of wheat in my food storage that I have no idea how to use, then I’m on board! Oh, and have you tried coconut? If it turns out anything like the kind they sell at Costco, then it will be worth every penny 😉
No, I haven’t re-constituted a whole meal yet. I’ve mostly been drying things that are delicious to eat once they’re dry 🙂 I will have to try the coconut!
I almost didn’t read this because I knew it wouldn’t fit in my budget, but I’m so glad I did! this is AMAZING. I have a hard time building a long-term food storage because I don’t like most canned veggies and meats, and frozen food doesn’t stay good in a power outage. I’m also not into pre-packaged food for taste and cost reasons, which makes a pantry system or instant meals very difficult. This would solve all of those problems for me–although I would want to sample some different foods before actually investing in one. This is going straight to the top of my “when I’m rich and famous” list 🙂 I can totally see how it could save money in the long haul.
This is fabulous! Definitely on my dream list. Would love one someday, hopefully they go down in price, but even if not, you never know 😉 Didn’t even realize they had these for home use, am daydreaming of the camp meals from awesome leftovers.
I, too, had no idea that a home freeze dryer was available! Very cool. I am curious if you notice your electricity bill is considerably higher next month.
Electricity is about 1.87 per batch.
I love it! I have tried a lot of freeze dried foods, but the gummy bears look fascinating. I would definitely love to try those. My sister also likes freeze dried foods. She had been making “food storage cookies” with only stored ingredients just to *practice* for emergencies. She also makes frosting with butter powder and says she would use it anytime, not just in an emergency. I would love to know how freeze dried butter would turn out. Or chocolate! Try chocolate next. 🙂
I think Rhubarb would be awesome freeze dried.
Oh, man, I want one of these! But first I want to try the pineapple and the ice cream in the worst way!
Love it! And wish I had an extra $4k! I would love to see post on rehydrated meals. I would have no idea on how much watery you add back. I love avocados on my salads and wonder if you could rehydrate them to be able to slice them and not mush it up for guacamole.
When did this product roll out? I’m wondering if it might drop in price over the next couple of years. It’s amazing and I hope I get to try it out someday!
I have one of these. I would buy it again in a heartbeat! A few of my favorite things to freeze dry are: roasted red onions (they taste like Funyuns but are real food!), yogurt with an almond in the middle (in a mini cupcake paper), and squash. The squash gets put in the food processor and the powder is a perfect baby food that rehydrates in seconds. Besides squash, I’ve made other baby foods, like applesauce, avocado, etc.
The best thing about having this freeze dryer is that I get to control the ingredients.
I love those ideas! I’m totally going to try the onions- so you roast them first? Do you season them or anything?
That food looks amazing! I would love to buy a freeze dryer! Well, in a few years that is. This is like canning on steroids, I love it. And if you do pick someone to share all that deliciousness with….. I would love to try some pineapple or ice cream. *wink wink nudge nudge*
Thanks Ashley, we feel like you are all our friends, too (well, most of you 😉 )
You have me sold! But you’re right that price tag is definitely something to consider when making such an investment. Thanks for sharing some amazing ideas 🙂
~ Krys
Wow! I loved this post. It would be fun to make yogurt drops in metal molds of various shapes: hearts, animals, flowers, letters, etc. Maybe metal lollipop molds with a sticks for lollipops. It would also be great to do cake bites. You could dip them in chocolate. Coconut cake bites freeze dried and dipped in chocolate! 🙂
This is so awesome, thanks for sharing Sara! Maybe I should start a go fund me account for this 🙂 I would totally use this.
This is amazing! I wish I had the money and space for one! I can see its value for sure! I think people just get jealous of what others have and what they don’t (I know I do that sometimes). But like others have said, we all have different priorities on how we spend our money and there isn’t anything wrong with that! Plus it’s none of our business how much money you make or how you spend it–and you’ve worked hard to be where you’re at anyway! This was an interesting post even if I’ll probably never own my own freeze dryer!
This is quite possibly the coolest thing ever. It was like reading an article from the future, like the food on Star Trek that appears with the touch of a button when needed, fresh veggies, fruit and meat in space! Haha! Yep, I’m a nerd. Thanks for sharing. I’m completely geeking out about this. Maybe I can convince my sisters to go in on one with me. My hubby gets so angry when we throw out food that has gone bad.
It’s very trippy to see a freeze-dried avocado, for some reason.
I work with low income families and one of their issues is not being able to afford fruits and vegetables when they’re out of season but not having the freezer capacity or to buy in the summer and store for the winter. This would be great for a community garden or collective kitchen or another food security program to share among community members. It’s a creative enough idea that there might be grants or other funding programs that would help with the cost.
I have a couple of questions though. How do you know how much water to add to re-hydrate the food – are there guides available? Does the food stay the same size or shrink – I’m wondering about storage space.
How cool is this! I’ve bought freeze dried food storage but never used it because I wasn’t sure what to do with it:) I never knew it was so versatile! My baby is just a few weeks older than yours and I never know what to feed her. I never thought of my freeze dried food but it makes perfect sense! Thanks for such an informative post! We just recently moved away from family:( or i would totally be talking them in to getting one together!
All I can say is WOW!! This is so neat. Thanks for sharing. I am so excited.
This is really neat. Can you explain what you and other commenters mean by food storage or the food storage thing? It seems to be shorthand for something. Do you have to store a certain amount of food? Are there regulations about what kind? I hope it isn’t rude to ask!
Hi Trisha! Not rude to ask at all! “Food Storage” just means having a personal short & long-term food/water supply in case of emergencies (natural disasters, being out of work, etc.). There may be regulations depending on where you live about how much you can store, but the LDS Church has guidelines as to how much would be a good amount to store for a 3-month short-term supply and for a 1-year supply. Here’s a link that should help explain more: https://www.lds.org/topics/food-storage?lang=eng Hope that helps! 🙂
Thank you!
I still can’t believe those were gummy bears! Very cool post. I never knew this existed for the home. I looked up the cost and that’s a pretty penny! I think you should add freeze dried fruits to the OBB Shop, so we can try it out without investing in the appliance. 😉 I’m curious to try the grapes and pineapple. Thanks again for posting this!
No joke, I’ve actually thought about that! lol
Though not a member of LDS, I have learned very much from them about food storage and currently buy freeze-dried foods, but how much more convenient it would be to be able to freeze-dry my own fruits and vegetables without having to drive 5 hours to a Honeyville store or ordering it online. There are things I would like to have but can’t find at Honeyville or Thrive Life. We do this because we are on a fixed budget and need to have a supply in case anything happens to the other or we happen to have a financial crisis.
I am completely blown away with how incredible this is! Avocado? Amazing! Ice cream? Wow! With the way things are trending, moving closer to healthier living, who is to say that this won’t one day become the next staple appliance in our kitchens? I would love to toss some powdered kale into a smoothie instead of pulling out my blender. My Husband is always complaining about our kids eating in the car, especially strawberries or grapes that could be squished. Eating freeze-dried fruit would eliminate the mess, but keep the nutrition. Thank you for sharing this with us! I would love to try a sample of ice cream. I wish there was a contest I could enter so we could have the chance to win one. 🙂
My daughter left most of a bowl of cereal and almost a full cup of orange juice sitting on the table this morning. The first thing I thought when I saw them was, “if only I had Sara’s freeze-dryer!” It gives a whole new meaning to the threat our parents used to give that if we didn’t finish our dinner we would have to eat it for breakfast the next day. LOL.
Hahaha, yes!
Wow, that sounds amazing! So many benefits and uses. I wish this was something we could afford right now. My youngest is very picky and doesn’t like the textures of most fruits and vegetables. However, we are able to get her to eat a couple of freeze-dried fruits and veggies.
Is the freeze dried food cold? And how do you know how much water to add to rehydrate? Obviously a strawberry needs less than a casserole. Very cool machine! Thanks for sharing.
It’s cold when it comes *out* of the freeze dryer, but then it’s just dry and normal temperature. And honestly, I’m still learning about rehydrating because we’ve been making and eating most things that are yummy, dry!
Who knows, if this appliance becomes popular the price might drop like the microwave, computers, etc. It is good to learn about these things, so thank you. I just wondered if it would be more difficult to keep calories down eating freeze dried items. I can eat quite a bit of dried fruit (high in calories) compared to fresh. Might this become a problem?