Has anyone thought about trying to freeze dry their own food? I came across this website www.harvestright.com while researching greenhouse designs they have a home freeze dryer (that is expensive) but claims you can do 300-400 lbs of food a year. They also make geodesic greenhouses and shelters. It looked fascinating.
Wow, almost 4k bucks.
"When injustice becomes law, resistance becomes DUTY!" - Thomas Jefferson
I would LOVE to have one!!
But I think EXCELLENT vacuum sealing will be 50% of the key, so Id suggest a sealer like THIS, and NOT a Seal-A-Meal:
http://www.gandermountain.com/modper...ealer&i=444909
I plan on getting the above sealer on our next tax return...
EB
Originally Posted by ElevenBravo
Looks cool, but can probably get it a lot cheaper somewhere else. Gander mountain is way overpriced.
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Perfect example of what I am talking about. I will never buy from Gander mountain again.
850 bucks at gander mountain.
549 bucks on amazon. Screw gander mountain.
http://www.amazon.com/VacMaster-Portable-Chamber-Vacuum-Sealer/dp/B003YE8FG0
"When injustice becomes law, resistance becomes DUTY!" - Thomas Jefferson
I cant remember the brand but I have found a Silver model that runs on ac and 12v dc as well. Be nice to run off of solar.
Reviving an old post...has anyone here ever bought or built their own "freeze drying" unit. I have most of my prepping necessities near to done, although they can never be 100% done. But the one area I lack in is long term/ future food. I have a feeling if it all falls apart tomorrow, I'm still gonna be hungry. I wish I was a farmer, but I'm not. Therefore while others can farm for me, I would like to utilize their excess at the farmers market. Although the systems out there are fairly pricy, I think in long term, for bulk freeze dried storage, it would be worth it. Other thoughts?
I've been drooling over freeze dry units for a number of years, but simply cannot justify the price. I tried getting a few others on board for a group buy on one (cost sharing), but the group was too far-spread to make it feasible.
Give a man fire, and he'll be warm for a day!
Light a man on fire, and he'll be warm for the rest of his life!
Cat's are food... not friends!
If you're going to fight, then fight like you're the third monkey on the ramp into Noah's arc... and brother, it's starting to rain.
Hey Dome thanks for resurrecting this post, I missed it the first time. Now this would be a great item to have. I would imagine you would be able to save a bundle and if you wanted you would be able to make money on the side doing the work for others. I would think once you got things going it would make a nice cottage business.
If it is predictable then it is preventable....... Gordon Graham
So if it is predictable and preventable then you better prepare.
CPR on an old thread is not always a bad thing...
Did some pretty extensive research on the specified freeze dryer.
Results are mixed at best... there will be a LOT of tweaking before you find the right settings and time to get the desired results, and as I mentioned, what f'nd good is a freeze dryer without a good vac sealer (and no, Im not talking about walMart vac sealers)
Add in the time to do the SMALL, yes... small load of food and the yield is not what you might think.
Add in the babysitting... sure you can run it for a while without supervision, but ... at some point its still going to feel like babysitting.
Lastly, calculating the energy used... the f'en thing dont run on magic! It WILL suck some juice.
In the end, MY conclusion is, wow... damn neat toy and you can freeze dry what you want... but the cost and labor, its way cheaper to just BUY it from an outfit that did it right the first time.
If the unit is 4K... Figure out how much FD food you can get for THAT much money! Damn, we would be square for a minimum of a year!!
EB
My goal, at my age, is to have 20 yrs. of food put away. Is this a realistic goal...probably not, but it is a place to start. If things fall apart tomorrow, I'm not worried about a roof over my head, taken care of. I'm not worried about water, taken care of. I'm not worried about heat, taken care of. Safety, security, what I can plan for, mostly taken care of. I'm not worried about health, out of my hands for the most part, but my part, taken care of. Food....um....I'm hungry!
I have nothing but time, I find the power usage to be minor in the big picture, I've got to buy the food anyway. Building my own is something I've researched, but if not done perfectly, and if the food is not completely freeze dried, you have thrown away all your food for quite some time. Most I've looked into use gigantic amounts of dry ice if you are going to use it long term. Others say they are freeze dry machines, but are more of a glorified dehydrator. To do it properly, the food must get to at least -30 deg farenheight, and then slowly warmed up under a powerful vacuum so the ice will sublimate. Most home built can't do this long term. So I'm guessing it will be a store bought item, just gotta talk Mrs. Dome to my side.
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