# Does anyone here us a Freeze Dryer for food preservation?



## BarbadosSheep (Jun 27, 2011)

I know the technology is pretty new....at least on a homesteading scale. But I ordered one yesterday. I am scrounging for information. Does anyone else here use one?


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## NEfarmgirl (Jan 27, 2009)

I wanted to buy a unit a few years ago and the price was way out of our budget then. A small home type model sold for well over $1000. I am not much help on using one, but am curious what brand did you end up buying?


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## BarbadosSheep (Jun 27, 2011)

I bought a Harvest Right. It was considerably more than $1000 but it's going to pay for its self. I am currently running 4 freezers and will be able to eliminate two of them, plus store up food that will last up to 25 years


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## midwesterner (Mar 8, 2009)

Harvest Right has a YouTube channel that's had some recent additions. They're worth a look. InFlorida4252 also has a YouTube channel that's from a user's point of view, also worth a look. And eGullet.org has at least a couple of discussions about freeze dryers in their forums. It gets a bit technical at times, but covers a lot of the science behind freeze drying and how to do things efficiently based on the science.


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## pmondo (Oct 6, 2007)

wow 3,599 and only does 2 number 10 cans every 24 hours but i can see it paying for its self over time


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## NEfarmgirl (Jan 27, 2009)

The one I looked at was very small and would not do a lot at once; it was half the size of the $3600 one. If you dried a lot of food and the food was good quality once it was dried, it would be worth spending the money. I wonder what the cost of parts would be in case it needed repaired though?


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## BarbadosSheep (Jun 27, 2011)

I have been running my harvest right 24/7 since Friday and I love it. It's simply amazing. Electricity costs are estimated at maybe $2.00 per day at the most. Since my goal is unloading my freezers, that cost is nothing. Daily defrosting and oil changes take 30 minutes. The food is outstanding. It can handle 10 pounds of meat at a time. The food rehydrated and tastes perfect. Exactly like fresh. I am very happy with my purchase.


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## FLAndy (Nov 6, 2015)

So cool that there is a homesteader size. I have heard a lot of people talking about this recently. Way too spendy for me, but it is an investment after all. I hope you have really good luck with yours.


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## Ellendra (Jul 31, 2013)

I almost scored a used laboratory freeze dryer recently, only lost the bidding by $1!!!

Ask your local university/community college what they do with their used equipment when they replace it. You might be able to get some cool stuff. 

Mine auctions it off on their own website. The person who won that freeze dryer got it for only $301.


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## BarbadosSheep (Jun 27, 2011)

there are a few people using re-purposed commercial units. They may not work as well for this purpose, but if you are handy, I think it could be retrofitted. many commercial ones run on 220 power instead of 110. many have cycle times that are long....maybe a week or more. This unit has a rack that has built in heaters. Once 500mTorr has been reached (and its around -27degrees), the heated trays cycle on and off, and the vacuum pulls the moisture out of the food. So far, no cycle has taken longer than 24 hours. most have been around 21. 

Harvest Right has a very good layaway program if anyone is interested. you pay what you can afford, when you can afford it. once you have paid $2500, they ship the machine to you and they set up a payment schedule to pay the balance off within 12 months. no interest. 

My main reason for getting this is I had too much meat. I am running 4 freezers, nearly full to capacity. a large portion of that was home grown chicken, pork and duck. Plus venison. And I have a bull that need to be butchered. There are just two of us, and I knew meat would freezer burn before we could possibly use it all. So now the problem is solved. I made spaghetti for dinner last night with sausage that I had re-hydrated. the sausage tasted exactly like freshly cooked. I was amazed. And the leftover spaghetti went into the FD this morning so I'll preserve that now.


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## BarbadosSheep (Jun 27, 2011)

NEfarmgirl said:


> The one I looked at was very small and would not do a lot at once; it was half the size of the $3600 one. If you dried a lot of food and the food was good quality once it was dried, it would be worth spending the money. I wonder what the cost of parts would be in case it needed repaired though?


the vacuum pump is around $300 (comes with a 2 year warranty). The cooling system can be repaired by any qualified refrigeration repair person. In theory the cooling system should last for many years. The touch screen and control board run around $75 each from Harvest right (I asked them). So parts are not much.


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## pmondo (Oct 6, 2007)

wow I would love to have one maybe thinking about the layaway plan got to talk to the boss about this


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## Gadget_Lover (Feb 6, 2017)

It's great that you got a harvest right that did NOT come with issues. I hope to never see one again after troubleshooting for days, realizing they sent the wrong vacuum hose, then trying it again and getting another error which would require another replacement part. It's ridiculous to get an expensive new machine that requires days of troubleshooting and needing a couple parts replaced AND no apology from the company for sending wrong parts and wasting your time. Happy to have my money refunded for a machine that never worked - although the only I got this was to file a BBB case.


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