We purchased a medium Harvest Right freeze dryer with the upgrade to an oil-free pump in early 2022. Ours is now an outdated model with only 4 trays.
To compare service levels, we used a table evaluating the various freeze-dryer company service profiles:
Using the S-blade attachment makes short work of chili peppers and turmeric, while the dicing function has been a life-saver when chopping huge batches of onion, carrot and celery to make mirepoix.
Just in case. There are a couple of reasons why freeze dried food makes sense if things go south in a hurry.
Foods with higher water content, like watermelon or cucumbers, typically require longer cycles than drier foods. Many modern freeze dryers feature automated sensors that determine when the process is complete, optimizing both time and energy usage.
Some models, like the Cube from Prep4Life, have rectangular chambers for better space efficiency. The Elite model from them also has an internal pump, reducing needed floor/shelf space.
Keeping the freeze dryer clean has proved pretty simple for us. Once the unit defrosts, we grab a clean, damp cloth and give the chamber and trays a once-over.
Purchasing extra freeze dryer trays has helped us to overcome this bottleneck to some degree. We can process large batches of produce in one go (while it is fresh and the kitchen is a mess) and put 12 trays worth of food in the deep freeze.
Note: Warranty does not cover the logistical costs of repair, such as the fees needed to send products to Harvest Right or have technical supp ort conduct an on-site inspection. Likewise, misuse or neglect are not covered by the warranty.
Freeze dryer energy and maintenance costs are negligible compared to the cost difference between sizes, so running a small or medium freeze dryer longer is usually much cheaper than running a large or XL freeze dryer in short bursts.
You can speed this payback period up even more buy saving on food costs, one of the largest delays to the break-even point. Getting your veggies and fruits from gardens and your meat from hunting would drastically lower the costs, as we used average shelf prices for food in our analysis.
Design is important for quality because there are many separate components working together inside of a freeze dryer. The weakest link can cause the entire machine to not work- whether its a faulty door seal or underpowered vacuum pump.
The freeze dryer has also helped us take our long-term, emergency food storage to a Know More whole new level!
We’ve got a great stash of organic, spray-free food we can trust because, let’s face it, even “organic” from the store isn’t always what it seems.