You’ll have to decide whether the pros outweigh the cons. For me personally, non-e of the cons outweighed the pros. The high price tag is an investment in my ability to preserve food for long periods of time for me and my family without relying on others. The noise doesn’t bother any of us and it’s like white noise.
Removing the ice from between the chamber wall and the insulation (hopefully will never have to do this again)
What I should have done was just sent a freeze dried meal that would take me 3 minutes to rehydrate and he wouldn’t have to be stuck in the bathroom for days on end. Lesson learned!
This new Industrial Pump rarely needs to have the oil changed or filtered. The pump has a gas ballast feature that makes it so water does not stay in the oil. Because of this, the oil in the pump will be pristine and clear, even after 30 or more batches.
Raymond Shipka My freeze drier arrived perfectly and professionallly packaged and it works like a charm.
A freeze dryer can be used to preserve entire meals, making it easy to build up a supply of emergency food or just have meals on hand that can quickly be re-hydrated and eaten.
Trust the machine. It will let you know when it thinks the food is done. Once the cycle has finished, you can check the food to see if it is completely done. If so, you can remove it from the machine and package it. If the food isn’t done, you can add time.
The one "gotcha" I encountered in making this is that a website typical car oil filter attaches with a 3/4x16tpi threaded pipe. I could find no such pipe anywhere. My solution was to use instead a 3/4x16tpi bolt, and then drill a hole through it.
Drying things out played a roll as well as the added insulation. We had 3.5 weeks of constant rain here in central NC with humidity over 95% and temps near 95F in the beginning and tapering down to 80F by the end of the rain. The condensation on the front panel Shop Now around the seal had water running down the front of the Freeze Dryer constantly during the entire cycle, not just the freeze cycle. I initially went into the FDer to simply stop the humdity from reaching the outer chamber shell and freezing.
Are we trying to rip people off? On the contrary, our beef cubes are actually an exceptional value considering the four-pack offers 48 adult servings with 24 grams of protein each.
Thirdly, I like to know what is in my food. When I process my own food, I know what is going in it. Also, I like to grow my own produce so when I freeze dry that, I know exactly where my food came from and how it was grown. Some commercially freeze dried foods contain preservatives.
Recently we took a trip to Hawaii. After doing some research, I found a few restaurants that I was fairly confident would be safe for my son. However, I also knew how expensive even regular groceries are in Hawaii, let alone gluten-free food.
So the bottom line is this: If you can afford the money and time to spend on freeze-drying your own food and you believe the need for the food is many months or years away, then eventually the Harvest Right freeze dryer will pay for itself.
Making food in your own freeze dryer is less expensive than purchasing it commercially. You can purchase food in bulk and freeze dry it for later. With the current high food prices (which could easily continue to skyrocket), it’s nice to buy in bulk or on clearance to save money.