Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Food, Cooking, and Game Preparation DIY Freeze Drying,

The last couple days I have been researching how to Freeze Dry just about everything...Veggies, Fruits, All Meats, even Cheeses. What I found was that it can be much simpler than one would think.

What I found was that "Freeze Drying" is just another term for "Freezer Burn". The Incas did it for Thousands of years before Electricity and Vacuum Chambers. What I found is definitely the easiest way is the best way and very simple.

Simply dedicate a Deep Freezer as your drier. Add Shelves to make it hold as much as possible yet still allow "Air Flow" around everything you have loaded to be freeze dried. Cut it all down to smaller Cubes or Strips.

Load it all unwrapped into your Deep Freezer at it's lowest setting, and let it all sit for two weeks. To remove the moister from the air you simply put a small Bag of Silicon based Cat Litter in the bottom of the Freezer with a couple holes jabbed in it.

This will work for just about anything...but some things will need to be cooked first. Such as hamburger...pre-made up Meal Combinations like Spaghetti or Stew Etc.

I will let you know how it works out because I am of those that will eat everything and anything with an Iron Stomach just to try it out and see if it kills me or not.

They don't call me "Bugout" without a reason. lol

P.S. If anyone has knowledge about this please chime in and offer your suggestions!

Keep the food in the freezer until it has freeze dried. Over the course of about a week, the process of sublimation will take place, and all of the moisture will be removed from the food.

Test to make sure the food is completely freeze dried by removing a piece and allowing it to thaw. If it turns black, the food is not freeze dried yet.

Store the food. Once the food has completely freeze dried, place it in freezer storage bags. Push out the air, seal the bags, and store them either in the freezer, in your pantry, or in your emergency preparedness kit.

I'm not sure about the prepared meals, but wouldn't it be a lot easier to use a dehydrator on the rest?

Mike

Dehydrating will indeed preserve foods for like up to a year or two. But when packaged properly Freeze Dried Foods can be stored for 20 years or more. Meats are the key advantage with Freeze Drying, there is no other way to store Meats for a very very long period of time.