Do not disappoint your future self by only loading up on flour, rice, and beans. If you have a random assortment of cans and boxes, you might be grateful to have if you get hungry enough. Creating and storing an efficient emergency food supply that your family actually enjoys eating add significant value. Instead of it being just for surviving an emergency, you can perserve your family's quality of life. Buy having food you love on standby, it makes it easy to use it frequently when backpacking, camping, or when you simply don't want to go to the store.
Get comfortable with how easy it is to enjoy the meals that you plan for long term storage. It is good to eat a few a month or do a 6 week test run to make sure you are freeze drying the food your family will truly eat. Variety helps to rotate shelf life and appreciate the taste of each meal. Planning a 6-week menu that rotates throughout the year should provide enough variety for your family.
This breaks down to an annual supply of:
(40) of each of (9) different breakfast ideas
o (4) Cold Soak Ideas
o (5) Hot Meal Ideas
Possibly use for Peanut butter and fruit/ jam, tuna, burritos, hummus, wraps
(185) small bags with ingredients to make (1) loaf of bread/ tortillas every other day
o Possibly use for Peanut butter and fruit/ jam, tuna, burritos, hummus, wraps
(20) of each of (9) different Lunch ideas (Soup, Salad, & Appetizer Meals)
o (4) Cold Soak Ideas
o (5) Hot Meal Ideas
(10) of each of (36) different Dinner Ideas:
o (9) differnt Mexican Meals with beef and beans
o (9) different Asian Meals with chicken and rice
o (9) different Italian Meals (gluten free options like brown rice noodles, spegetti squash, or Palmini)
o (9) different Potato/Meat/Veggie meals
(10) of each of (20) different dessert ideas
In addition to a planned year of food maintain a separate stash of herbs, condiments, fruits, and vegetables that you would normally enjoy.
Use mylar bags 5mm or more in thickness with oxygen absorbers for long-term freeze-dried storage and mason jars for shorter term storage. Make sure you start with clean, completely dry jars. You may place washed jars in the oven at 200 degrees until they are completely dry. Once cooled back to room temperature, fill them up.
You will find that simply freeze drying leftovers will catapult you to quickly achieve a year supply of foods you actually enjoy. What is great about a freeze dryer is that once you have your initial year of emergency back up food, you can start creating additional storage of leftovers and long-term storage to carry you through 25 years. By purchasing in bulk and freeze-drying ingredients when in abundance, you save on current food cost and what the inflation of that food item will be in 25 years!
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Harvest Right does a great job with including everything needed to get started in freeze drying. As you get into freeze drying, we recommend the following supplies and accessories that we found helpful in our freeze drying adventure. As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.
Storing Food
Mylar Bags with Absorbers This kit comes with 100 bags of 3 different sizes and oxygen obsorbers.
Stand Up Window Pouches These are great if you plan to gift or sell freeze dried treats. They are not meant for long term storage.
Vacuum Sealer Machine This unit works well and is comparable to brandnames that cost 3x as much.
Rolling Food Storage Rack with Bins
Tray Accessories
Stackers and Silicone liners for Medium Sized Trays This seems to be the best deal for both liners and stackers if you have a medium sized freeze dryer.
Silicone Mats for Harvest Right Freeze Dryer Trays Make it easy to remove food from the trays and eliminate the need for one time use parchment paper.
Freeze Dryer Tray Stackers These connectors allow you to stack your trays on top of each other making them easyier to fill each one and carry over to the freezer.
French Fry Scoop These fit the width of the freeze dryer trays perfectly to make it easy to scoop the food and funnel into your Mylar bags.
Silicone Tray Dividers Solve the problem of freeze drying paste food, it helps paste food to form the same size chunks after freeze drying for easy storing. .
Silicone Half Inch Trays for Yogurt Bites The kit includes 2 pieces of silicone mold Trays and 4 droppers. Each piece of silicone mold has a 126-cavity grid. Total Tray size 11.53"L x 7.63"W x 0.47"H
Silicone Mold 15 Hole 11.4in*6.69in*0.78in
Silicone Cereal Bar Mold 2 Pcs (8) 4.57 x 1.18 inch cavities, total tray size is 11 x 6.7 inch
Vacuum Chamber Assessories
Angled Aluminum For easy ice removal after cycle runs.
Food Preparing/ Safety
Infrared Thermometer Temperature Gun Great for checking the tempature to ensure your freeze dried food is completely dry.
Mason Jar Vacuum Sealer If you are planning to use your freeze dried food quickly (over the next year) putting in mason jars and vacuum sealing it works great as a reusuable container.
Four Gas Monitor Oxygen (O2), Carbon Monoxide (CO), Hydrogen Sulfide (H2S) and Combustibles (LEL) monitor. This is perfect for probing your bags after several years to ensure there is no presence of Oxygen or Hydrogen Sulfide (sign that high fat foods like nuts are going rancid).
Workspace
Stainless Steel Cart with Wheels Makes it easy to store the freeze dryer on a set of wheels with storage room for extra bags and pump.
USB Rechargeable Fan Helps the lifetime of your oil pump by keeping it cooled off.
Killowatt Meter Allows you to monitor the amount of electricity your freeze dryer is using
Maintenance
Robinair Premium High Vacuum Pump Oil 1 quart
JB Industries Black Gold Vacuum Pump Oil 1 gallon