*** Not really a recipe, but I figured this would be the appropriate forum***

My wife and I are avid gardeners and we recently purchased a freeze dryer rather than adding yet another freezer to our food storage regimen, or doing more canning. An obvious side benefit to this is the ability to prepare food for canoe trips. Since fresh produce from the garden is a couple months out yet, I've been learning the ins and outs of the freeze dryer to prepare for an upcoming trip to Opasquia. I don't think it will be too hard to keep our equipment weight under the 100lbs a paddler as required by the flight provider on this trip (I managed to do it on the Sutton even with waders), but keeping food weight down will certainly help.

I figured I may as well post some of my results here in the unlikely event that another paddler considers going this route for food prep.

For my first couple of batches through the freeze dryer I decided to make use of some potatoes I have stored in the basement before they start eyeing out in the spring. I made a huge batch of mashed potatoes, adding sour cream, butter, and a few spices as usual. I filled the 4 trays up with about 7 pounds of potatoes total. When they were finished I ended up with about 21 ounces of freeze dried potatoes. Before they are rehydrated, they have the consistency of a Cheeto, but taste like a potato chip. When reconstituted, they are indistinguishable from the fresh ones.


For my next batch I decided to work on adding some variety to our breakfast. Typically I have a routine of eating a hearty oatmeal on days that I am in a hurry to get on the water, since I can make that and coffee from a single batch of boiled water. Other days I make pancakes. This works fine, but on a 2 week trip it would be nice to have some other options. I prepared a batch of 18 raw 'scrambled eggs' with a little milk and some salt and spices added. I also did 33 strips of smoked turkey bacon (pork bacon supposedly does not freeze dry very well due to fat content).


The bacon slices ended up weighing under 9 ounces when finished, down from 3 pounds before processing.


I found it to be a little too fragile to attempt to package in whole slices, so I broke it into about 1" pieces rather than fret about it.

The eggs weigh in at about 9 ounces, and sort of reminded me of styrofoam before reconstituting. I powdered them in a blender prior to packaging to minimize volume.

Both the eggs and bacon were excellent when rehydrated. The color of the bacon is just slightly different than out of the package as is the texture. Somehow I actually preferred the scrambled eggs over fresh ones.


My most recent batch through the freeze dryer consisted of Stuffing, turkey, and coffee. I made the coffee at twice the normal strength. It ended up taking quite a bit longer than the other stuff, but the end result was good. I drink quite a bit of coffee and I really enjoy it while canoeing. I generally use the Starbucks Via packets, but they are quite expensive when you have to purchase a lot of them. I don't think that I would specifically target freeze drying my own coffee, but if I'm looking to fill an empty tray before loading the dryer, I will fill it up with coffee and hopefully have a good stash to supplement the Via packets.

I didn't take a picture of the stuffing after freeze drying it. It didn't look any different then before I dried it.


The smoked turkey did really well in the freeze dryer. Eighteen ounces reduced down to just over 6 when finished.

So far batches in the freeze dryer take from 20-30 hours. It is a loud enough that I wouldn't want it in my normal living space (mine is in the basement). I have been struggling to get it to reliably create a 'deep vacuum', but I think I just need to make some adjustments with the door seal.

Even with the steep cost of camping food made by Mountain-house and the like, it would be hard to justify purchasing a freeze dryer solely for making food for paddling trips. If you and your spouse were taking month long trips annually, I suppose the economics may work out. As a side benefit to having a freeze dryer for home use though, I think it will be nice to have for preparing meals for paddling.

Glad it's working out for you! I also have a very large garden, and stacks of canning jars. I do dehydrate for our camping trips, but would be hard pressed to justify the cost of a freeze dryer. Besides, I'd have to figure out where to store it!

It's best to go with dehydrating, the food lasts longer, it's easier to carry, and it doesn't lose nutritional value as I know of. Plus, there are plenty of perks as you can enjoy eating fruits you normally wouldn't have access to all year long (love me some dried strawberries when winter comes).

Pete11L: "It's best to go with dehydrating, the food lasts longer, it's easier to carry, and it doesn't lose nutritional value as I know of. Plus, there are plenty of perks as you can enjoy eating fruits you normally wouldn't have access to all year long (love me some dried strawberries when winter comes)."

Freeze dried food lasts longer, and retains its nutrient value longer than dehydrating.

user0317: "

Pete11L: "It's best to go with dehydrating, the food lasts longer, it's easier to carry, and it doesn't lose nutritional value as I know of. Plus, there are plenty of perks as you can enjoy eating fruits you normally wouldn't have access to all year long (love me some dried strawberries when winter comes)."

Freeze dried food lasts longer, and retains its nutrient value longer than dehydrating."

Agree. Most sources suggest dehydrating looses nearly half of it's nutritional value and freeze dry less than 5%.

I'm envious but hard to justify the expense personally. Need to find some folks nearby for a co-op.

This past weekend I processed a gallon of whole mik:


I was surprised that the after removing all the liquid there was still an entire quart of milk solids left.

For canoeing I will transfer the contents to a mylar bag. I reconstituted a little and it was much better than I recall powdered milk being. It did take a while to rehydrate thoroughly in cold water, but was almost instantaneous in warm water. For camping I anticipate using it mostly in chowders.

Intriguing. I look forward to your next trials.

A batch of coffee, raw burger, and bananas (with a few strawberries thrown in). Two pounds of burger reduced down to 9oz.

Can you make patties after hydrating the ground beef?

billconner: "Can you make patties after hydrating the ground beef?"

You sure can. That is the advantage of freeze drying 'raw burger' vs pre-cooked burger. You still have the flexibility of using it however you want. Naturally, once reconstituted, it should still be treated like 'raw meat'.

user0317: "This past weekend I processed a gallon of whole mik:



I was surprised that the after removing all the liquid there was still an entire quart of milk solids left.

For canoeing I will transfer the contents to a mylar bag. I reconstituted a little and it was much better than I recall powdered milk being. It did take a while to rehydrate thoroughly in cold water, but was almost instantaneous in warm water. For camping I anticipate using it mostly in chowders. "

Yes whole milk powder or as you state freeze dried whole milk is much better tasting than the commonly found dried mile. Which is a low fat skim milk spray dried. I do not have a freeze dryer but buy whole milk powder from Hoosier Farms. Whole milk powder can take more to get mixed due to the milk fats so I mix in a nalgeen bottle and shake it a bunch.
A suggestion try sour cream freeze dried. Mixes like the milk and really sparks the taste of any camp sauce made.

butthead

This is making me want to run out and buy a freeze dryer.

Are you using a HarvestRight machine? Other? What size?

Thanks!

Hi Bill,

I have the Medium sized Harvest Right, which seems about right for my family. The large unit is substantially more money, and it requires a special outlet. There is a bit of a learning curve to the process, but there are some helpful user groups on social media and decent Youtube videos to get you started. I haven't had to use it, but allegedly the company has very responsive support.

I do think a person can make the unit pay for itself if you put it to work, particularly if you are a gardener. My one caveat would be to make sure that you have a good place to set the unit up. It takes up quite a bit of counter space between the dryer and the vacuum pump. It is also fairly loud so you wouldn't want it in your living space. It would be a good idea to make sure you aren't running much else on the breaker as it pulls some pretty good amperage when the pump is running.

If you have any other questions about it, feel free to reach out.

Thanks

All great info - but I want to hear more about your Opasquia PP planning! I've read as much as there is (Marten's TRs) out there. Very intriguing.

Try some ice cream. ;)

billconner: "Try some ice cream. ;)"

Ice cream sandwiches seem to be a popular item to freeze dry, and for some reason skittles. I haven't tried either yet. On a trip I was on last year 2 people in our group had a birthday on the same day, and a thoughtful trip-partner had brought freeze dried ice cream and birthday cake. It was a touching and tasteful treat halfway through a 10 day trip.

Apparently these freeze dryers are flying off the shelves now as more and more people latch onto a 'prepping mindset'. Although I've got nothing against it, I've never considered myself a prepper, although I likely have a years worth of food around just from my normal habits revolving around gardening and preservation.

Marten has been helpful in sharing some information for us to prepare for our trip to Opasquia. The first week of our trip will be spent on a section of the park that I haven't found any documentation on, outside of the Canoe Atlas. Our trip is planned for June, so its anyone's guess if we will make it in that timing or not. Although it isn't cheap, it is quite affordable for a trip this far north. We priced it out compared to a few alternative routes and it was a bit cheaper than a fly-in/fly-out trip somewhere like Wabakimi or Woodland Caribou.

A load of scallop potatoes and Hashbrowns. I fried up some of the hashbrowns last night, and they were great.