[Subjectivist]

My wife and I are looking into food preservation and had one of these recomended to us.
http://harvestright.com/store/freeze-dryer-black.html
Does anyone here have one? The technology is great but with the high price we are very hesitant to invest in one of them.

[Shaved Monkey]

What are you trying to preserve by freeze drying that regular freezing and canning isnt doing for you ?
Ive got a regular dryer but never use that either.(did some apricots over 20 years ago)
Im quite happy to freeze green beans and tomatoes and jar tomatoes,make jams and dry beans and chillies.
I dont see the point of freeze dried food ,my aim is to grow food and preserve a little for in-between and failure.
I probably have anywhere between 3 months to a years supply of most stuff,but probably need way less as I now have a productive veg garden.

[Subjectivist]

My wife and I are looking into food preservation and had one of these recomended to us.
http://harvestright.com/store/freeze-dryer-black.html
Does anyone here have one? The technology is great but with the high price we are very hesitant to invest in one of them.

That's pretty cool. I don't see the advantage over canning/regular drying unless you plan on taking the food up Everest? Is it for a bug-out bag?

It's possible that freeze-drying preserves certain micro-nutrients and the such, but I've come to believe that stuff is over-rated anyhow. Like my mother used to say to me "just eat your god-damned vegetables (well she said it, but without the cursing )

Micro-nutrients and weight are the major advantages, not to mention long term shelf stable without refridgeration or canning. Freeze dry some meat and veggies, and have a water filtration arrangement and you can bug out pretty far on what you can carry.

[dinopello]

Micro-nutrients and weight are the major advantages, not to mention long term shelf stable without refridgeration or canning. Freeze dry some meat and veggies, and have a water filtration arrangement and you can bug out pretty far on what you can carry.

Makes sense. I guess the question is volume. For the price of the machine I think you could buy about a years supply for a small family of pretty high quality freeze dried food in #10 cans with a shelf life of 30 years or more. Will you be making more than that ? If so, maybe get the machine.

[Loki]

Holy Hindu cow, that's a lot of shekels. You can buy an awfully nice canner (or ten) and a lifetime supply of jars for that. Or a solar electric system to power a chest freezer. Or a small tractor to till your garden. Or a couple dozen solar dehydrators.

Something like that would be very, very low on my list of priorities.

[KaiserJeep]

Canning in glass jars preserves food better than freeze-drying. It lasts longer, retains more flavor, and is easier to cook.

Unless you must hike, you don't need or want dried food.

[Shaved Monkey]

I just jarred a whole lot of tomatoes today.
Froze a lot of cherry tomatoes too ,they go bitter if you jar them.(I think its the seeds)

[Pops]

Seems pretty spendy to me too. I'd agree with Dino to buy some Mountain House and invest the balance in other things.