Are Freeze Dryers Worth It?

Freeze dryers are undoubtedly worth it if you want to preserve a lot of food without losing much quality. Although freeze-drying preserves and removes the water content, the food manages to keep most of its original nutrients after the process has been complete. However, the main thing to consider is the price tag.

If you are intending to freeze dry food for the whole family, along with marketing your freeze-dried pet foods and treats, then a freeze dryer might well be worth it. You can extend the shelf life of the food for 25 to 30 years and it will retain most of its vitamins and flavor.

Home freeze dryers are more affordable in the long-run than purchasing commercially freeze-dried foods. Commercial producers of freeze-dried foods have markups as high as 85%, so a home freeze dryer can be an excellent investment. Foods are easy to prepare for freeze-drying.

Why Are Freeze Dryers So Expensive?

In trying to figure out why freeze dryers are so expensive, I sat down and researched common prices for the various components, based on my own freeze dryer (the medium Harvest Right model).

Freeze dryers use lyophilization (freeze-drying) to cycle through sublimation and drying in order to create your end product of lightweight, easy-to-store food that’s been sucked dry of all moisture.

Harvest Right also made the best three because it does offer some extras that other freeze dryer companies don’t – because the other companies don’t sell as many units to the public. The most amazing one is a layaway style financing option.

So the lower estimate of building a commercial-grade, at-home freeze dryer may only be $1,060, but because of the cabinet thing, I think that’s lower than it would be in reality. Especially since you’re going to also need multiple condensers. This pricing also doesn’t include the cost of time and/or labor to design, manufacture, assemble, and market the freeze dryer.

For us , having a freeze dryer has been worth it. So many times, when making dinner, I’ll realize that I’m out of an ingredient I thought I had… but I’ll have it down in the food storage because we’d freeze-dried some earlier. This happens so often with mushrooms, in particular!

If you aren’t sure what kind of plug you’ve got, it’s best to assume it’s a general 110-volt outlet and that it may not have a dedicated 20 amp circuit. In other words, you’d be better off if you stick with the small or medium freeze dryers.

The hardest part of finding accurate prices is a simple fact that most freeze-dryers are for commercial, scientific, or commercial use. And so most of them won’t list prices on their websites – they want you to call and talk to the salesman.

What factors determine the cost of a freeze dryer?

There are several factors that will determine the true and total cost of owning a Home Freeze Dryer for building your own supply of emergency food, including, but not limited to, the machine itself, maintenance, food, power, additional supplies and most importantly, your time.

Depending on the food you are freeze drying and the particular make and model of machine you are using, one cycle takes an average of 30 hours to complete (drying times vary plus or minus 10 hours depending on the type of food).

Conclusions. When it comes to building your own emergency food supply, there are hidden expenses and hassles. There are other reasons why a home freeze dryer is a good idea for some families (preserving leftovers or garden surplus, novelty foods for fun, etc…).

If an emergency event interrupts the power grid, then a freeze dryer is useless. You need to have all your emergency supplies ready and on hand before such an emergency strikes. If you are planning on building your own supply of food, make sure you have it built and ready before the next emergency.