The Freeze-Drying Thread

[frustratedearthmother]

I made beef/veggie soup last night using dehydrated hamburger meat. Remember 'hamburger rocks' that was all the rage a couple years ago? I followed the directions and cooked, washed, dehydrated and stored some hamburger meat. But, I wussed out on leaving it in the pantry - so I vacuum bagged it and put it in the freezer. I used it in the soup last night and you'd never know it wasn't fresh meat after it was rehydrated. I'm thinking I'll do this again!

 

[Britesea]

I remember those hamburger rocks! But if you keep it in the freezer, it kinda defeats the purpose, doesn't it? I would put them in a jar if you have one of those attachments that lets you vacuum seal a jar (although I would add an oxy-eater to the jar to make SURE the seal stayed good)

 

[sumi]

This is amazing and good to know!

 

[frustratedearthmother]

But if you keep it in the freezer, it kinda defeats the purpose, doesn't it

Kinda, but it doesn't take up nearly the space that the original ground meat did. You'd be surprised at how much it shrinks when it's all dehydrated. Well, maybe you wouldn't be surprised since you do this all the time, lol.

I probably will do the vacuum seal next time or (oh my gosh) try the oven canning technique with this...and only this...cuz I don't think it's acceptable for anything else, lol. But, since the meat is already cooked and dehydrated I think it would be ok. I don't have one of those vacuum jar sealers, but I do have a regular one that sucks the air out of the plastic bags. That's how I stored it in the freezer.

 

[Britesea]

http://tiphero.com/vacuum-seal-your-food/ A stupid-easy way to vacuum seal food for the freezer...

 

[Mini Horses]

Cool! Fortunately (??) for me, I have TWO vac sealers. Yeah, one purchased, another FREE!! Job related free. Wish it had happened before I bought... Actually, I've a lot of such freebees -- Keurig coffee pots, air fryers, crockpots of all sizes, super thermos servers, etc. I love it!! But, keep boxes as not enough counter space for all.

So, looking at store the turkey oven bags are now $1.98 for two -- what's up with that? last time I bought, closer to $1. Hmmmm.....

 

[Britesea]

haven't checked, but are they smaller as well? That's been happening a lot too.

 

[Britesea]

Today's Freeze Dryer Haul-- 1 lb of salad shrimp, 3 lbs of bigger shrimp, and about 1 lb of diced roasted turkey (leftover from Thanksgiving). Everything turned out light and crispy. I tried rehydrating and tasting the salad shrimp and they took less than 5 minutes to rehydrate and tasted just as good as fresh- great for shrimp salads!

 

[Mini Horses]

So, if you consider the expense of another freezer to maintain all the things you are drying, that helps offset the cost of the freeze dryer. I love hearing how it works and especially the good results @ rehydration time. Alas, it's still a budget buster for me. Especially since I would use it seldom.

Oven bags -- nope, still 2 large ones in the box. I do have a partial box that had 5 smaller ones, in my cabinet, one used. So it doesn't appear I use them much....didn't even know I had these They do well with a nice chuck roast tho!

 

[Britesea]

Been ages since I posted in here... I need to do that again. I haven't stopped freeze drying, just got out of the habit of posting it.

My carrots came out of the freeze dryer this morning looking (and tasting) wonderful. I blanched them first, just like I would for freezing, and it preserved the color. The first time I tried freeze-drying carrots, I just cut them up and processed them raw; the color faded out and they looked very unappetizing.

I'm getting ready to pack up all the onions I freeze dried over the last few days. I bought a 50 pound bag and chopped them up and tossed them in. They take only moments to rehydrate. I have them in plastic ziplocks right now- two trays fills a gallon sized bag. I 'm thinking I will squeeze most of the air out of each bag, then put the bags into a bigger mylar bag to protect them a little more. I don't want to do a hard vacuum pack because they crush very easily.

I've become very fond of Denver Omelets made with FD onions and peppers. The vegetables rehydrate in less than 5 minutes and then I add them to the egg and voila! I could use FD ham as well, but that would take thinking about it the night before so I could get it rehydrated overnite.

I made a beef stew a using some of the freeze dried beef cubes in the instant pot. I pressure cooked it first, but the meat still seemed a little tough, so I switched to the slow-cook, threw in the vegetables, and gave it 3 more hours and that did the trick. It was tender and flavorful.