Freeze Drying Your First 500 lbs of Food - Batch 5 - Potatoes
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- Опубликовано: 13 сен 2024
- Freeze dryer batch #5 - 10 lbs of frozen, red diced potatoes. Started freeze drying this batch 5-2-2022.
Link to the spreadsheet docs.google.co...
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Cost of the potatoes: $10.70 for for 10 lbs.
Total batch time: 42 hours 19 minutes (but was done in about 35:20)
Weight before drying: 10 lbs Weight after drying: 846 grams (about 1.87 lbs)
Power use: 27.28 kWh
Bagged into: 10 quart 7 mil Mylar bags with 300cc oxygen absorbers.
This list is about getting started on a 500 lb mixed pantry of freeze dried foods in 100 days.
(This may be a bit optimistic and perhaps it'll only be 400 lbs)
Goal of about 85 lbs per category. (100 lbs per category if we don't do the Meals/Dishes)
1) Meats:
2) Vegetables:
3) Fruits:
4) Dairy:
5) Grain / Starch:
6) Meals / Dishes:
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We have been buying oxygen absorbers and 7 mil Mylar bags from PackFreshUSA since early 2018. During all that time (1000's of bag and oxygen absorbers, and about 6 year before before we added this affiliate link) we have been happy with the products and service we have received from them.
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Before buying a freeze dryer, perhaps research to find out more about the downside of the machine; some people have problems with their machine and it's big and heavy and hard to return!
When trying to decide what to freeze dry you can start by asking why.
Start by asking yourself this question. Why are you freeze drying food? Knowing this should help you decide what you should freeze dry first.
I'm freeze drying because:
Just to freeze dry leftovers?
You want to make your own food for camping/backpacking?
For if/when the SHTF?
For a short term emergency?
You have your own garden and want to freeze dry the food?
You love Costco but don't have a family of 6?
You are good at finding the food sales but only have 1 freezer?
When you cook homemade chili just for yourself you make 10 gallons? Because you have 3 full freezers and are worried about power outages?
If I knew then what I know now, I would have freeze dried things in a different order. Or maybe not, because I started freeze drying because we had 3 full freezers, I was thinking of getting another one, and I decided I should buy a walk-in freezer instead. I started looking into walk-ins and realized they were expensive to buy (even used ones) AND expensive to own and operate. Then I found out Harvest Right was making home sized freeze dryers. One of my first thoughts was "I like Mountain House!" I have used their food for backpacking almost 45 years and we even kept some in our travel trailer, for just in case.
Freeze dried food will stay fresh for many years and be ready and waiting when you need it.
We do videos showing how we are using our Harvest Right Freeze Dryer to freeze dry food for long term storage. (We have the medium size machine that we got in August of 2017) We talk about how to load and unload the freeze dryer, how to know if the food is dry, is it better to freeze dry raw food or cooked food, and do a few taste tests. Freeze dried food is also great for prepping or just for camping and snacking!
![Preserving 150 lbs of POTATOES! [Freezing, Canning, and Freeze Drying]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/-ijQ9_nO6Gg/mqdefault.jpg)
First 500 lbs data spreadsheet link: docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1ieekdk5aH_2OWLUealeOLurU9_zl03BfFEg_qhAgcaA/edit?usp=sharing
Batch worksheet link: docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/13DCB2hXo9_ZYrhIUicLk2IrEaQGszwbaJTcEH8wJxk4/edit?usp=sharing
Want to support this work? Buy me a coffee :-) www.buymeacoffee.com/DanZm
I wish we had a Chef Store near me. That’s amazing that you can buy all those items, pre-processed & frozen.
It does make some things quick and easy.
👍👍👍👍👍
I am going to freeze dry canned cubed potatoes. Do you think I need to boil them first before freeze drying or should I go from the can to the freeze drier?
Great question!
I don't think there would be a need to boil them before freeze drying them. I assume it also wouldn't hurt them. As far as I know all canned potatoes are cooked at least part way before being put into the cans (or jars) and then they are pressure cooked (being a low acid food) in the the can. (or jar:)
I love this idea. Have you reconstituted any for use as fried potatoes or potato salad?
Thanks! We have rehydrated the potatoes and made things with them. (We don't reconstitute our food because we never un-constitute it! 🤣)
Rehydrating Freeze Dried Red Potatoes ruclips.net/video/4O-tVaERNZA/видео.html
Making Potato Salad From Freeze Dried Potatoes ruclips.net/video/h6Gx7y5KANI/видео.html
I am very jealous of that restaurant supply store you have available to you. Those are some nice looking potatoes. All the veggies and fruit you have shown us look really good. I looked the store up and the nearest one to me is North Carolina. Dang!
Road Trip!
If there are restaurants around there must be a restaurant supply store somewhere. Maybe?
@@SchoolReports Only distributors. We have plenty of equipment supply stores that are open to the public.
@@iselasmith4526 In the old days, before this was open to the public, you had to be a business to shop there, but they didn't care what kind of business. I had a business license for my photography business and shopped there all the time. Before that, when I was a teenager, I had friends whose family was in the business and I would go with them. Maybe you could work with a restaurant friend (of a friend of a friend) to get things? It seems like a shame to not get these deals.
@@SchoolReports So that's where those beautiful pictures come from. They're yours. I was just going to ask about that. I do have a customer that owns a couple of breakfast/lunch restaurants. I will have to ask him next time I see him. Thanks for the idea.
Great info!! Thank you for sharing. I haven't seen potatoes like that...that would be a real time saver. Where do you get your bags?
Thanks for watching!
I wasn't sure if you meant the bags of potatoes or the Mylar bags we use for bagging the finished food. 😇
We got the potatoes from a restaurant supply store called Chef'Store. We've been shopping there for many years. They claim 87 locations in 13 states, (as of 8-4-22) with most of them in the upper half of California and the Northwest. www.chefstore.com/locations/
We have been getting our Mylar bags and oxygen absorbers form PackFreshUSA.com and have been happy with the products and service we have received from them. --They are not a sponsor, we just like their stuff. We have been getting our bags from packfreshusa.com/ for a few years; we get the 7mil bags. The pint bag with OA's packfreshusa.com/pint-seal-top-gusset-7-mil-stand-up-mylar-bags-sets/ These are the ones we get the most: packfreshusa.com/quart-7x-9x3-7-mil-seal-top-gusset-mylar-bags-1000-wholesale/ And these are the 2 quart ones packfreshusa.com/two-quart-7-mil-seal-top-gusset-mylar-bags-500-wholesale/ 300cc Oxygen Absorbers in 10-Packs (1000) packfreshusa.com/300cc-oxygen-absorbers-in-10-packs-1000-wholesale/
Great info thankyou , im really looking forward to starting up again we have not been able to use ours for over 2 years due to selling house and moving then getting a special area set up and passed by council seems to be taking forever but wont be long now so im taking as many notes as i can :) yours is the best yet for the maths , thankyou :)
That's great that you'll be able to start again soon.
@@SchoolReports yes im getting a little excited , we've just had like a month of non stop rain which has held up getting our special area set up for freeze drier and all my preserves but hope all that gets finished with in 2 weeks , I've learnt a few good ideas watching your youtubes watching them pretty well every day to catch up And today i ordered one of those chip scoops :D what a great idea , ive also been trying to stock up on 7mm bags but like Ball jars are hard to find .
I would thing that as hot the pump and oil gets any water that gets into the oil would boil or evaporate off.
The newer pumps don't seem to have this issue. (as much) I think it's hard for the water to evaporate when it's at the bottom of the the pump, covered with 2" of oil.
I have some dehydrated, raw cubed potatoes in #10 cans that I bought a few years ago. What are your thoughts about the best way to freeze dry these?
Were you thinking of cooking them before freeze drying them? What's the shelf life on that type of potatoes in a can? If it's still a long time, it seems like it would be good to keep them unopened in the #10 cans. If you're just looking to extend their shelf life (and not cook them right now) i suppose you could just pour them onto the freeze dryer tray and dry them as is and then package them in Mylar with oxygen absorbers. It seems like the #10 can still might be best, if it's still good for a long time.
We did freeze dry some dehydrated "Dry" Hashbrown Potatoes ruclips.net/video/wVg_iAtZMwE/видео.html
@@SchoolReports Shelf life according to mfg. is suppose to be 10 years, and this coming February will be 10 years from the time it was canned. I was just trying to figure out the best way to deal with them as I have about a dozen cans which which are of the same lot number. I don't know how they will turn out freeze drying them not having been blanched or cooked.
@@SylamoreCreek I would test them; rehydrating, cooking, taste testing. If they still seem good, (taste, texture, smell) I wouldn't have an issue running them through the freeze drying process, if they were mine. It's not going to change the fact, for good or bad, that they are not cooked. I would wonder if they had been blanched before being dehydrated, or had something added to avoid discoloration. It must be one of the two, as far as I know. If they have nothing added I would assume they were blanched.
@@SchoolReports I will test some tomorrow. The can says to cover them with boiling water for 15 minutes and they will be "similar to raw potatoes". No mention if they are blanched or not. I may call the mfg tomorrow and find out. When I ordered them 10 years ago I thought I was ordering freeze dried, but found out recently while going through the shelves it was dehydrated. At that time I didn't have a freeze dryer, but do now and I set mine up using the thermometer like you do. Thanks for all your help and your videos.
@@SylamoreCreek You may find out that many times the "manufacturer" is not the manufacturer, but has a manufacturer that labels products under many labels for different companies.
Is it safe to assume that the weight of water that was lost to the freeze drying process divided by the number of bags of product is the amount of water needed to reconstitute? Or am I making it too simple? I thought that the bags should be labeled with the amount of water needed to reconstitute the potatoes. Thanks for the info. I enjoy your videos.
Yes, you are correct, it is as simple as that. (Assuming the bags are filled equally) With potatoes you don't necessarily need to worry about the exact amount of water for rehydrating because they will just absorb what they need. If you are putting them in something like soup it's useful to know so the consistency ends up correct. I do usually put the water needed on each bag; it's good to know. 😁 ruclips.net/video/f_WkoSftvD4/видео.html or ruclips.net/video/3e8RKQngGPs/видео.html
My batches take forever. It's definitely humid here in Georgia. My machine is a small. No basement, so it's hot and humid. Old machine. Old software. No pump filter. I'm working on milk right now. That means a super long batch time with a stop and defrost in the middle. (and drain off water from the pump).
If you have to stop and defrost in the middle, what do you do with the food while you are doing that process?
@@nickthorne5872 I put it in the freezer. It takes less than an hour to be able to get the ice sheet to pull from the sides
@@debik6118 Thanks! Good to know.
Hot and humid - the worst! Or so I heard.😀 I love that part of the country in January and February when it's neither of those.
In 500+ batches I've only had to defrost in the middle of a batch 2 or 3 times. Perhaps a bit overloaded? Sometimes with very liquidy foods (like milk) we will load some trays with the liquidy things and the others with very dry things like shredded cheese to keep the total water down below the max.
@@SchoolReports maybe I need to defrost mid session.
were you a teacher ?
Well, I have been a teacher, but I wasn't a "Teacher."
I taught classes at a company I worked for. (process improvement and quality assurance) I taught elective classes at a couple of our charter schools for a few years. (3D design and 3D printing) And, we homeschooled in conjunction with the charter schools.
can you use fresh potatoes?
Yes. We usually use fresh potatoes; we either blanch them or cook them before freeze drying. With this series I've been trying to do as many pre-bagged items as possible to keep it easy. Fresh potato batches coming up; batches 29, mashed potatoes and 30, scalloped potatoes.
Yelp. And here I am with 44h in and 36h dry time and still going. :( my first batch takes forever.
Is that the bread batch?
@@danieldaly2641 no. 5 trays with each 2kg (or 22 lbs) of Rice with meat. I got the large unit and thought it will handle 22lbs.
@@emailausdrucker oh ok that make alittle bit more since.
@@danieldaly2641 It is my first real batch. New to this all, so i am super nervous. Did the first batch with bread, but I don't count that. Took around 28h.
@@emailausdrucker I know it can be nerve-wracking at first but it will just be the first of many. My first batches I didn't realize how fast the food could draw moisture from the air so I keep a thermometer with a humidity reading to make sure it's not too high where I'm doing the packaging. Good luck and enjoy the ride.