I’ve flirted with the idea of freeze drying for probably about six years, but between the requirements for the machine, and the prohibitive cost, I had not seriously considered it as a method of food preservation…until March 2020.

Like many others, the disruption of the supply chain and my previous approach to feeding my family from things we garden and store every year, combined to make me determined to find another way to have dairy and other perishable products in my pantry to use moving forward.

You see, we entered the pandemic in a hospital, as my oldest had just gone through her fourth brain surgery to replace her shunt, and we came out of the hospital to find eggs completely unavailable. With my physical issues, eggs are one of my safe foods, and I’m ashamed to say, I had not even tried to figure out how to store them in case of emergency.

Then emergency hit…and suddenly….we could not find eggs anywhere.

 

Then…my bestie of a lifetime messaged me and told me she wanted to go in together on a freeze dryer, because she felt it was easier for her than canning or dehydrating, and I jumped. The opportunity to create shelf stable items I previously had not been able to keep in long term storage for a reasonable price was exactly what I was looking for…and so we started this great adventure.

I have tried many things over the years for storing eggs, and up until now my best approach has been waterglassing. More on that later.

I have found…

—>Dehydrated eggs are gritty and unappealing.

—>Canning eggs is far out of my comfort zone, and probably always will be.

—>Purchasing freeze dried eggs is cost prohibitive, and for most of 2020 and 2021, available for only short times before they sold out again.

So purchasing a device to freeze dry them for me, as well as  many other items I now have in my deep pantry, was exactly the route we ended up going….along with thousands of others.

 

If you, like me, want to have a pantry that is completely inclusive, without worrying about what it in your storage items…

If you, like me, want to have dairy and cheese, meat and other items that have a very long shelf life, but you want to have control over amounts and ingredients…

If you like me, have been shaken by the many items out of stock, the questionable stability of many of our supply chains, and just want to make sure to cover your bases….then this might be a method you need to look into.

In following days I am going to be covering where to purchase a reliable Freeze Dryer, what is required to set one up, what our experience has been with drying different foods, and also recipes for creating shelf stable mixes using the freeze dried items for storage to make your life even easier for meal preparation and planning.

Bookmark this post, because it will also have all the links added to it from here on out so you can find the series easily!

I would love to hear what one item is that you are interested in learning about as a freeze dried pantry item! While my focus has primarily been dairy for long term shelf life, we have also done many other things, such as veggies, fruit, meat, and even candy!

See you tomorrow!

Blessings to you and yours,

Heather