Want to support the channel? Buy me a coffee :-) www.buymeacoffee.com/DanZm I was wearing one of the shirts from one of Linda and Robert's businesses and passions www.atrailrunnersblog.com/2012/01/rip-and-thank-you-robert-and-linda.html 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
@@Mostruggles I'm not currently planning to get into selling 3D printed stuff (I wasn't planning to get into teaching 3D design and printing either, but ended up teaching for 3 years, so who knows.) If I ever start making them to sell, I'll have to sell the pan with them because it seems like every time we bought a batch of pans they were a tiny bit different. I did make a video of designing and printing the divider, with a link to the print files, in case you or someone you know was a printer.
When you said “little hand mixer” I was bracing myself to see that tiny hand enter stage right lol. As always you are offering a wealth of knowledge and experience. Thank you!
Oh, I wish I had thought of that! I rarely think of any of these things ahead of time, which is why it cracks me up when it happens. The little hand was my son's and I never saw it coming! Thanks for watching.
The last month or so of watching the channel has no doubt, saved me a considerable amount of time and money! (Not to mention aggravation 😂) I’ll be buying you a coffee shortly!
I have a brand new machine, just received it 10/5/23, and mine was doing the same thing. I bought some window/ door insulation to put behind the black gasket, it seems to work well.
I’ve adopted your method of adding two hours, or so, and reweighing. This has given me a LOT more confidence in them being done. My machine is a little newer, 2020, but still needs extra dry time almost every time. I really appreciate this series.
It just seems like cheap insurance/piece of mind! Maybe it's overkill, but I'd rather have overkill than food not dry enough for long storage. (Perhaps I have trust issues)
Thank you so much for sharing your experience! If someone decided to get a FD , you help by giving a preview. Its not just a 24 hr. one and done as advertised
With the newer machines it really is closer to 'one and done' than the way I do it. (Or at least 2 and done. 😊I wouldn't give up my double check for dryness.) The new firmware is much more advanced than it was on our 2017 machine.
Which moisture meter are you using? I have yet to hear of a moisture meter up to the task of checking ALL the food in a freeze dryer load. If you know of one, I would love to hear about it. I've read comments from multiple people saying they use wood moisture meters, an infrared thermometer, or thermal imaging cameras for their food. In my opinion, wood moisture meters are worse than a waste of money when used as a moisture meter for freeze drying food; they would give a false sense of security. I'm probably a bit neurotic when it comes to water activity levels in the food for storage. As far as using an infrared thermometer, I have one and after testing I wouldn't consider using it for this purpose. I would consider them to be a big step up from the wood moisture meters that some people say they use, I but I still don't see it as appropriate for this use. At least with a good Thermal Imaging Camera you can see if there are any cold spots on the whole surface. But they still don't tell you about water activity levels, and some of the foods act like insulation; they are very warm on the outside and ice on the inside. Even with the type of meter that I would consider using, ( www.weberscientific.com/water-activity-meters-novasina ) I STILL wouldn't trust it, because it's still only checking a small sample size/location on the tray. By using the extra drying time method, I'm essentially able to test the entire load at once I would NEVER trust any moisture meter (that I know of) to tell me whether or not the food is dry. I weigh the food. I don't know of a better way to test EVERY piece of food for dryness. By weighing it all, I'm essentially testing every piece of food to make sure the water has been removed. I'm probably a bit neurotic when it comes to water activity levels in the food for storage. I won't store any food that even MIGHT have water in it. In lots of the newer videos I show my process of checking to make sure each batch is dry by doing a "dry check" cycle. I'm using the fact that the weight of the trays of food should stop dropping when all of the water has been removed. After the freeze dryer finishes, I take the trays out, weigh them, put them back in for more final dry time, and then check them again for weight loss. (Dry check) When the weight loss stops, (no more water to remove) they should be dry. I don't bag the food if there is still water in it. I show this a lot in my recent videos. Freeze Drying Your First 500 lbs of Food - Batch 32 - Peas, Frozen ua-cam.com/video/mKh9c9nTzgA/v-deo.html This is my personal guideline: #1 Never trust the freeze dryer or a spot check moisture meter to tell you if the food is dry! Do a dry check using a scale to make sure it's dry before bagging and storing. #2 Don't overload the freeze dryer. I try to keep the medium machine to a maximum of about 8 pounds of Water Weight per batch. (I have had 11+ lbs of water. It took a long time and I won't do that again) #3 Don't make the food on the trays too thick (height, not viscosity) If you do, you may have to run the batch twice. #4 When in doubt about dryness, add extra final dry time. #5 Never trust the freeze dryer or a spot check moisture meter to tell you if the food is dry! Do a dry check using a scale to make SURE it's dry. #6 NEVER trust the freeze dryer or a spot check moisture meter to tell you if the food is dry! IT CAN'T KNOW! Do a dry check using a scale to make SURE it's ALL dry before bagging and storing. I've heard from too many people that thought their food was dry, only to check again a short time later and find out it wasn't, and now it has gone bad.
@@SchoolReports Wow, that was a long explanation. Unfortunately, after reading your answer well I do use a wood meter. I check it in several places and will be checking the food again before I eat any of the food it will be checked. It sounds like I will be checking the weight way now.
@@mister-action1 Sorry for the long book of a response! I really DO wish I could find a whole batch moisture meter I could afford and trust, but I don't believe one is being made that will serve the home freeze dryer. A moisture example: By all other "normal/regular" dry checking methods, Minute Rice out of the box is already dry, but in my test during batch 41 of this series I found that 7 1/2 % of it's weight was water. Freeze Drying Your First 500 lbs of Food - Batch 41- "Dry" Rice and "Dry" Hashbrowns ua-cam.com/video/lbJRIpulhD0/v-deo.html (My Dry-things-might-not-be-as-dry as-you-think rant) 😁
I have one question...but I need to start with a compliment or two! These videos are flawless in description, communication, process, information, etc., etc.! Thank you so much for your time in sharing your tactics and knowledge with us. VERY much appreciated! My question is in regard to the thermometers in the food after freezing. Makes ABSOLUTE sense why you use them and SUCH a good idea!!!! But why not freeze the thermometers in the food instead of drilling after frozen? My initial thoughts are: 1. You'd need a zillion of them if you guys always have that many trays waiting in the freezer 2. If you're staking them in the freezer in those taller (yet way more affordable) trays it would make that quite a bit more difficult to keep the correct pitch of the thermometer for transition to the Harvest Right trays. But is there a functionality difficulty I'm unaware of? We plan to freeze on Harvest Right trays and will come up with a solution for stacking. But my first batch with our new Harvest Right will be this week and I was just wondering if there is something in your experience/expertise that should keep me from freezing with the thermometers in? Thank you again and again for ALL your ideas and process. A not-so common sense, common sense approach to the entire process!!!!! Much love!
Thanks for the kind words and great question! There is no reason (that I know of) that the thermometers couldn't be frozen in the slabs of food. I Have tried it and it worked fine, but it took more planning ahead for me. We often have many dozens of the blocks (up to 150+ blocks) in the freezer waiting for the freeze dryer, so we would need 1.2 zillion of them.🤣 With the way we prefreeze in the small pans we use, we need 10 blocks per freeze dryer load (8 whole blocks and 4 half blocks) but only 4 thermometers. Another viewer suggested using stainless steel nails and prefreezing them in the blocks and then pulling them out and putting the thermometers in before putting them into the freeze dryer. I'm trying this with some stainless steel rods instead of nails. (video soon) One of my long time mottos to live by has been "Laziness is the mother of invention." If this ends up being quicker and easier than drilling, I'll switch!
Where can I get one of those scoops? The bags also I like ones that stand, the only place I have found those is harvest right, and that is in their smaller ones. Thank you your video was helpful
Thanks for watching and commenting! 😁 The scoop I use is one I "adjusted." After I bought the scoop I cut both sides off and attached 3D printed end pieces to the sides. Taller side pieces might make it better. This is how I changed the scoop - Food Scoop For Freeze Dryer Tray ua-cam.com/video/trs26E42Zho/v-deo.html It could be done without a 3D printer by heating up the cut off pieces with a heat gun (could be done over a toaster or in an oven) and I was able to easily flatten them. It would then be very easy to sand them to fit the side of the scoop and glue them on. This is an Amazon affiliate link to the scoop I used for the scoop project: amzn.to/3pdTB4J (I've seen right hand ones and left hand ones, (and dual) and most of the time the left hand ones were cheaper) I have bought another one and plan to do a video changing it without using a 3D printer, for my sister and her new machine. There are probably a lot of good brands of stand-up bags out there. We have been getting our Mylar bags and oxygen absorbers from PackFreshUSA.com for years now 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 get the 7mil bags, mostly the gusset bottom, seal top ones. These are the ones we get the most: The pint bag with OA's - packfreshusa.com/pint-7-mil-seal-top-premium-gusset-mylar-and-oxygen-absorbers/ Pint bags - packfreshusa.com/mylar-gusset-bags-pint-wholesale/ Quart bags - packfreshusa.com/mylar-gusset-bags-quart-wholesale/ And these are the 2 quart ones packfreshusa.com/two-quart-7-mil-seal-top-gusset-mylar-bags-500-wholesale/ And the oxygen absorbers we use the most -300cc Oxygen Absorbers in 10-Packs (1000) - packfreshusa.com/oxygen-absorbers-10-packs-wholesale/
Thanks so much for watching and commenting! If you trust the machine to tell you when it's dry, then you'll have no idea if it's dry or not. It has no way of knowing if it dry. Period. I do think companies selling freeze dryers (I have a list of about 13) are doing a disservice in portraying them as "fully automatic" and suggesting that you just throw the food in, it does the rest, and "DING" it's done and ready to bag. You do really need to check it yourself and the HR manual (at least mine) just says ". . .Check the material thoroughly to make sure it is completely dry . . ." with no hint as to how to accomplish this in a way to ensure it's 100% dry every time! Don't trust the machine - It has no way of knowing if it's dry or not. I have a bad feeling that a lot of people are going to find out someday that some of their food was not dry enough. The machine is almost always wrong. It can't know if it's dry. A thermal imaging camera can't tell if it's dry, only if it's warm. A lumber moisture meter works okay for lumber, but it's not designed for freeze dried food and won't work for that. Feeling the food won't tell you if it's dry and certainly can't tell you about every piece on the trays. Water activity (aw) meters are designed to test the moisture levels, but cost a lot and only test small samples. I've been told more than a few times that I'm wasting my time - that the machine "knows" when it's done! I've also have heard from too many people who have found out, after - between days and months - that their food was not all the way dry and has now gone bad. Surprise! As far as I'm concerned, anyone who is bagging any food for storage without doing a _Dry Check_ using a sensitize scale is wasting their time, food, and money. Without the _Dry Check_ you're just guessing as to whether or not the food is dry, might as well just flip a coin. Put your hand in a bag of rice and tell me if it's dry. A bag of "Dry" rice will feel warm and dry, but it can still have plenty of water in it. We did a test of drying (and weighing) 1000 grams of dry rice fresh from the bag and it lost 95 grams of water. -That's 9.5%! - it wasn't dry! Yet it "felt" dry. (I don't know if you've already seen this - "Dry" Rice and "Dry" Hashbrowns - ua-cam.com/video/lbJRIpulhD0/v-deo.htmlsi=oxvklV6GRBZBPB14&t=2743 ) If the food is only checked by feel, all they can do is hope and trust that the slowest drying/wettest pieces were the pieces that were checked. (And that they have fingers that can detect hidden moisture!) The slowest pieces are not always the biggest, and the food does not dry evenly across the entire tray. "Remember kids, the only difference between Science and screwing around is writing it down." This is my personal guideline about dry food: 🤣(Only a little tongue-in-cheek) #1 Never trust the freeze dryer or a spot check moisture meter to tell you if the food is dry! Do a _Dry Check_ using a scale to make sure it's dry before bagging and storing. #2 Don't overload the freeze dryer. I try to keep the medium machine to a maximum of about 8 pounds of Water Weight per batch. (I have had 11+ lbs of water. It took a long time and I won't do that again) #3 Don't make the food on the trays too thick (height, not viscosity) If you do, you may have to run the batch twice. #4 When in doubt about dryness, add extra final dry time. #5 Never trust the freeze dryer or a spot check moisture meter to tell you if the food is dry! Do a _Dry Check_ using a scale to make SURE it's dry. #6 NEVER trust the freeze dryer or a spot check moisture meter to tell you if the food is dry! IT CAN'T KNOW! Do a _Dry Check_ using a scale to make SURE it's ALL dry before bagging and storing. 🤣 Remember, I'm just another idiot on the internet. I could be wrong. The #1 joke at our house is "But, I saw it on the internet!" Consider looking at what commercial companies are doing. That's where I look to for guidance. If they can do it, we probably can too. (with method adjustments)
At first I was thinking tracking the weight of each tray might be a bit excessive for my taste, but the most difficult part of rehydrating to me has always been the guess work method everyone recommends using to get the texture back to where it should be. Seems your method should be much quicker in the long run. Much faster than to know exactly what the portion weighed before freeze drying and than just adding that weight of water back to the portion rather than spending a bunch of time slowly adding water and hoping you don't go a bit too far and end up with a potato shake,
I've been called " excessive" many times! 🤣 (and a lot worse) By weighing and prefreezing everything in 1 lb or 1/2 lb blocks it makes it very easy after drying; a 1 lb block just needs to get back to one pound. Which is thicker, a potato shake or a potato smoothie? Both sound bad. 🤣 My sister is part of the "add water and guess" group. She an engineer and precise in most things, but not when it comes to rehydrating her food. Odd. I figure if I have the info, I'm going to use it!
Thanks for watching and commenting! The divider is just something I designed and 3D printed to fit our pans. Here is the design and print video if you are interested; ua-cam.com/video/3KLblPCTpHk/v-deo.html They were printed with ABS then vapor/acetone smoothed to seal them. The file is on Thingiverse. www.thingiverse.com/thing:3848619 The dividers are designed to fit the pans we got at a Dollar Tree store. The different batches of pans that we have bought (over the past 20 years) have had slightly different side slopes, which would require a slight change in the divider shape. That's why some of our pans have an "X" on them. I've just updated the Thingiverse listing to include a new version of the divider that is slightly narrower at the bottom to fit more of the pans. (I hope!) Another viewer used cut some out of thick plastic (like thick cutting board) to make their dividers. (They did have a laser cutter) I'm planning to try to figure out how to make a good, usable (1/2" thick) divider without using a printer. (For those odd people who don't have a few 3D printers) Clarification on the 2 1/2 pans per tray; it only works IF the divider is the thickness I use. (or thicker) The freeze dryer trays actually fits about 1/2" less than 2 1/2 pans; that's one reason I made the dividers that thick, and to fit the magnets.
Did you ever consider making a jig for drilling for your thermometers? I am thinking like a Kreg jig for drilling pocket holes. I would think you could print something like you did for your tray dividers. Thanks for all your info. My dryer should be here in about 6 weeks. I have been learning allot from your videos.
I always love watching your videos, especially this series. I have started weighing my trays and putting back in for 2 hr at a time like you show. Wow, i was amazed at the difference sometimes when it "looks" dry. I also ended up cutting a piece of plastic to cover my screen the other day after a was showing my cousin something on the screen and accidentally hit the screen (and not or the first time). Thanks for both those tips and so many others. I have noticed several people commented on facebook about your weighing trick, most give you the credit. :) I only have a few bins filled so far, but id love to hear a bit more about your inventory program. any advice on how to keep it organized, and what fields to include in such a program would be great!! THANKS!!!
Thanks so much for the feedback and comment! How much more loss have you seen from the "dry" food. (and it sure does seem dry, doesn't it?) Touch screens are great except if you touch them!🤣
Dear SchoolReports- can you tell me how to get some of those pan dividers? I don't have a 3-D printer. Also, did you custom make that plexiglas insulator for your black rubber ring? If not, do you have a link to buy that? Thank you for all your help. It has made me a much better "squirrel" in putting my freeze dried product to better use.
Here's my best ideas for getting some 3D printed dividers. Lots of areas have Maker's places with people that would love to do it for you. Or, better yet, some schools have 3D printing labs. Check with a the local charter school that has junior high or high school age students. I taught 3D Design and Printing for 3+ years at a local 6th - 8th grade charter school. We loved it when we could find/were given a real-world project with a real need. I'm still hoping to figure out how to make a good, usable (1/2" thick) divider without using a printer. (For those odd people who don't have a few 3D printers)😁 I did make the plastic front piece, it's just a tight fitting disc I cut out of Acrylic. (I used 0.075" thick acrylic (1.9mm thick) I would probably use 1/8" (3mm +) next time) Here is how I made it. Making an Acrylic Disc Front for a Harvest Right Freeze Dryer ua-cam.com/video/erH1VDqNi80/v-deo.html If your freeze dryer is like ours, (2017) the opening is not quite round. For my first test piece I cut a very accurate circle out of a piece of foamcore and it had gaps of 1/8"+ (3mm +) around the edge. My sister's new (late 2022) machine has a chamber that is very round; we will be making a disc for her machine. (and a video of it) I think the fact that it's round will make it easier.
Thanks for watching and commenting! The dividers are just something I made. The dividers are designed to fit the pans we got at a Dollar Tree store. They were called 8x8" but the bottoms are about 7x7", 2 1/2 pans are a perfect fit ** for our medium freeze dryer trays. (Turns out they have them online too www.dollartree.com/cooking-concepts-square-cake-pans-75-in/10065 ) The file is on Thingiverse. www.thingiverse.com/thing:3848619 (Some people feel that it's wrong to have food touch plastic - it's low on my personal risk list) I've updated the Thingiverse listing to include a new version of the divider that is slightly narrower at the bottom to fit more of the pans. ** Clarification on the 2 1/2 pans per tray; it only works IF the divider is the thickness I use. (or thicker) The freeze dryer trays actually fits about 1/2" less than 2 1/2 pans; that's one reason I made the dividers that thick, that and to fit the magnets. For those without a 3D printer, here's my best ideas for getting some 3D printed dividers. Lots of areas have Maker's places with people that would love to do it for you. Or, better yet, some schools have 3D printing labs. Check with a the local charter school that has junior high or high school age students. I taught 3D Design and Printing for 3+ years at a local 6th - 8th grade charter school. We loved it when we could find/were given a real-world project with a real need. I did make a couple of the dividers without using the 3D printer a short time ago. It turns out it's an easy craft project and my sister says they are working well. (I will be making more non 3D printed ones, they're easy, cheap, and work!) Making Dividers for My Pre-freeze Pans Without Using a 3D Printer (For Our Medium Freeze Dryer) ua-cam.com/video/XNsbWn29xdE/v-deo.html Stay tuned. 😁 I'm going to show another way using 1/2 thick cutting board. (For people with more tools and/or skills)
The dividers are just something I made. The dividers are designed to fit the pans we got at a Dollar Tree store. They were called 8x8" but the bottoms are about 7x7", 2 1/2 pans are a perfect fit ** for our medium freeze dryer trays. (Turns out they have them online too www.dollartree.com/cooking-concepts-square-cake-pans-75-in/10065 ) Here is the design and print video if you are interested; ua-cam.com/video/3KLblPCTpHk/v-deo.html They were printed with ABS then vapor/acetone smoothed to seal them. The file is on Thingiverse. www.thingiverse.com/thing:3848619 (Some people feel that it's wrong to have food touch plastic - it's low on my personal risk list) I've updated the Thingiverse listing to include a new version of the divider that is slightly narrower at the bottom to fit more of the pans. ** Clarification on the 2 1/2 pans per tray; it only works IF the divider is the thickness I use. (or thicker) The freeze dryer trays actually fits about 1/2" less than 2 1/2 pans; that's one reason I made the dividers that thick, that and to fit the magnets. For those without a 3D printer, here's my best ideas for getting some 3D printed dividers. Lots of areas have Maker's places with people that would love to do it for you. Or, better yet, some schools have 3D printing labs. Check with a the local charter school that has junior high or high school age students. I taught 3D Design and Printing for 3+ years at a local 6th - 8th grade charter school. We loved it when we could find/were given a real-world project with a real need. I finally made a couple of the dividers without using the 3D printer a short time ago. It turns out it's an easy craft project and my sister says they are working well. (I will be making more non 3D printed ones, they're easy, cheap, and work!) Making Dividers for My Pre-freeze Pans Without Using a 3D Printer (For Our Medium Freeze Dryer) ua-cam.com/video/XNsbWn29xdE/v-deo.html Stay tuned. 😁 I'm going to show another way using 1/2 thick cutting board. (For people with more tools and/or skills)
Really appreciate your videos...Thank you. Wanted to let you know that the link to the wilton 8 inch cake pans yields very dark color, stiff walled, and larger pans than I see in your videos. The pans do not make a brick that fits the Med Harvest Right trays. Someone will be gifted some pans but I am on hunt for some that fit.
I am disappointed to hear that. A couple of viewers had told me that they had used the pans and they had worked for them. I'll have to follow up and double check. The pans we've been using are just some pans we bought at a local Dollar store. They were called 8x8" pans, but the bottoms are about 7x7", a perfect fit for our freeze dryer trays.
@@SchoolReports They are very nice, heavy duty pans but they are not the perfect size yours are and so well built there is very little flexibility. I will try dollar store. Thanks again!
Thank you so much for sharing your videos. I find them very clear and informative! I would like to ask a question though, and I mean no disrespect. I’m just trying to understand your process. What was the point of dividing them up separately when you put them in the same 1lb bag? I really enjoyed the video otherwise thank you so much for sharing.
Thanks so much for watching and for commenting. That's actually a great question. I fail to mention it in most videos, but it's simply because I want to fill up the trays. By doing it this way I can get 2 1/2 lbs per tray. (about 20 cups) If I only had the full size blocks I could only put 2 of them on each freeze dryer tray and end up with 8 lbs (about 16 cups) per batch instead of 10 pounds. We do often bag the half blocks of some foods as a single serving size. I do talk a bit more about using the pans in this video here: Freeze Drying - Prefreezing Food in Pans - ua-cam.com/video/8kjkox2ymmw/v-deo.htmlsi=pyXQ4J8MFXuBrmdQ&t=39
Thanks for watching and commenting! The dividers are designed to fit the pans we got at a Dollar Tree store. They were called 8x8" but the bottoms are about 7x7", 2 1/2 pans are a perfect fit ** for our medium freeze dryer trays. (Turns out they have them online too www.dollartree.com/cooking-concepts-square-cake-pans-75-in/10065 ) Here is the design and print video if you are interested; ua-cam.com/video/3KLblPCTpHk/v-deo.html They were printed with ABS then vapor/acetone smoothed to seal them. The file is on Thingiverse. www.thingiverse.com/thing:3848619 (Some people feel that it's wrong to have food touch plastic - it's low on my personal risk list) I've updated the Thingiverse listing to include a new version of the divider that is slightly narrower at the bottom to fit more of the pans. (I hope!) ** Clarification on the 2 1/2 pans per tray; it only works IF the divider is the thickness I use. (or thicker) The freeze dryer trays actually fits about 1/2" less than 2 1/2 pans; that's one reason I made the dividers that thick, that and to fit the magnets. For those without a 3D printer, here's my best ideas for getting some 3D printed dividers. Lots of areas have Maker's places with people that would love to do it for you. Or, better yet, some schools have 3D printing labs. Check with a the local charter school that has junior high or high school age students. I taught 3D Design and Printing for 3+ years at a local 6th - 8th grade charter school. We loved it when we could find/were given a real-world project with a real need. I finally made a couple of the dividers without using the 3D printer a short time ago. It turns out it's an easy craft project and my sister says they are working well. (I will be making more non 3D printed ones, they're easy, cheap, and work!) Making Dividers for My Pre-freeze Pans Without Using a 3D Printer (For Our Medium Freeze Dryer) ua-cam.com/video/XNsbWn29xdE/v-deo.html Stay tuned. 😁 I'm going to show another way using 1/2 thick cutting board. (For people with more tools and/or skills)
I don't know, maybe 30 years? (I assume you're asking because of the fat) I WILL be making a video (or do a livestream) about fat and rancidity as it pertains to freeze drying. The way you say it, it sounds like a lot of butter! A 1/2 lb! A lot of butter? 🤣 Yum! It was a big batch of potatoes, about 16 lbs, and it works out to less than 1 tablespoon per 1 pound pan; very low fat. The funny thing is that I get lots of comments about fat for every food I do that has ANY visible/known fat in it, but not when I do ice cream or cheese! (or other foods with LOTS of hidden fats) I only have 5 1/2 years of personal experience with OUR freeze dried items, so I only KNOW it's good for about 5 1/2 years. I assume that some foods will have a shorter shelf life; Mountain House only gives their ice cream bars a 3 year life span, and by way of comparison, has freeze dried ground beef that's good for 30 YEARS and has PLENTY of fat. (15 grams of fat in a 37 gram dry serving. I worked it out once, and I think it worked out to about 7% fat before freeze drying. I would need to more than double the butter in this batch to equal the fat content of the ground beef.) mountainhouse.com/collections/freeze-dried-meats/products/ground-beef-10-can or Mountain House Beef Stroganofff with 12 grams of fat in a 61 gram (dry) serving. mountainhouse.com/collections/pouches/products/beef-stroganoff-pouch or Mountain House Scrambled eggs with bacon with 23 grams of fat in a 63 gram (dry) serving mountainhouse.com/collections/10-cans/products/scrambled-eggs-with-bacon-10-can I assume (without proof, because I only have 5 1/2 years of data) that we should be able to get a similar shelf life for similar products. If we could only get 75% of that I'd be happy. However, we probably don't have the same product, I'm sure they have spent a LOT of time and money to perfect their recipes, ingredients, and processes. I'm a big advocate on rotating our food stock, so I don't expect to have anything older than maybe 10 years. (we see ours as a pantry as opposed to a SHTF stockpile) There are plenty of scientific and industry papers out there about food rancidity, and I've found them to be very interesting and informative; here's one - Chemists define roughly two ways a product can turn rancid: (Super simplified ) 1. Oxidative rancidity: Reaction involves oxygen 2. Hydrolytic rancidity: Reaction involves water Rancidity of Food: Introduction, Types, Factors and Prevention of Rancidity | Food Chemistry | Biotechnology www.biotechnologynotes.com/food-biotechnology/food-chemistry/rancidity-of-food-introduction-types-factors-and-prevention-of-rancidity-food-chemistry-biotechnology/14100 (I could give you more rancid science links if you would like) There is so much to learn about this, I'm still a beginner and not a food scientist of any kind. Remember, I'm just another idiot on the internet. Don't listen to me. I could be wrong. Research. The #1 joke at our house is "But, I saw it on the internet!" Consider looking at what commercial companies are doing. That's where I look to for guidance. If they can do it, we probably can too. (with method adjustments)
There does tend to be a few degrees difference between the different shelf temperatures. The bottom spot usually ends up about 6º C (10º F) lower than the middle two spots. The top spot usually ends up about 2º C (4º F) lower than the middle two spots. I don't know if it's true for all machines, but it is for my mid 2017 machine and for my sister's late 2022 machine.
We bought our pans at the Dollar Tree store, I have a picture of the pans on the Community page. They were called 8x8" but the bottoms are about 7x7", a perfect fit for our medium freeze dryer trays. (Turns out they have them online too www.dollartree.com/cooking-concepts-square-cake-pans-75-in/10065 ) The different batches of pans that we have bought (over the past 20 years) have had slightly different side slopes, which would require a slight change in the divider shape. The divider is just something I designed and 3D printed to fit our pans. Here is the design and print video if you are interested; ua-cam.com/video/3KLblPCTpHk/v-deo.html They were printed with ABS then vapor/acetone smoothed to seal them. The file is on Thingiverse.
I thought that.fats and oils can not be freeze dried. Can you talk about that. There seemed to be a lot of butter in these. Is it ok when used in recipies
Thanks for watching. Remember, I'm just another idiot on the internet. What? A lot of butter? 🤣 Yum! It is true that fat or oil doesn't freeze dry, but you are correct that when used in a recipe a lot of things will work that wouldn't otherwise. It's absorbed by the rest of the food. It was a big batch of potatoes and it works out to less than 1 tablespoon per pan; very low fat. The funny thing is that I get lots of questions about fat for every food I do that has fat in it, except when I do ice cream! (Which has the most fat!) I only have 5 years of personal experience with OUR freeze dried items, so I only KNOW it's good for about 5 years. But, some foods will have a shorter shelf life; Mountain House only gives their ice cream bars a 3 year life span, and by way of comparison, has freeze dried ground beef that's good for 30 years and has plenty of fat. (15 grams of fat in a 37 gram dry serving. I worked it out once, and I think it worked out to about 7% fat before freeze drying) mountainhouse.com/collections/freeze-dried-meats/products/ground-beef-10-can If you are interested in reading some science papers about how rancidity works, I could add some links.
Thanks for watching and commenting. The divider is just something I designed and 3D printed to fit our pans. Here is the design and print video if you are interested; ua-cam.com/video/3KLblPCTpHk/v-deo.html They were printed with ABS then vapor/acetone smoothed to seal them. The file is on Thingiverse. www.thingiverse.com/thing:3848619 I have a picture of the pans on the Community page. They were called 8x8" pans when we bought them at the Dollar Tree store, but the bottoms are about 7x7", a perfect fit for our medium freeze dryer trays. (Turns out they have them online too www.dollartree.com/cooking-concepts-square-cake-pans-75-in/10065 )The different batches of pans that we have bought (over the past 20 years) have had slightly different side slopes, which would require a slight change in the divider shape. That's why some of our pans have an "X" on them. It might be doable to make dividers using foamcore or cardboard and covering it with plastic wrap, for those without a printer. (no 3D printer? ) Another viewer used cut some out of thick plastic (like thick cutting board) to make their dividers. (They did have a laser cutter) I'm planning to try to figure out how to make a good, usable (1/2" thick) divider without using a printer. (For those odd people who don't have a few 3D printers) Clarification on the 2 1/2 pans per tray; it only works IF the divider is the thickness I use. (or thicker) The freeze dryer trays actually fits about 1/2" less than 2 1/2 pans; that's one reason I made the dividers that thick, and to fit the magnets.
Never had an issue with my unit sealing against the glass. To be fair I never looked at it till you mentioned it. I don't get a complete ring until the pump actually starts then it sucks in immediately. Can't hurt tho. I do weigh my stuff now and it is surprising how much water is left in stuff after factory settings. Liking this series...even the jokes, well most of the jokes.
The issue I have had (very rare) if I don't have the ring of the door against the seal is, if it's very humid that day, it will build up a layer of ice between the seal and the door. Then, when the vacuum starts the seal tends to leak a bit until the ice melts and the seal becomes complete. How much more water have you removed after it "finished"? As far as the jokes, the kids would tell everyone to not encourage me.
The vacuum is what makes it seal by increasing creating negative pressure inside and causing the atmosphere to press the door against the ring... this guy is over analyzing every little thing to the point of ridiculousness. I do like the extra insulation around the exposed stainless steel of the vacuum chamber though
@@jeremiahsmith7924 some people that just analyze everything. can come in handy cause I barely analyze anything. I have more of a hey y'all watch this approach.
The divider is just something I designed and 3D printed to fit our pans. Here is the design and print video if you are interested; ua-cam.com/video/3KLblPCTpHk/v-deo.html They were printed with ABS then vapor/acetone smoothed to seal them. The file is on Thingiverse. The different batches of pans that we have bought have had slightly different side slopes, which would require a slight change in the divider shape. That's why some of our pans have an "X" on them. It might be doable to make dividers using foamcore or cardboard and covering it with plastic wrap, for those without a printer. (no 3D printer? ) Another viewer used cut some out of thick plastic (like thick cutting board) to make their dividers. (They did have a laser cutter) I going to try to figure out how to make a good, usable divider without using a printer. (For those odd people who don't have a 3D printer) I'm going to try to figure out how to make a good, usable (1/2" thick) divider without using a printer. (For those odd people who don't have a few 3D printers) 😇 Clarification on the 2 1/2 pans per tray; it only works IF the divider is the thickness I use. (or thicker) The freeze dryer trays actually fits about 1/2" less than 2 1/2 pans; that's one reason I made the dividers that thick. And to fit the magnets.
Yes. It's just a disc I cut out of 0.075" thick acrylic (1.9mm thick) I would probably use 1/8" (3mm +) next time. Once the machine is under vacuum the disc probably doesn't matter, but while it's freezing it seems to help. (think airplane window) I love how good of a job it has done and have not experienced any downside. It does seem to be better than the pads they used to send with our machines. It also works when I want video inside the chamber while freeze drying. Here is how I made it. Making an Acrylic Disc Front for a Harvest Right Freeze Dryer ua-cam.com/video/erH1VDqNi80/v-deo.html If your freeze dryer is like ours, (2017) the opening is not quite round. For my first test piece I cut a very accurate circle out of a piece of foamcore and it had gaps of 1/8"+ (3mm +) around the edge. My sister's new (late 2022) machine has a chamber that is very round. We will be making a disc for her machine and I think the fact that it's round will make it easier. Her machine is a medium and I think hers is just a simple 11 7/8" diameter actual circle!
The divider is something I designed and 3D printed to fit our pans. Here is the design and print video if you are interested; ua-cam.com/video/3KLblPCTpHk/v-deo.html They were printed with ABS then vapor/acetone smoothed to seal them. It would probably be pretty easy to make dividers using foamcore or cardboard and covering it with plastic wrap, for those without a printer. Another viewer used cut some out of thick plastic (like thick cutting board) to make their dividers. (They did have a laser cutter) 😁 The pans are just some pans we bought at a local Dollar Tree store. I have a picture of them on the Community page. They were called 8x8" pans when we bought them, but the bottoms are about 7x7", a perfect fit for our medium freeze dryer trays
Pans: There is a picture of these on a post a few months ago on this community page. These are the pans we've been using for years to prefreeze food for freeze drying. (We've been using these pans for freeze blocks of food for decades, long before we started freeze drying.) They fit our (2017) medium freeze dryer trays. We got these a couple days ago at a local Dollar Tree for $1.25 each. And who knew that they have them online too! www.dollartree.com/cooking-concepts-square-cake-pans-75-in/10065 Dividers: The divider is just something I designed and 3D printed to fit our 7x7 prefreeze pans. Here is the design and print video if you are interested; ua-cam.com/video/3KLblPCTpHk/v-deo.html They were printed with ABS then vapor/acetone smoothed to seal them. It might be doable to make dividers using foamcore or cardboard and covering it with plastic wrap, for those without a printer. (no 3D printer? ) Another viewer used cut some out of thick plastic (like thick cutting board) to make their dividers. (They did have a laser cutter) I going to try to figure out how to make a good, usable divider without using a printer. (For those odd people who don't have a 3D printer)
We store our bags in racks (from Costco) in a mix of 27 gallon and 12 gallon bins. (also from Costco😇) Here is a glimpse of the racks with bins. ua-cam.com/video/VzI9Jgii5sE/v-deo.html
I'm sure it's been covered before, but where do you purchase those bags? Do you have a preferred source, or are you always scanning for better deals? Thanks!
We have been getting our Mylar bags and oxygen absorbers from PackFreshUSA.com for years now and have been happy with the products and service we have received from them. - They are not a sponsor, we just like their stuff. (Hello? PackFreshUSA?) We get the 7mil bags, mostly the gusset bottom, seal top ones. These are the ones we get the most: The pint bag with OA's - packfreshusa.com/pint-seal-top-gusset-7-mil-stand-up-mylar-bags-sets/ Pint bags - packfreshusa.com/pint-7-mil-seal-top-gusset-mylar-bags-1000-wholesale/ Quart bags - 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/ And the oxygen absorbers we use the most -300cc Oxygen Absorbers in 10-Packs (1000) - packfreshusa.com/300cc-oxygen-absorbers-in-10-packs-1000-wholesale/ As far as looking for better deals, I'm a brand/sellers dream! There could be better deals out there, but I don't look. Once I've finally decided on something (a product or process), I hate to change, because that would mean starting over with the research and testing phase. If someone shows me the data to prove that they now have a better process or product, I'll switch to that. (Also, never do testing of a new process on the main production line) I believe that there is only one best way of doing something at a time. (For a given set of circumstances.)
Thanks for watching. The divider is just something I designed and 3D printed to fit our pans. Here is the design and print video if you are interested; ua-cam.com/video/3KLblPCTpHk/v-deo.html They were printed with ABS then vapor/acetone smoothed to seal them. It would probably be pretty easy to make dividers using foamcore or cardboard and covering it with plastic wrap, for those without a printer. (no 3D printer? 😢) Another viewer used cut some out of thick plastic (like thick cutting board) to make their dividers. (They did have a laser cutter) 😁
I am disappointed to hear that. I've had a number of viewers tell me that they had used the pans (more than a year ago) and they had worked for them. Something must have changed because you're the second person in 2 days to tell me they don't work now. I'm removing it from the list and I'm going to just recommend going to a local Dollar store like we did. The pans we bought at our local Dollar store were called 8x8" pans, but the bottoms are about 7x7", a perfect fit for our freeze dryer trays, and only cost $1. A few people have also said that the Silicone Square Cake 8x8 Baking Pan works for them. We got a set of them. While the did work for fit and it's easy to get the food out, I didn't like the flexible nature of them. I couldn't stack them in the freezer, and they are too expensive. I'll stick with our dollar store pans.
If you dont live in the USA the pans may be in metric measurements. Here in Canada things are measured in centimeters or metric. Which could make the pans differant sizes.
The divider is just something I designed and 3D printed to fit our pans. Here is the design and print video if you are interested; ua-cam.com/video/3KLblPCTpHk/v-deo.html They were printed with ABS then vapor/acetone smoothed to seal them. The file is on Thingiverse. I have a picture of the pans on the Community page. They were called 8x8" pans when we bought them at the Dollar Tree store, but the bottoms are about 7x7", a perfect fit for our medium freeze dryer trays. The different batches of pans that we have bought have had slightly different side slopes, which would require a slight change in the divider shape. That's why some of our pans have an "X" on them. It might be doable to make dividers using foamcore or cardboard and covering it with plastic wrap, for those without a printer. (no 3D printer? ) Another viewer used cut some out of thick plastic (like thick cutting board) to make their dividers. (They did have a laser cutter) I going to try to figure out how to make a good, usable divider without using a printer. (For those odd people who don't have a 3D printer) I'm going to try to figure out how to make a good, usable (1/2" thick) divider without using a printer. (For those odd people who don't have a few 3D printers) 😇 Clarification on the 2 1/2 pans per tray; it only works IF the divider is the thickness I use. (or thicker) The freeze dryer trays actually fits about 1/2" less than 2 1/2 pans; that's one reason I made the dividers that thick. And to fit the magnet
The total WET weight for the series ended up being 543.2 lbs, with a DRY weight of 130.1 lb and a total cost of about $1350. You can find all the data from the series here: First 500 lbs data spreadsheet link: docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1ieekdk5aH_2OWLUealeOLurU9_zl03BfFEg_qhAgcaA/edit?usp=sharing
Have you ever freeze-dried dehydrated or powdered mashed potatoes? Similar to your video with the hashbrowns, they are already dried but you're removing that last bit of moisture by freeze-drying. I'm curious about the results and if it was worth it. I really enjoy your videos, keep them coming!
Yes we have, and I think it is worth it. Upcoming video with drying Minute Rice, while still dry, to find out how much water is removed from the "dry" rice. It goes in tomorrow, batch 41 of the series. (sister's batch)
Thanks for the comment! It was a big batch of potatoes, about 16 lbs, and it works out to less than 1 tablespoon per 1 pound pan; very low fat. Putting Lots Of Fat In The Freeze Dryer. A LOT! -- Responding to Anti Fat Comments ua-cam.com/video/43ieIl3EB8k/v-deo.html The funny thing is that I get _lots_ of comments about fat for every food I do that has ANY visible/known fat in it, but not when I do ice cream or cheese or eggs! (or other foods with LOTS of hidden fats) I only have 6 years of personal experience with OUR freeze dried items, so I only KNOW it's good for about 5 1/2 years. I assume that some foods will have a shorter shelf life; Mountain House only gives their ice cream bars a 3 year life span, and by way of comparison, has freeze dried ground beef that's good for 30 YEARS and has PLENTY of fat. (15 grams of fat in a 37 gram dry serving. I worked it out once, and I think it worked out to about 7% fat before freeze drying. I would need to more than double the butter in this batch to equal the fat content of the ground beef.) mountainhouse.com/collections/freeze-dried-meats/products/ground-beef-10-can or Mountain House Beef Stroganofff with 12 grams of fat in a 61 gram (dry) serving. mountainhouse.com/collections/pouches/products/beef-stroganoff-pouch or Mountain House Scrambled eggs with bacon with 23 grams of fat in a 63 gram (dry) serving mountainhouse.com/collections/10-cans/products/scrambled-eggs-with-bacon-10-can I assume (without proof, because I only have 6 years of data) that we should be able to get a similar shelf life for similar products. If we could only get 75% of that I'd be happy. However, we probably don't have the same product, I'm sure they have spent a LOT of time and money to perfect their recipes, ingredients, and processes. I'm a big advocate on rotating our food stock, so I don't expect to have anything older than maybe 10 years. (we see ours as a pantry as opposed to a SHTF stockpile) There are plenty of scientific and industry papers out there about food rancidity, and I've found them to be very interesting and informative; here's one - Chemists define roughly two ways a product can turn rancid: (Super simplified ) 1. Oxidative rancidity: Reaction involves oxygen 2. Hydrolytic rancidity: Reaction involves water Rancidity of Food: Introduction, Types, Factors and Prevention of Rancidity | Food Chemistry | Biotechnology www.biotechnologynotes.com/food-biotechnology/food-chemistry/rancidity-of-food-introduction-types-factors-and-prevention-of-rancidity-food-chemistry-biotechnology/14100 (I could give you more rancid science links if you would like) There is so much to learn about this, I'm still a beginner and not a food scientist of any kind. Remember, I'm just another idiot on the internet. Don't listen to me. I could be wrong. The #1 joke at our house is "But, I saw it on the internet!" Consider looking at what commercial companies are doing. That's where I look to for guidance. If they can do it, we probably can too. (with method adjustments)
😁The divider is something I designed and 3D printed to fit our pans. Here is the design and print video if you are interested; ua-cam.com/video/3KLblPCTpHk/v-deo.html They were printed with ABS then vapor/acetone smoothed to seal them. It would probably be pretty easy to make dividers using foamcore or cardboard and then covering it with plastic wrap, for those without a printer. The pans are just some pans we bought at a local Dollar store. They were called 8x8" pans, but the bottoms are about 7x7", a perfect fit for our freeze dryer trays. Another viewer used a laser cutter to make their dividers.
Butter has a decent amount of fat and that is a problem for long term food Storage. Unless. You are using them within a few years why not add the butter after rehydration?
Thanks for watching. First, remember, I'm just another idiot on the internet. Don't listen to me. Research. The #1 joke at our house is "But, I saw it on the internet!" Second, did you see how little butter we put in, considering it was a 14 lb batch of potatoes? Butter is almost all fat and is delicious! I don't fear small amounts of fat in my freeze drying. "They" do say that about fat and food storage. And then "they" do a batch of ice cream without giving it a mention about the fat content. And it is true, but "they" forget that the main mechanisms for it to go rancid involve water and/or oxygen, and we remove them. (I've even seen one video where "they" state, as a fact, that if you put an oxygen absorber in a bag with your baking soda could make it EXPLODE. I'd love to see the science behind that. I looked at the chemistry and I just didn't see how. If you heat baking soda it decomposes into sodium carbonate, water and carbon dioxide and can put out fire. I realize that some things like baking soda don't need oxygen absorbers, but explode?) I don't think it would be too much to ask for them to share the scientific paper/article. I only have 4 3/4 years of personal experience with OUR freeze dried items, so I only KNOW it's good for 4 3/4 years. However, I'm not worried, because commercial companies like Mountain House has freeze dried ground beef that's good for 30 years and has plenty of fat. (15 grams of fat in a 37 gram dry serving. I worked it out once, and I think it worked out to about 93% lean before freeze drying) mountainhouse.com/collections/freeze-dried-meats/products/ground-beef-10-can Chemists define roughly two ways a product can turn rancid: (Super simplified ) 1. Oxidative rancidity: Reaction involves oxygen 2. Hydrolytic rancidity: Reaction involves water Rancidity of Food: Introduction, Types, Factors and Prevention of Rancidity | Food Chemistry | Biotechnology www.biotechnologynotes.com/food-biotechnology/food-chemistry/rancidity-of-food-introduction-types-factors-and-prevention-of-rancidity-food-chemistry-biotechnology/14100 Food spoilage - Rancidity and food chemistry. September 14, 2017 Storing Food - chemical reactions, fats, food enzymes, preservation foodcrumbles.com/food-spoilage-rancidity-and-food-chemistry/ Prevention of Hydrolytic and Oxidative Rancidity and Nutrient Losses in Rice Bran During Storage digitalcommons.lsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=7859&context=gradschool_disstheses Rancidity www.sciencedirect.com/topics/agricultural-and-biological-sciences/rancidity
The divider is something I designed and 3D printed to fit our pans. Here is the design and print video if you are interested; ua-cam.com/video/3KLblPCTpHk/v-deo.html They were printed with ABS then vapor/acetone smoothed to seal them. It would probably be pretty easy to make dividers using foamcore or cardboard and then covering it with plastic wrap, for those without a printer. The pans are just some pans we bought at a local Dollar store. They were called 8x8" pans, but the bottoms are about 7x7", a perfect fit for our freeze dryer trays. I'm not currently planning to get into selling 3D printed stuff (I wasn't planning to get into teaching 3D design and printing either, but ended up teaching for 3 years, so who knows.) If I ever start making them to sell, I'll have to sell the pan with them because it seems like every time we bought a batch of pans they were a tiny bit different. I did make the video of designing and printing the divider, with a link to the print files, in case you or someone you know was a printer.
To keep your scale calibrated, don't ever smash ingredients into the pan like you're doing, mix or otherwise misuse it. Take the pan off of the scale to press the potatoes into the pan.
Of course that's good advice, but I don't worry about it. We been using it this way for 13 years with zero issues. I have a set of scale Calibration Weights for testing (1g 2g 5g 10g 20g 50g 100g) and these scales have shown _zero_ shift in all that time.
I don't understand why you don't just insert the thermometer in the food before you put the food in the freezer and eliminate the need to drill into the frozen food, the risk of damaging the stainless steel tray isn't worth the extra work?
As I replied to you yesterday, that's a reasonable question! 👍 There is no reason (that I know of) the thermometers couldn't be frozen in the slabs of food. I Have tried it and it worked fine, but it took more planning ahead for me. We often have many dozens of the blocks (up to 150+ blocks) in the freezer waiting for the freeze dryer, so we would need dozens of thermometers.🤣By adding them later I only need 4. With the way we prefreeze in the small pans we use, we need 10 blocks per freeze dryer load (8 whole blocks and 4 half blocks) but only 4 thermometers. Another viewer suggested using stainless steel nails and prefreezing them in the blocks (instead of drilling) and then pulling them out and putting the thermometers in before putting them into the freeze dryer. I'm dong this with some stainless steel rods instead of nails. ua-cam.com/video/Vtr786DcVi0/v-deo.htmlsi=-voxMhdWD6sEyHij
Freeze drying Creamed Chipped Beef should be no problem at all. (At least the recipes I've seen. Do you have a favorite recipe?) My sister has freeze dried some. The only issue I see is that it may turn out thin after you rehydrate it, but when I do sauces/gravy-type items I just add some Instant ClearJel if I think it needs it to make sure it stays thick after rehydrated. I don't have any idea why nobody would want to answer that simple question.
@@SchoolReports mine isn't made with water, although I see your point on rehydrating it. It should NOT take a lot of water to rehydrate though, its mostly milk anyways mixed with flour and butter and chipped beef. Will try your suggestion when I get the freeze dryer.
Sounds good! Even if you aren't adding "water" when you make it before freeze drying, the milk is 90-something percent water, so even if you make it with milk you'll might only need water for rehydrating because the milk will already be in it.
I was under the impression that you could not add BUTTER to anything freeze dried. Oh my goodness, no! That’s what i’ve been taught on other channels. What gives?
Thanks for the comment/question! Butter in recipes is not a problem just because it's butter. Butter is great, but it's not magic!🤣 Do those same channels then go on to show themselves doing cheese, ice cream, eggs, etc? All of these foods have _way_ more fat than the tiny amount of fat the butter added to this batch. What gives? - Reading comprehension? 😁 The biggest difference is that one of my few abilities is - I can read commercially made freeze dried food package labels. It was a big batch of potatoes, about 16 lbs, and it works out to less than 1 tablespoon per 1 pound pan; very low fat. It's not like I'm trying to freeze dry a cube of butter; that would be more difficult. Putting Lots Of Fat In The Freeze Dryer. A LOT! -- Responding to Anti Fat Comments ua-cam.com/video/43ieIl3EB8k/v-deo.html The funny thing is that I get lots of comments about fat for every food I do that has ANY visible/known fat in it, but not when I do ice cream or cheese or eggs! (or other foods with LOTS of hidden fats) I only have 6 years of personal experience with OUR freeze dried items, so I only KNOW it's good for about 5 1/2 years. I assume that some foods will have a shorter shelf life; Mountain House only gives their ice cream bars a 3 year life span, and by way of comparison, has freeze dried ground beef that's good for 30 YEARS and has PLENTY of fat. (15 grams of fat in a 37 gram dry serving. I worked it out once, and I think it worked out to about 7% fat before freeze drying. I would need to more than double the butter in this batch to equal the fat content of the ground beef.) mountainhouse.com/collections/freeze-dried-meats/products/ground-beef-10-can or Mountain House Beef Stroganofff with 12 grams of fat in a 61 gram (dry) serving. mountainhouse.com/collections/pouches/products/beef-stroganoff-pouch or Mountain House Scrambled eggs with bacon with 23 grams of fat in a 63 gram (dry) serving mountainhouse.com/collections/10-cans/products/scrambled-eggs-with-bacon-10-can I am a big advocate on rotating our food stock, so I don't expect to have anything older than maybe 10 years. (we see ours as a pantry as opposed to a SHTF stockpile) Remember, I'm just another idiot on the internet. I could be wrong. The #1 joke at our house is "But, I saw it on the internet!" Consider looking at what commercial companies are doing. That's where I look to for guidance. If they can do it, we probably can too. (with method adjustments)
@@SchoolReports EXACTLY! I always wonder the same thing! Some people freak out over any fat at all and then freeze dry cream cheese, which is made from heavy cream! I’ll go with your findings! Thanks! 🙏🏼
The dividers are just something I made. The dividers are designed to fit the pans we got at a Dollar Tree store. They were called 8x8" but the bottoms are about 7x7", 2 1/2 pans are a perfect fit ** for our medium freeze dryer trays. (Turns out they have them online too www.dollartree.com/cooking-concepts-square-cake-pans-75-in/10065 ) Here is the design and print video if you are interested; ua-cam.com/video/3KLblPCTpHk/v-deo.html They were printed with ABS then vapor/acetone smoothed to seal them. The file is on Thingiverse. www.thingiverse.com/thing:3848619 (Some people feel that it's wrong to have food touch plastic - it's low on my personal risk list) I've updated the Thingiverse listing to include a new version of the divider that is slightly narrower at the bottom to fit more of the pans. ** Clarification on the 2 1/2 pans per tray; it only works IF the divider is the thickness I use. (or thicker) The freeze dryer trays actually fits about 1/2" less than 2 1/2 pans; that's one reason I made the dividers that thick, that and to fit the magnets. For those without a 3D printer, here's my best ideas for getting some 3D printed dividers. Lots of areas have Maker's places with people that would love to do it for you. Or, better yet, some schools have 3D printing labs. Check with a the local charter school that has junior high or high school age students. I taught 3D Design and Printing for 3+ years at a local 6th - 8th grade charter school. We loved it when we could find/were given a real-world project with a real need. I finally made a couple of the dividers without using the 3D printer a short time ago. It turns out it's an easy craft project and my sister says they are working well. (I will be making more non 3D printed ones, they're easy, cheap, and work!) Making Dividers for My Pre-freeze Pans Without Using a 3D Printer (For Our Medium Freeze Dryer) ua-cam.com/video/XNsbWn29xdE/v-deo.html Stay tuned. 😁 I'm going to show another way using 1/2 thick cutting board. (For people with more tools and/or skills)
Want to support the channel? Buy me a coffee :-) www.buymeacoffee.com/DanZm
I was wearing one of the shirts from one of Linda and Robert's businesses and passions www.atrailrunnersblog.com/2012/01/rip-and-thank-you-robert-and-linda.html
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
Do you make and sell your magnet tray dividers? If so i would be interested!
@@Mostruggles I'm not currently planning to get into selling 3D printed stuff (I wasn't planning to get into teaching 3D design and printing either, but ended up teaching for 3 years, so who knows.)
If I ever start making them to sell, I'll have to sell the pan with them because it seems like every time we bought a batch of pans they were a tiny bit different.
I did make a video of designing and printing the divider, with a link to the print files, in case you or someone you know was a printer.
@@SchoolReports OK, Thanks. I have learned a lot from your videos!
@@Mostruggles Thanks for watching!
I think Harvest right should send you a free large freeze dryer! For all of this free advertising.
I agree!☝️
When you said “little hand mixer” I was bracing myself to see that tiny hand enter stage right lol. As always you are offering a wealth of knowledge and experience. Thank you!
Oh, I wish I had thought of that! I rarely think of any of these things ahead of time, which is why it cracks me up when it happens. The little hand was my son's and I never saw it coming! Thanks for watching.
The last month or so of watching the channel has no doubt, saved me a considerable amount of time and money! (Not to mention aggravation 😂) I’ll be buying you a coffee shortly!
Congratulations on being so organized as well !
I have a brand new machine, just received it 10/5/23, and mine was doing the same thing. I bought some window/ door insulation to put behind the black gasket, it seems to work well.
You are a fantastic teacher! I also love how thorough you are. Thank you for making these videos. I’m new at FDing and your videos are very helpful.
Thanks! And thanks for watching and commenting.
I’ve adopted your method of adding two hours, or so, and reweighing. This has given me a LOT more confidence in them being done. My machine is a little newer, 2020, but still needs extra dry time almost every time. I really appreciate this series.
It just seems like cheap insurance/piece of mind! Maybe it's overkill, but I'd rather have overkill than food not dry enough for long storage. (Perhaps I have trust issues)
@@SchoolReports I agree! I feel much better about what I’m doing now thanks to you. 😁
The new machines already "automatically" add an additional 2 hours of dry time unless you cancel it, or change your preset.
I like your method of verifying. I started doing it myself
It sure gives me peace of mind being able to know the water really has been removed.. Thanks for watching!
Thanks!
Wow! Thanks!
Thank you so much for sharing your experience! If someone decided to get a FD , you help by giving a preview. Its not just a 24 hr. one and done as advertised
With the newer machines it really is closer to 'one and done' than the way I do it. (Or at least 2 and done. 😊I wouldn't give up my double check for dryness.) The new firmware is much more advanced than it was on our 2017 machine.
Watched again! Making sure adding butter was working well. As always THANK YOU!!
It was a big batch of potatoes and it works out to only about 1 tablespoon of butter per bag.
It's been a good day that I found your presentations.
Very impressed
Thank you so much for all the helpfull information it is just what I needed I am about to order my freez dryer so much GOOD INFO THANK YOU AGAIN
Thanks for watching and commenting!
I use a digital moisture meter to check for moisture. It works very well.
Which moisture meter are you using? I have yet to hear of a moisture meter up to the task of checking ALL the food in a freeze dryer load. If you know of one, I would love to hear about it.
I've read comments from multiple people saying they use wood moisture meters, an infrared thermometer, or thermal imaging cameras for their food. In my opinion, wood moisture meters are worse than a waste of money when used as a moisture meter for freeze drying food; they would give a false sense of security. I'm probably a bit neurotic when it comes to water activity levels in the food for storage. As far as using an infrared thermometer, I have one and after testing I wouldn't consider using it for this purpose. I would consider them to be a big step up from the wood moisture meters that some people say they use, I but I still don't see it as appropriate for this use. At least with a good Thermal Imaging Camera you can see if there are any cold spots on the whole surface. But they still don't tell you about water activity levels, and some of the foods act like insulation; they are very warm on the outside and ice on the inside. Even with the type of meter that I would consider using, ( www.weberscientific.com/water-activity-meters-novasina ) I STILL wouldn't trust it, because it's still only checking a small sample size/location on the tray. By using the extra drying time method, I'm essentially able to test the entire load at once
I would NEVER trust any moisture meter (that I know of) to tell me whether or not the food is dry. I weigh the food. I don't know of a better way to test EVERY piece of food for dryness. By weighing it all, I'm essentially testing every piece of food to make sure the water has been removed. I'm probably a bit neurotic when it comes to water activity levels in the food for storage. I won't store any food that even MIGHT have water in it. In lots of the newer videos I show my process of checking to make sure each batch is dry by doing a "dry check" cycle. I'm using the fact that the weight of the trays of food should stop dropping when all of the water has been removed. After the freeze dryer finishes, I take the trays out, weigh them, put them back in for more final dry time, and then check them again for weight loss. (Dry check) When the weight loss stops, (no more water to remove) they should be dry. I don't bag the food if there is still water in it. I show this a lot in my recent videos. Freeze Drying Your First 500 lbs of Food - Batch 32 - Peas, Frozen ua-cam.com/video/mKh9c9nTzgA/v-deo.html
This is my personal guideline:
#1 Never trust the freeze dryer or a spot check moisture meter to tell you if the food is dry! Do a dry check using a scale to make sure it's dry before bagging and storing.
#2 Don't overload the freeze dryer. I try to keep the medium machine to a maximum of about 8 pounds of Water Weight per batch. (I have had 11+ lbs of water. It took a long time and I won't do that again)
#3 Don't make the food on the trays too thick (height, not viscosity) If you do, you may have to run the batch twice.
#4 When in doubt about dryness, add extra final dry time.
#5 Never trust the freeze dryer or a spot check moisture meter to tell you if the food is dry! Do a dry check using a scale to make SURE it's dry.
#6 NEVER trust the freeze dryer or a spot check moisture meter to tell you if the food is dry! IT CAN'T KNOW! Do a dry check using a scale to make SURE it's ALL dry before bagging and storing.
I've heard from too many people that thought their food was dry, only to check again a short time later and find out it wasn't, and now it has gone bad.
@@SchoolReports
Wow, that was a long explanation. Unfortunately, after reading your answer well I do use a wood meter. I check it in several places and will be checking the food again before I eat any of the food it will be checked. It sounds like I will be checking the weight way now.
@@mister-action1 Sorry for the long book of a response!
I really DO wish I could find a whole batch moisture meter I could afford and trust, but I don't believe one is being made that will serve the home freeze dryer.
A moisture example: By all other "normal/regular" dry checking methods, Minute Rice out of the box is already dry, but in my test during batch 41 of this series I found that 7 1/2 % of it's weight was water. Freeze Drying Your First 500 lbs of Food - Batch 41- "Dry" Rice and "Dry" Hashbrowns ua-cam.com/video/lbJRIpulhD0/v-deo.html (My Dry-things-might-not-be-as-dry as-you-think rant) 😁
I have one question...but I need to start with a compliment or two! These videos are flawless in description, communication, process, information, etc., etc.! Thank you so much for your time in sharing your tactics and knowledge with us. VERY much appreciated!
My question is in regard to the thermometers in the food after freezing. Makes ABSOLUTE sense why you use them and SUCH a good idea!!!! But why not freeze the thermometers in the food instead of drilling after frozen?
My initial thoughts are:
1. You'd need a zillion of them if you guys always have that many trays waiting in the freezer
2. If you're staking them in the freezer in those taller (yet way more affordable) trays it would make that quite a bit more difficult to keep the correct pitch of the thermometer for transition to the Harvest Right trays.
But is there a functionality difficulty I'm unaware of? We plan to freeze on Harvest Right trays and will come up with a solution for stacking. But my first batch with our new Harvest Right will be this week and I was just wondering if there is something in your experience/expertise that should keep me from freezing with the thermometers in?
Thank you again and again for ALL your ideas and process. A not-so common sense, common sense approach to the entire process!!!!!
Much love!
Thanks for the kind words and great question!
There is no reason (that I know of) that the thermometers couldn't be frozen in the slabs of food. I Have tried it and it worked fine, but it took more planning ahead for me. We often have many dozens of the blocks (up to 150+ blocks) in the freezer waiting for the freeze dryer, so we would need 1.2 zillion of them.🤣
With the way we prefreeze in the small pans we use, we need 10 blocks per freeze dryer load (8 whole blocks and 4 half blocks) but only 4 thermometers. Another viewer suggested using stainless steel nails and prefreezing them in the blocks and then pulling them out and putting the thermometers in before putting them into the freeze dryer. I'm trying this with some stainless steel rods instead of nails. (video soon) One of my long time mottos to live by has been "Laziness is the mother of invention." If this ends up being quicker and easier than drilling, I'll switch!
@@SchoolReports Love it love it! Solid idea addition with the stainless rods/nails! Thanks again! You officially have another viewer. :)
Cheers!!!
@@KL-nb5vm Thanks for watching and for the comments! :)
Thank You!!
You're welcome!
Wow!! Great information. Thank you!! I learned a lot!!
Where can I get one of those scoops? The bags also I like ones that stand, the only place I have found those is harvest right, and that is in their smaller ones. Thank you your video was helpful
Thanks for watching and commenting!
😁 The scoop I use is one I "adjusted." After I bought the scoop I cut both sides off and attached 3D printed end pieces to the sides. Taller side pieces might make it better. This is how I changed the scoop - Food Scoop For Freeze Dryer Tray ua-cam.com/video/trs26E42Zho/v-deo.html It could be done without a 3D printer by heating up the cut off pieces with a heat gun (could be done over a toaster or in an oven) and I was able to easily flatten them. It would then be very easy to sand them to fit the side of the scoop and glue them on.
This is an Amazon affiliate link to the scoop I used for the scoop project: amzn.to/3pdTB4J (I've seen right hand ones and left hand ones, (and dual) and most of the time the left hand ones were cheaper)
I have bought another one and plan to do a video changing it without using a 3D printer, for my sister and her new machine.
There are probably a lot of good brands of stand-up bags out there. We have been getting our Mylar bags and oxygen absorbers from PackFreshUSA.com for years now 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 get the 7mil bags, mostly the gusset bottom, seal top ones. These are the ones we get the most: The pint bag with OA's - packfreshusa.com/pint-7-mil-seal-top-premium-gusset-mylar-and-oxygen-absorbers/ Pint bags - packfreshusa.com/mylar-gusset-bags-pint-wholesale/ Quart bags - packfreshusa.com/mylar-gusset-bags-quart-wholesale/ And these are the 2 quart ones packfreshusa.com/two-quart-7-mil-seal-top-gusset-mylar-bags-500-wholesale/ And the oxygen absorbers we use the most -300cc Oxygen Absorbers in 10-Packs (1000) - packfreshusa.com/oxygen-absorbers-10-packs-wholesale/
Wait a minute please.
If you were on full automatic mode how can I trust that the small amount of water you were worried about isn't present.
Thanks so much for watching and commenting!
If you trust the machine to tell you when it's dry, then you'll have no idea if it's dry or not. It has no way of knowing if it dry. Period.
I do think companies selling freeze dryers (I have a list of about 13) are doing a disservice in portraying them as "fully automatic" and suggesting that you just throw the food in, it does the rest, and "DING" it's done and ready to bag. You do really need to check it yourself and the HR manual (at least mine) just says ". . .Check the material thoroughly to make sure it is completely dry . . ." with no hint as to how to accomplish this in a way to ensure it's 100% dry every time! Don't trust the machine - It has no way of knowing if it's dry or not. I have a bad feeling that a lot of people are going to find out someday that some of their food was not dry enough.
The machine is almost always wrong. It can't know if it's dry.
A thermal imaging camera can't tell if it's dry, only if it's warm.
A lumber moisture meter works okay for lumber, but it's not designed for freeze dried food and won't work for that.
Feeling the food won't tell you if it's dry and certainly can't tell you about every piece on the trays.
Water activity (aw) meters are designed to test the moisture levels, but cost a lot and only test small samples.
I've been told more than a few times that I'm wasting my time - that the machine "knows" when it's done! I've also have heard from too many people who have found out, after - between days and months - that their food was not all the way dry and has now gone bad. Surprise!
As far as I'm concerned, anyone who is bagging any food for storage without doing a _Dry Check_ using a sensitize scale is wasting their time, food, and money. Without the _Dry Check_ you're just guessing as to whether or not the food is dry, might as well just flip a coin.
Put your hand in a bag of rice and tell me if it's dry. A bag of "Dry" rice will feel warm and dry, but it can still have plenty of water in it. We did a test of drying (and weighing) 1000 grams of dry rice fresh from the bag and it lost 95 grams of water. -That's 9.5%! - it wasn't dry! Yet it "felt" dry. (I don't know if you've already seen this - "Dry" Rice and "Dry" Hashbrowns - ua-cam.com/video/lbJRIpulhD0/v-deo.htmlsi=oxvklV6GRBZBPB14&t=2743 )
If the food is only checked by feel, all they can do is hope and trust that the slowest drying/wettest pieces were the pieces that were checked. (And that they have fingers that can detect hidden moisture!) The slowest pieces are not always the biggest, and the food does not dry evenly across the entire tray.
"Remember kids, the only difference between Science and screwing around is writing it down."
This is my personal guideline about dry food: 🤣(Only a little tongue-in-cheek)
#1 Never trust the freeze dryer or a spot check moisture meter to tell you if the food is dry! Do a _Dry Check_ using a scale to make sure it's dry before bagging and storing.
#2 Don't overload the freeze dryer. I try to keep the medium machine to a maximum of about 8 pounds of Water Weight per batch. (I have had 11+ lbs of water. It took a long time and I won't do that again)
#3 Don't make the food on the trays too thick (height, not viscosity) If you do, you may have to run the batch twice.
#4 When in doubt about dryness, add extra final dry time.
#5 Never trust the freeze dryer or a spot check moisture meter to tell you if the food is dry! Do a _Dry Check_ using a scale to make SURE it's dry.
#6 NEVER trust the freeze dryer or a spot check moisture meter to tell you if the food is dry! IT CAN'T KNOW! Do a _Dry Check_ using a scale to make SURE it's ALL dry before bagging and storing.
🤣 Remember, I'm just another idiot on the internet. I could be wrong. The #1 joke at our house is "But, I saw it on the internet!" Consider looking at what commercial companies are doing. That's where I look to for guidance. If they can do it, we probably can too. (with method adjustments)
good stuff, thanks
Thanks for sharing , I like to put nutritional yeast into our mashed potato it gives it a slight cheese flavour :)
Ha! We often put shredded cheese into our mashed potatoes, it also gives it a cheese flavor! 🤣(I'm saving the 'u' for later use)
@@SchoolReports hehe I got the U part lol you Americans are funny , I like it :D Your going to get a really giggle from some of our Aussie words ;)
Congrats on the 4.5k subs!
Thanks! If the curve holds, it'll pass 5k before the end of the month.
At first I was thinking tracking the weight of each tray might be a bit excessive for my taste, but the most difficult part of rehydrating to me has always been the guess work method everyone recommends using to get the texture back to where it should be. Seems your method should be much quicker in the long run. Much faster than to know exactly what the portion weighed before freeze drying and than just adding that weight of water back to the portion rather than spending a bunch of time slowly adding water and hoping you don't go a bit too far and end up with a potato shake,
I've been called " excessive" many times! 🤣 (and a lot worse)
By weighing and prefreezing everything in 1 lb or 1/2 lb blocks it makes it very easy after drying; a 1 lb block just needs to get back to one pound.
Which is thicker, a potato shake or a potato smoothie? Both sound bad. 🤣
My sister is part of the "add water and guess" group. She an engineer and precise in most things, but not when it comes to rehydrating her food. Odd. I figure if I have the info, I'm going to use it!
Awesome videos! Thank you so much! Could I ask you where you get the pan dividers?
Thanks for watching and commenting!
The divider is just something I designed and 3D printed to fit our pans. Here is the design and print video if you are interested; ua-cam.com/video/3KLblPCTpHk/v-deo.html They were printed with ABS then vapor/acetone smoothed to seal them. The file is on Thingiverse. www.thingiverse.com/thing:3848619
The dividers are designed to fit the pans we got at a Dollar Tree store. The different batches of pans that we have bought (over the past 20 years) have had slightly different side slopes, which would require a slight change in the divider shape. That's why some of our pans have an "X" on them. I've just updated the Thingiverse listing to include a new version of the divider that is slightly narrower at the bottom to fit more of the pans. (I hope!)
Another viewer used cut some out of thick plastic (like thick cutting board) to make their dividers. (They did have a laser cutter)
I'm planning to try to figure out how to make a good, usable (1/2" thick) divider without using a printer. (For those odd people who don't have a few 3D printers)
Clarification on the 2 1/2 pans per tray; it only works IF the divider is the thickness I use. (or thicker) The freeze dryer trays actually fits about 1/2" less than 2 1/2 pans; that's one reason I made the dividers that thick, and to fit the magnets.
Did you ever consider making a jig for drilling for your thermometers? I am thinking like a Kreg jig for drilling pocket holes. I would think you could print something like you did for your tray dividers. Thanks for all your info. My dryer should be here in about 6 weeks. I have been learning allot from your videos.
Yep! The Kreg made me think of it. It's been on the back burner for about a year, but through the power of procrastination I haven't done it yet!
@@SchoolReports 😂
I always love watching your videos, especially this series. I have started weighing my trays and putting back in for 2 hr at a time like you show. Wow, i was amazed at the difference sometimes when it "looks" dry. I also ended up cutting a piece of plastic to cover my screen the other day after a was showing my cousin something on the screen and accidentally hit the screen (and not or the first time). Thanks for both those tips and so many others. I have noticed several people commented on facebook about your weighing trick, most give you the credit. :)
I only have a few bins filled so far, but id love to hear a bit more about your inventory program. any advice on how to keep it organized, and what fields to include in such a program would be great!! THANKS!!!
Thanks so much for the feedback and comment! How much more loss have you seen from the "dry" food. (and it sure does seem dry, doesn't it?) Touch screens are great except if you touch them!🤣
Dear SchoolReports- can you tell me how to get some of those pan dividers? I don't have a 3-D printer. Also, did you custom make that plexiglas insulator for your black rubber ring? If not, do you have a link to buy that? Thank you for all your help. It has made me a much better "squirrel" in putting my freeze dried product to better use.
Here's my best ideas for getting some 3D printed dividers. Lots of areas have Maker's places with people that would love to do it for you.
Or, better yet, some schools have 3D printing labs. Check with a the local charter school that has junior high or high school age students. I taught 3D Design and Printing for 3+ years at a local 6th - 8th grade charter school. We loved it when we could find/were given a real-world project with a real need.
I'm still hoping to figure out how to make a good, usable (1/2" thick) divider without using a printer. (For those odd people who don't have a few 3D printers)😁
I did make the plastic front piece, it's just a tight fitting disc I cut out of Acrylic. (I used 0.075" thick acrylic (1.9mm thick) I would probably use 1/8" (3mm +) next time) Here is how I made it. Making an Acrylic Disc Front for a Harvest Right Freeze Dryer ua-cam.com/video/erH1VDqNi80/v-deo.html If your freeze dryer is like ours, (2017) the opening is not quite round. For my first test piece I cut a very accurate circle out of a piece of foamcore and it had gaps of 1/8"+ (3mm +) around the edge.
My sister's new (late 2022) machine has a chamber that is very round; we will be making a disc for her machine. (and a video of it) I think the fact that it's round will make it easier.
@@SchoolReports Thank you for the update- I really have benefited from your UA-cam channel- many thanks!
I really enjoy your videos, they're very helpful. Where did you get the dividers fir your pans?
Thanks for watching and commenting!
The dividers are just something I made. The dividers are designed to fit the pans we got at a Dollar Tree store. They were called 8x8" but the bottoms are about 7x7", 2 1/2 pans are a perfect fit ** for our medium freeze dryer trays. (Turns out they have them online too www.dollartree.com/cooking-concepts-square-cake-pans-75-in/10065 ) The file is on Thingiverse. www.thingiverse.com/thing:3848619 (Some people feel that it's wrong to have food touch plastic - it's low on my personal risk list) I've updated the Thingiverse listing to include a new version of the divider that is slightly narrower at the bottom to fit more of the pans.
** Clarification on the 2 1/2 pans per tray; it only works IF the divider is the thickness I use. (or thicker) The freeze dryer trays actually
fits about 1/2" less than 2 1/2 pans; that's one reason I made the dividers that thick, that and to fit the magnets.
For those without a 3D printer, here's my best ideas for getting some 3D printed dividers. Lots of areas have Maker's places with people that would love to do it for you. Or, better yet, some schools have 3D printing labs. Check with a the local charter school that has junior high or high school age students. I taught 3D Design and Printing for 3+ years at a local 6th - 8th grade charter school. We loved it when we could find/were given a real-world project with a real need.
I did make a couple of the dividers without using the 3D printer a short time ago. It turns out it's an easy craft project and my sister says they are working well. (I will be making more non 3D printed ones, they're easy, cheap, and work!)
Making Dividers for My Pre-freeze Pans Without Using a 3D Printer (For Our Medium Freeze Dryer) ua-cam.com/video/XNsbWn29xdE/v-deo.html
Stay tuned. 😁 I'm going to show another way using 1/2 thick cutting board. (For people with more tools and/or skills)
Where do you get those blue dividers?
The dividers are just something I made. The dividers are designed to fit the pans we got at a Dollar Tree store. They were called 8x8" but the bottoms are about 7x7", 2 1/2 pans are a perfect fit ** for our medium freeze dryer trays. (Turns out they have them online too www.dollartree.com/cooking-concepts-square-cake-pans-75-in/10065 ) Here is the design and print video if you are interested; ua-cam.com/video/3KLblPCTpHk/v-deo.html They were printed with ABS then vapor/acetone smoothed to seal them. The file is on Thingiverse. www.thingiverse.com/thing:3848619 (Some people feel that it's wrong to have food touch plastic - it's low on my personal risk list) I've updated the Thingiverse listing to include a new version of the divider that is slightly narrower at the bottom to fit more of the pans.
** Clarification on the 2 1/2 pans per tray; it only works IF the divider is the thickness I use. (or thicker) The freeze dryer trays actually
fits about 1/2" less than 2 1/2 pans; that's one reason I made the dividers that thick, that and to fit the magnets.
For those without a 3D printer, here's my best ideas for getting some 3D printed dividers. Lots of areas have Maker's places with people that would love to do it for you. Or, better yet, some schools have 3D printing labs. Check with a the local charter school that has junior high or high school age students. I taught 3D Design and Printing for 3+ years at a local 6th - 8th grade charter school. We loved it when we could find/were given a real-world project with a real need.
I finally made a couple of the dividers without using the 3D printer a short time ago. It turns out it's an easy craft project and my sister says they are working well. (I will be making more non 3D printed ones, they're easy, cheap, and work!)
Making Dividers for My Pre-freeze Pans Without Using a 3D Printer (For Our Medium Freeze Dryer) ua-cam.com/video/XNsbWn29xdE/v-deo.html
Stay tuned. 😁 I'm going to show another way using 1/2 thick cutting board. (For people with more tools and/or skills)
Really appreciate your videos...Thank you.
Wanted to let you know that the link to the wilton 8 inch cake pans yields very dark color, stiff walled, and larger pans than I see in your videos. The pans do not make a brick that fits the Med Harvest Right trays. Someone will be gifted some pans but I am on hunt for some that fit.
I am disappointed to hear that. A couple of viewers had told me that they had used the pans and they had worked for them. I'll have to follow up and double check.
The pans we've been using are just some pans we bought at a local Dollar store. They were called 8x8" pans, but the bottoms are about 7x7", a perfect fit for our freeze dryer trays.
@@SchoolReports They are very nice, heavy duty pans but they are not the perfect size yours are and so well built there is very little flexibility. I will try dollar store. Thanks again!
Thank you so much for sharing your videos. I find them very clear and informative! I would like to ask a question though, and I mean no disrespect. I’m just trying to understand your process. What was the point of dividing them up separately when you put them in the same 1lb bag? I really enjoyed the video otherwise thank you so much for sharing.
Thanks so much for watching and for commenting.
That's actually a great question. I fail to mention it in most videos, but it's simply because I want to fill up the trays. By doing it this way I can get 2 1/2 lbs per tray. (about 20 cups) If I only had the full size blocks I could only put 2 of them on each freeze dryer tray and end up with 8 lbs (about 16 cups) per batch instead of 10 pounds. We do often bag the half blocks of some foods as a single serving size.
I do talk a bit more about using the pans in this video here: Freeze Drying - Prefreezing Food in Pans - ua-cam.com/video/8kjkox2ymmw/v-deo.htmlsi=pyXQ4J8MFXuBrmdQ&t=39
Please tell me where you get your 7" pans, as well as the little blue dividers you use to do half pans.
😃
Thanks for watching and commenting!
The dividers are designed to fit the pans we got at a Dollar Tree store. They were called 8x8" but the bottoms are about 7x7", 2 1/2 pans are a perfect fit ** for our medium freeze dryer trays. (Turns out they have them online too www.dollartree.com/cooking-concepts-square-cake-pans-75-in/10065 ) Here is the design and print video if you are interested; ua-cam.com/video/3KLblPCTpHk/v-deo.html They were printed with ABS then vapor/acetone smoothed to seal them. The file is on Thingiverse. www.thingiverse.com/thing:3848619 (Some people feel that it's wrong to have food touch plastic - it's low on my personal risk list) I've updated the Thingiverse listing to include a new version of the divider that is slightly narrower at the bottom to fit more of the pans. (I hope!)
** Clarification on the 2 1/2 pans per tray; it only works IF the divider is the thickness I use. (or thicker) The freeze dryer trays actually
fits about 1/2" less than 2 1/2 pans; that's one reason I made the dividers that thick, that and to fit the magnets.
For those without a 3D printer, here's my best ideas for getting some 3D printed dividers. Lots of areas have Maker's places with people that would love to do it for you. Or, better yet, some schools have 3D printing labs. Check with a the local charter school that has junior high or high school age students. I taught 3D Design and Printing for 3+ years at a local 6th - 8th grade charter school. We loved it when we could find/were given a real-world project with a real need.
I finally made a couple of the dividers without using the 3D printer a short time ago. It turns out it's an easy craft project and my sister says they are working well. (I will be making more non 3D printed ones, they're easy, cheap, and work!)
Making Dividers for My Pre-freeze Pans Without Using a 3D Printer (For Our Medium Freeze Dryer) ua-cam.com/video/XNsbWn29xdE/v-deo.html
Stay tuned. 😁 I'm going to show another way using 1/2 thick cutting board. (For people with more tools and/or skills)
Another wonderful video! Thank you!
You added 1/2 pound of butter..when you cooked them, so ... what do you think your shelflife will be after you've FD/mylar bagged them?
I don't know, maybe 30 years? (I assume you're asking because of the fat)
I WILL be making a video (or do a livestream) about fat and rancidity as it pertains to freeze drying.
The way you say it, it sounds like a lot of butter! A 1/2 lb! A lot of butter? 🤣 Yum!
It was a big batch of potatoes, about 16 lbs, and it works out to less than 1 tablespoon per 1 pound pan; very low fat.
The funny thing is that I get lots of comments about fat for every food I do that has ANY visible/known fat in it, but not when I do ice cream or cheese! (or other foods with LOTS of hidden fats) I only have 5 1/2 years of personal experience with OUR freeze dried items, so I only KNOW it's good for about 5 1/2 years. I assume that some foods will have a shorter shelf life; Mountain House only gives their ice cream bars a 3 year life span, and by way of comparison, has freeze dried ground beef that's good for 30 YEARS and has PLENTY of fat. (15 grams of fat in a 37 gram dry serving. I worked it out once, and I think it worked out to about 7% fat before freeze drying. I would need to more than double the butter in this batch to equal the fat content of the ground beef.) mountainhouse.com/collections/freeze-dried-meats/products/ground-beef-10-can or Mountain House Beef Stroganofff with 12 grams of fat in a 61 gram (dry) serving. mountainhouse.com/collections/pouches/products/beef-stroganoff-pouch or Mountain House Scrambled eggs with bacon with 23 grams of fat in a 63 gram (dry) serving mountainhouse.com/collections/10-cans/products/scrambled-eggs-with-bacon-10-can
I assume (without proof, because I only have 5 1/2 years of data) that we should be able to get a similar shelf life for similar products. If we could only get 75% of that I'd be happy. However, we probably don't have the same product, I'm sure they have spent a LOT of time and money to perfect their recipes, ingredients, and processes. I'm a big advocate on rotating our food stock, so I don't expect to have anything older than maybe 10 years. (we see ours as a pantry as opposed to a SHTF stockpile)
There are plenty of scientific and industry papers out there about food rancidity, and I've found them to be very interesting and informative; here's one - Chemists define roughly two ways a product can turn rancid: (Super simplified ) 1. Oxidative rancidity: Reaction involves oxygen 2. Hydrolytic rancidity: Reaction involves water Rancidity of Food: Introduction, Types, Factors and Prevention of Rancidity | Food Chemistry | Biotechnology www.biotechnologynotes.com/food-biotechnology/food-chemistry/rancidity-of-food-introduction-types-factors-and-prevention-of-rancidity-food-chemistry-biotechnology/14100 (I could give you more rancid science links if you would like) There is so much to learn about this, I'm still a beginner and not a food scientist of any kind.
Remember, I'm just another idiot on the internet. Don't listen to me. I could be wrong. Research. The #1 joke at our house is "But, I saw it on the internet!" Consider looking at what commercial companies are doing. That's where I look to for guidance. If they can do it, we probably can too. (with method adjustments)
I've just come to your channel.straight to the mashed potatoes. what's the logic behind rotating ? does it not treat food equally .
There does tend to be a few degrees difference between the different shelf temperatures. The bottom spot usually ends up about 6º C (10º F) lower than the middle two spots. The top spot usually ends up about 2º C (4º F) lower than the middle two spots.
I don't know if it's true for all machines, but it is for my mid 2017 machine and for my sister's late 2022 machine.
where can i buy the pans that you use to per-freeze food seen in your videos?
We bought our pans at the Dollar Tree store, I have a picture of the pans on the Community page. They were called 8x8" but the bottoms are about 7x7", a perfect fit for our medium freeze dryer trays. (Turns out they have them online too www.dollartree.com/cooking-concepts-square-cake-pans-75-in/10065 ) The different batches of pans that we have bought (over the past 20 years) have had slightly different side slopes, which would require a slight change in the divider shape.
The divider is just something I designed and 3D printed to fit our pans. Here is the design and print video if you are interested; ua-cam.com/video/3KLblPCTpHk/v-deo.html They were printed with ABS then vapor/acetone smoothed to seal them. The file is on Thingiverse.
@@SchoolReports just what i needed! thank you.
I thought that.fats and oils can not be freeze dried. Can you talk about that. There seemed to be a lot of butter in these. Is it ok when used in recipies
Thanks for watching. Remember, I'm just another idiot on the internet.
What? A lot of butter? 🤣 Yum!
It is true that fat or oil doesn't freeze dry, but you are correct that when used in a recipe a lot of things will work that wouldn't otherwise. It's absorbed by the rest of the food.
It was a big batch of potatoes and it works out to less than 1 tablespoon per pan; very low fat.
The funny thing is that I get lots of questions about fat for every food I do that has fat in it, except when I do ice cream! (Which has the most fat!) I only have 5 years of personal experience with OUR freeze dried items, so I only KNOW it's good for about 5 years. But, some foods will have a shorter shelf life; Mountain House only gives their ice cream bars a 3 year life span, and by way of comparison, has freeze dried ground beef that's good for 30 years and has plenty of fat. (15 grams of fat in a 37 gram dry serving. I worked it out once, and I think it worked out to about 7% fat before freeze drying) mountainhouse.com/collections/freeze-dried-meats/products/ground-beef-10-can
If you are interested in reading some science papers about how rancidity works, I could add some links.
They look yum!
Where did you get the deviders? New sub here.
Thanks for watching and commenting.
The divider is just something I designed and 3D printed to fit our pans. Here is the design and print video if you are interested; ua-cam.com/video/3KLblPCTpHk/v-deo.html They were printed with ABS then vapor/acetone smoothed to seal them. The file is on Thingiverse. www.thingiverse.com/thing:3848619
I have a picture of the pans on the Community page. They were called 8x8" pans when we bought them at the Dollar Tree store, but the bottoms are about 7x7", a perfect fit for our medium freeze dryer trays. (Turns out they have them online too www.dollartree.com/cooking-concepts-square-cake-pans-75-in/10065 )The different batches of pans that we have bought (over the past 20 years) have had slightly different side slopes, which would require a slight change in the divider shape. That's why some of our pans have an "X" on them. It might be doable to make dividers using foamcore or cardboard and covering it with plastic wrap, for those without a printer. (no 3D printer? )
Another viewer used cut some out of thick plastic (like thick cutting board) to make their dividers. (They did have a laser cutter)
I'm planning to try to figure out how to make a good, usable (1/2" thick) divider without using a printer. (For those odd people who don't have a few 3D printers)
Clarification on the 2 1/2 pans per tray; it only works IF the divider is the thickness I use. (or thicker) The freeze dryer trays actually fits about 1/2" less than 2 1/2 pans; that's one reason I made the dividers that thick, and to fit the magnets.
Never had an issue with my unit sealing against the glass. To be fair I never looked at it till you mentioned it. I don't get a complete ring until the pump actually starts then it sucks in immediately. Can't hurt tho. I do weigh my stuff now and it is surprising how much water is left in stuff after factory settings. Liking this series...even the jokes, well most of the jokes.
The issue I have had (very rare) if I don't have the ring of the door against the seal is, if it's very humid that day, it will build up a layer of ice between the seal and the door. Then, when the vacuum starts the seal tends to leak a bit until the ice melts and the seal becomes complete. How much more water have you removed after it "finished"?
As far as the jokes, the kids would tell everyone to not encourage me.
The vacuum is what makes it seal by increasing creating negative pressure inside and causing the atmosphere to press the door against the ring... this guy is over analyzing every little thing to the point of ridiculousness. I do like the extra insulation around the exposed stainless steel of the vacuum chamber though
@@jeremiahsmith7924 some people that just analyze everything. can come in handy cause I barely analyze anything. I have more of a hey y'all watch this approach.
We're did you get your dividers for the dollar store pans?
The divider is just something I designed and 3D printed to fit our pans. Here is the design and print video if you are interested; ua-cam.com/video/3KLblPCTpHk/v-deo.html They were printed with ABS then vapor/acetone smoothed to seal them. The file is on Thingiverse. The different batches of pans that we have bought have had slightly different side slopes, which would require a slight change in the divider shape. That's why some of our pans have an "X" on them. It might be doable to make dividers using foamcore or cardboard and covering it with plastic wrap, for those without a printer. (no 3D printer? ) Another viewer used cut some out of thick plastic (like thick cutting board) to make their dividers. (They did have a laser cutter) I going to try to figure out how to make a good, usable divider without using a printer. (For those odd people who don't have a 3D printer)
I'm going to try to figure out how to make a good, usable (1/2" thick) divider without using a printer. (For those odd people who don't have a few 3D printers) 😇
Clarification on the 2 1/2 pans per tray; it only works IF the divider is the thickness I use. (or thicker) The freeze dryer trays actually fits about 1/2" less than 2 1/2 pans; that's one reason I made the dividers that thick. And to fit the magnets.
We have a similar model. Mine is 2016. Is the clear round cover custom?
Yes. It's just a disc I cut out of 0.075" thick acrylic (1.9mm thick) I would probably use 1/8" (3mm +) next time. Once the machine is under vacuum the disc probably doesn't matter, but while it's freezing it seems to help. (think airplane window) I love how good of a job it has done and have not experienced any downside. It does seem to be better than the pads they used to send with our machines. It also works when I want video inside the chamber while freeze drying. Here is how I made it. Making an Acrylic Disc Front for a Harvest Right Freeze Dryer ua-cam.com/video/erH1VDqNi80/v-deo.html If your freeze dryer is like ours, (2017) the opening is not quite round. For my first test piece I cut a very accurate circle out of a piece of foamcore and it had gaps of 1/8"+ (3mm +) around the edge. My sister's new (late 2022) machine has a chamber that is very round. We will be making a disc for her machine and I think the fact that it's round will make it easier. Her machine is a medium and I think hers is just a simple 11 7/8" diameter actual circle!
Hi,can I ask where is from the blue halfing plastic peaces in tray ? whots name and where,can I buy it. please -Thank you.
The divider is something I designed and 3D printed to fit our pans. Here is the design and print video if you are interested; ua-cam.com/video/3KLblPCTpHk/v-deo.html They were printed with ABS then vapor/acetone smoothed to seal them.
It would probably be pretty easy to make dividers using foamcore or cardboard and covering it with plastic wrap, for those without a printer.
Another viewer used cut some out of thick plastic (like thick cutting board) to make their dividers. (They did have a laser cutter) 😁
The pans are just some pans we bought at a local Dollar Tree store. I have a picture of them on the Community page. They were called 8x8" pans when we bought them, but the bottoms are about 7x7", a perfect fit for our medium freeze dryer trays
@@SchoolReports thank you
Where did you get your pans and dividers?
Pans: There is a picture of these on a post a few months ago on this community page.
These are the pans we've been using for years to prefreeze food for freeze drying. (We've been using these pans for freeze blocks of food for decades, long before we started freeze drying.) They fit our (2017) medium freeze dryer trays. We got these a couple days ago at a local Dollar Tree for $1.25 each. And who knew that they have them online too!
www.dollartree.com/cooking-concepts-square-cake-pans-75-in/10065
Dividers: The divider is just something I designed and 3D printed to fit our 7x7 prefreeze pans. Here is the design and print video if you are interested; ua-cam.com/video/3KLblPCTpHk/v-deo.html They were printed with ABS then vapor/acetone smoothed to seal them.
It might be doable to make dividers using foamcore or cardboard and covering it with plastic wrap, for those without a printer. (no 3D printer? ) Another viewer used cut some out of thick plastic (like thick cutting board) to make their dividers. (They did have a laser cutter) I going to try to figure out how to make a good, usable divider without using a printer. (For those odd people who don't have a 3D printer)
How do you store all your Mylar bags?
We store our bags in racks (from Costco) in a mix of 27 gallon and 12 gallon bins. (also from Costco😇) Here is a glimpse of the racks with bins. ua-cam.com/video/VzI9Jgii5sE/v-deo.html
I'm sure it's been covered before, but where do you purchase those bags? Do you have a preferred source, or are you always scanning for better deals? Thanks!
We have been getting our Mylar bags and oxygen absorbers from PackFreshUSA.com for years now and have been happy with the products and service we have received from them. - They are not a sponsor, we just like their stuff. (Hello? PackFreshUSA?)
We get the 7mil bags, mostly the gusset bottom, seal top ones. These are the ones we get the most: The pint bag with OA's - packfreshusa.com/pint-seal-top-gusset-7-mil-stand-up-mylar-bags-sets/ Pint bags - packfreshusa.com/pint-7-mil-seal-top-gusset-mylar-bags-1000-wholesale/ Quart bags - 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/ And the oxygen absorbers we use the most -300cc Oxygen Absorbers in 10-Packs (1000) - packfreshusa.com/300cc-oxygen-absorbers-in-10-packs-1000-wholesale/
As far as looking for better deals, I'm a brand/sellers dream! There could be better deals out there, but I don't look. Once I've finally decided on something (a product or process), I hate to change, because that would mean starting over with the research and testing phase. If someone shows me the data to prove that they now have a better process or product, I'll switch to that. (Also, never do testing of a new process on the main production line) I believe that there is only one best way of doing something at a time. (For a given set of circumstances.)
Love your videos. Where did you get your blue tray divider? Thanks.
Thanks for watching.
The divider is just something I designed and 3D printed to fit our pans. Here is the design and print video if you are interested; ua-cam.com/video/3KLblPCTpHk/v-deo.html They were printed with ABS then vapor/acetone smoothed to seal them.
It would probably be pretty easy to make dividers using foamcore or cardboard and covering it with plastic wrap, for those without a printer. (no 3D printer? 😢)
Another viewer used cut some out of thick plastic (like thick cutting board) to make their dividers. (They did have a laser cutter) 😁
Your trays must be larger than my medium. I bought those cake pans but they are too wide
I am disappointed to hear that. I've had a number of viewers tell me that they had used the pans (more than a year ago) and they had worked for them. Something must have changed because you're the second person in 2 days to tell me they don't work now. I'm removing it from the list and I'm going to just recommend going to a local Dollar store like we did. The pans we bought at our local Dollar store were called 8x8" pans, but the bottoms are about 7x7", a perfect fit for our freeze dryer trays, and only cost $1.
A few people have also said that the Silicone Square Cake 8x8 Baking Pan works for them. We got a set of them. While the did work for fit and it's easy to get the food out, I didn't like the flexible nature of them. I couldn't stack them in the freezer, and they are too expensive. I'll stick with our dollar store pans.
If you dont live in the USA the pans may be in metric measurements. Here in Canada things are measured in centimeters or metric. Which could make the pans differant sizes.
Where u get ur dividers?
The divider is just something I designed and 3D printed to fit our pans. Here is the design and print video if you are interested; ua-cam.com/video/3KLblPCTpHk/v-deo.html They were printed with ABS then vapor/acetone smoothed to seal them. The file is on Thingiverse.
I have a picture of the pans on the Community page. They were called 8x8" pans when we bought them at the Dollar Tree store, but the bottoms are about 7x7", a perfect fit for our medium freeze dryer trays. The different batches of pans that we have bought have had slightly different side slopes, which would require a slight change in the divider shape. That's why some of our pans have an "X" on them. It might be doable to make dividers using foamcore or cardboard and covering it with plastic wrap, for those without a printer. (no 3D printer? ) Another viewer used cut some out of thick plastic (like thick cutting board) to make their dividers. (They did have a laser cutter) I going to try to figure out how to make a good, usable divider without using a printer. (For those odd people who don't have a 3D printer)
I'm going to try to figure out how to make a good, usable (1/2" thick) divider without using a printer. (For those odd people who don't have a few 3D printers) 😇
Clarification on the 2 1/2 pans per tray; it only works IF the divider is the thickness I use. (or thicker) The freeze dryer trays actually fits about 1/2" less than 2 1/2 pans; that's one reason I made the dividers that thick. And to fit the magnet
Thank you soo much. Maybe ask somebody .
whats your kw power meter called please
Thanks for watching and commenting!
This is the one we're using - Power meter amzn.to/3s4RVOr (Amazon affiliate link)
It occurred to me, and I have to ask is the 500 pounds of food the freeze dried weight?
The total WET weight for the series ended up being 543.2 lbs, with a DRY weight of 130.1 lb and a total cost of about $1350. You can find all the data from the series here: First 500 lbs data spreadsheet link: docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1ieekdk5aH_2OWLUealeOLurU9_zl03BfFEg_qhAgcaA/edit?usp=sharing
Great video
What size freeze dryer do you have?
New subscriber
God bless you and your family 🙏🙏🙏
Thanks for watching. We have the medium machine from 2017.
Can you tell us what kind of potatoes you used? Because some potatoes very sticky. I’m just curious on what you used.
They were russet potatoes this time.
Have you ever freeze-dried dehydrated or powdered mashed potatoes? Similar to your video with the hashbrowns, they are already dried but you're removing that last bit of moisture by freeze-drying. I'm curious about the results and if it was worth it. I really enjoy your videos, keep them coming!
Yes we have, and I think it is worth it. Upcoming video with drying Minute Rice, while still dry, to find out how much water is removed from the "dry" rice. It goes in tomorrow, batch 41 of the series. (sister's batch)
Can you.add.butter? Thought you couldnt do fat!
Thanks for the comment!
It was a big batch of potatoes, about 16 lbs, and it works out to less than 1 tablespoon per 1 pound pan; very low fat.
Putting Lots Of Fat In The Freeze Dryer. A LOT! -- Responding to Anti Fat Comments ua-cam.com/video/43ieIl3EB8k/v-deo.html
The funny thing is that I get _lots_ of comments about fat for every food I do that has ANY visible/known fat in it, but not when I do ice cream or cheese or eggs! (or other foods with LOTS of hidden fats) I only have 6 years of personal experience with OUR freeze dried items, so I only KNOW it's good for about 5 1/2 years. I assume that some foods will have a shorter shelf life; Mountain House only gives their ice cream bars a 3 year life span, and by way of comparison, has freeze dried ground beef that's good for 30 YEARS and has PLENTY of fat. (15 grams of fat in a 37 gram dry serving. I worked it out once, and I think it worked out to about 7% fat before freeze drying. I would need to more than double the butter in this batch to equal the fat content of the ground beef.) mountainhouse.com/collections/freeze-dried-meats/products/ground-beef-10-can or Mountain House Beef Stroganofff with 12 grams of fat in a 61 gram (dry) serving. mountainhouse.com/collections/pouches/products/beef-stroganoff-pouch or Mountain House Scrambled eggs with bacon with 23 grams of fat in a 63 gram (dry) serving mountainhouse.com/collections/10-cans/products/scrambled-eggs-with-bacon-10-can
I assume (without proof, because I only have 6 years of data) that we should be able to get a similar shelf life for similar products. If we could only get 75% of that I'd be happy. However, we probably don't have the same product, I'm sure they have spent a LOT of time and money to perfect their recipes, ingredients, and processes. I'm a big advocate on rotating our food stock, so I don't expect to have anything older than maybe 10 years. (we see ours as a pantry as opposed to a SHTF stockpile)
There are plenty of scientific and industry papers out there about food rancidity, and I've found them to be very interesting and informative; here's one - Chemists define roughly two ways a product can turn rancid: (Super simplified ) 1. Oxidative rancidity: Reaction involves oxygen 2. Hydrolytic rancidity: Reaction involves water Rancidity of Food: Introduction, Types, Factors and Prevention of Rancidity | Food Chemistry | Biotechnology www.biotechnologynotes.com/food-biotechnology/food-chemistry/rancidity-of-food-introduction-types-factors-and-prevention-of-rancidity-food-chemistry-biotechnology/14100 (I could give you more rancid science links if you would like) There is so much to learn about this, I'm still a beginner and not a food scientist of any kind.
Remember, I'm just another idiot on the internet. Don't listen to me. I could be wrong. The #1 joke at our house is "But, I saw it on the internet!" Consider looking at what commercial companies are doing. That's where I look to for guidance. If they can do it, we probably can too. (with method adjustments)
Where do the pan dividers come from?
😁The divider is something I designed and 3D printed to fit our pans. Here is the design and print video if you are interested; ua-cam.com/video/3KLblPCTpHk/v-deo.html They were printed with ABS then vapor/acetone smoothed to seal them. It would probably be pretty easy to make dividers using foamcore or cardboard and then covering it with plastic wrap, for those without a printer. The pans are just some pans we bought at a local Dollar store. They were called 8x8" pans, but the bottoms are about 7x7", a perfect fit for our freeze dryer trays.
Another viewer used a laser cutter to make their dividers.
@@SchoolReports thank you!
Butter has a decent amount of fat and that is a problem for long term food Storage. Unless. You are using them within a few years why not add the butter after rehydration?
Thanks for watching.
First, remember, I'm just another idiot on the internet. Don't listen to me. Research. The #1 joke at our house is "But, I saw it on the internet!"
Second, did you see how little butter we put in, considering it was a 14 lb batch of potatoes? Butter is almost all fat and is delicious! I don't fear small amounts of fat in my freeze drying.
"They" do say that about fat and food storage. And then "they" do a batch of ice cream without giving it a mention about the fat content. And it is true, but "they" forget that the main mechanisms for it to go rancid involve water and/or oxygen, and we remove them. (I've even seen one video where "they" state, as a fact, that if you put an oxygen absorber in a bag with your baking soda could make it EXPLODE. I'd love to see the science behind that. I looked at the chemistry and I just didn't see how. If you heat baking soda it decomposes into sodium carbonate, water and carbon dioxide and can put out fire. I realize that some things like baking soda don't need oxygen absorbers, but explode?) I don't think it would be too much to ask for them to share the scientific paper/article. I only have 4 3/4 years of personal experience with OUR freeze dried items, so I only KNOW it's good for 4 3/4 years. However, I'm not worried, because commercial companies like Mountain House has freeze dried ground beef that's good for 30 years and has plenty of fat. (15 grams of fat in a 37 gram dry serving. I worked it out once, and I think it worked out to about 93% lean before freeze drying) mountainhouse.com/collections/freeze-dried-meats/products/ground-beef-10-can
Chemists define roughly two ways a product can turn rancid: (Super simplified ) 1. Oxidative rancidity: Reaction involves oxygen 2. Hydrolytic rancidity: Reaction involves water
Rancidity of Food: Introduction, Types, Factors and Prevention of Rancidity | Food Chemistry | Biotechnology www.biotechnologynotes.com/food-biotechnology/food-chemistry/rancidity-of-food-introduction-types-factors-and-prevention-of-rancidity-food-chemistry-biotechnology/14100
Food spoilage - Rancidity and food chemistry. September 14, 2017 Storing Food - chemical reactions, fats, food enzymes, preservation foodcrumbles.com/food-spoilage-rancidity-and-food-chemistry/
Prevention of Hydrolytic and Oxidative Rancidity and Nutrient Losses in Rice Bran During Storage digitalcommons.lsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=7859&context=gradschool_disstheses
Rancidity www.sciencedirect.com/topics/agricultural-and-biological-sciences/rancidity
@@SchoolReports throwing the knowledge out haha
@@AddictOfLearning Well, I have very little knowledge of my own, so I have to use the knowledge of others, and hope they did the math right!
@@SchoolReports So happy to let you find and borrow the research so I can focus on building up my food storage 😬
Where do you get the dividers from?
The divider is something I designed and 3D printed to fit our pans. Here is the design and print video if you are interested; ua-cam.com/video/3KLblPCTpHk/v-deo.html They were printed with ABS then vapor/acetone smoothed to seal them. It would probably be pretty easy to make dividers using foamcore or cardboard and then covering it with plastic wrap, for those without a printer. The pans are just some pans we bought at a local Dollar store. They were called 8x8" pans, but the bottoms are about 7x7", a perfect fit for our freeze dryer trays.
I'm not currently planning to get into selling 3D printed stuff (I wasn't planning to get into teaching 3D design and printing either, but ended up teaching for 3 years, so who knows.)
If I ever start making them to sell, I'll have to sell the pan with them because it seems like every time we bought a batch of pans they were a tiny bit different.
I did make the video of designing and printing the divider, with a link to the print files, in case you or someone you know was a printer.
To keep your scale calibrated, don't ever smash ingredients into the pan like you're doing, mix or otherwise misuse it. Take the pan off of the scale to press the potatoes into the pan.
Of course that's good advice, but I don't worry about it.
We been using it this way for 13 years with zero issues. I have a set of scale Calibration Weights for testing (1g 2g 5g 10g 20g 50g 100g) and these scales have shown _zero_ shift in all that time.
😃 ❤️ 🐸
I don't understand why you don't just insert the thermometer in the food before you put the food in the freezer and eliminate the need to drill into the frozen food, the risk of damaging the stainless steel tray isn't worth the extra work?
As I replied to you yesterday, that's a reasonable question! 👍
There is no reason (that I know of) the thermometers couldn't be frozen in the slabs of food. I Have tried it and it worked fine, but it took more planning ahead for me. We often have many dozens of the blocks (up to 150+ blocks) in the freezer waiting for the freeze dryer, so we would need dozens of thermometers.🤣By adding them later I only need 4.
With the way we prefreeze in the small pans we use, we need 10 blocks per freeze dryer load (8 whole blocks and 4 half blocks) but only 4 thermometers. Another viewer suggested using stainless steel nails and prefreezing them in the blocks (instead of drilling) and then pulling them out and putting the thermometers in before putting them into the freeze dryer. I'm dong this with some stainless steel rods instead of nails. ua-cam.com/video/Vtr786DcVi0/v-deo.htmlsi=-voxMhdWD6sEyHij
Nobody seems to want to answer the question--CAN YOU FREEZE DRY CREAMED CHIPPED BEEF?
Freeze drying Creamed Chipped Beef should be no problem at all. (At least the recipes I've seen. Do you have a favorite recipe?) My sister has freeze dried some. The only issue I see is that it may turn out thin after you rehydrate it, but when I do sauces/gravy-type items I just add some Instant ClearJel if I think it needs it to make sure it stays thick after rehydrated. I don't have any idea why nobody would want to answer that simple question.
@@SchoolReports mine isn't made with water, although I see your point on rehydrating it. It should NOT take a lot of water to rehydrate though, its mostly milk anyways mixed with flour and butter and chipped beef. Will try your suggestion when I get the freeze dryer.
Sounds good!
Even if you aren't adding "water" when you make it before freeze drying, the milk is 90-something percent water, so even if you make it with milk you'll might only need water for rehydrating because the milk will already be in it.
I was under the impression that you could not add BUTTER to anything freeze dried. Oh my goodness, no! That’s what i’ve been taught on other channels. What gives?
Thanks for the comment/question!
Butter in recipes is not a problem just because it's butter. Butter is great, but it's not magic!🤣
Do those same channels then go on to show themselves doing cheese, ice cream, eggs, etc? All of these foods have _way_ more fat than the tiny amount of fat the butter added to this batch.
What gives? - Reading comprehension? 😁 The biggest difference is that one of my few abilities is - I can read commercially made freeze dried food package labels.
It was a big batch of potatoes, about 16 lbs, and it works out to less than 1 tablespoon per 1 pound pan; very low fat. It's not like I'm trying to freeze dry a cube of butter; that would be more difficult.
Putting Lots Of Fat In The Freeze Dryer. A LOT! -- Responding to Anti Fat Comments ua-cam.com/video/43ieIl3EB8k/v-deo.html
The funny thing is that I get lots of comments about fat for every food I do that has ANY visible/known fat in it, but not when I do ice cream or cheese or eggs! (or other foods with LOTS of hidden fats) I only have 6 years of personal experience with OUR freeze dried items, so I only KNOW it's good for about 5 1/2 years. I assume that some foods will have a shorter shelf life; Mountain House only gives their ice cream bars a 3 year life span, and by way of comparison, has freeze dried ground beef that's good for 30 YEARS and has PLENTY of fat. (15 grams of fat in a 37 gram dry serving. I worked it out once, and I think it worked out to about 7% fat before freeze drying. I would need to more than double the butter in this batch to equal the fat content of the ground beef.) mountainhouse.com/collections/freeze-dried-meats/products/ground-beef-10-can or Mountain House Beef Stroganofff with 12 grams of fat in a 61 gram (dry) serving. mountainhouse.com/collections/pouches/products/beef-stroganoff-pouch or Mountain House Scrambled eggs with bacon with 23 grams of fat in a 63 gram (dry) serving mountainhouse.com/collections/10-cans/products/scrambled-eggs-with-bacon-10-can
I am a big advocate on rotating our food stock, so I don't expect to have anything older than maybe 10 years. (we see ours as a pantry as opposed to a SHTF stockpile)
Remember, I'm just another idiot on the internet. I could be wrong. The #1 joke at our house is "But, I saw it on the internet!" Consider looking at what commercial companies are doing. That's where I look to for guidance. If they can do it, we probably can too. (with method adjustments)
@@SchoolReports EXACTLY! I always wonder the same thing! Some people freak out over any fat at all and then freeze dry cream cheese, which is made from heavy cream!
I’ll go with your findings! Thanks! 🙏🏼
Where do you get the blue dividers from?
The dividers are just something I made. The dividers are designed to fit the pans we got at a Dollar Tree store. They were called 8x8" but the bottoms are about 7x7", 2 1/2 pans are a perfect fit ** for our medium freeze dryer trays. (Turns out they have them online too www.dollartree.com/cooking-concepts-square-cake-pans-75-in/10065 ) Here is the design and print video if you are interested; ua-cam.com/video/3KLblPCTpHk/v-deo.html They were printed with ABS then vapor/acetone smoothed to seal them. The file is on Thingiverse. www.thingiverse.com/thing:3848619 (Some people feel that it's wrong to have food touch plastic - it's low on my personal risk list) I've updated the Thingiverse listing to include a new version of the divider that is slightly narrower at the bottom to fit more of the pans.
** Clarification on the 2 1/2 pans per tray; it only works IF the divider is the thickness I use. (or thicker) The freeze dryer trays actually
fits about 1/2" less than 2 1/2 pans; that's one reason I made the dividers that thick, that and to fit the magnets.
For those without a 3D printer, here's my best ideas for getting some 3D printed dividers. Lots of areas have Maker's places with people that would love to do it for you. Or, better yet, some schools have 3D printing labs. Check with a the local charter school that has junior high or high school age students. I taught 3D Design and Printing for 3+ years at a local 6th - 8th grade charter school. We loved it when we could find/were given a real-world project with a real need.
I finally made a couple of the dividers without using the 3D printer a short time ago. It turns out it's an easy craft project and my sister says they are working well. (I will be making more non 3D printed ones, they're easy, cheap, and work!)
Making Dividers for My Pre-freeze Pans Without Using a 3D Printer (For Our Medium Freeze Dryer) ua-cam.com/video/XNsbWn29xdE/v-deo.html
Stay tuned. 😁 I'm going to show another way using 1/2 thick cutting board. (For people with more tools and/or skills)