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OFF TOPIC: freeze drying food. 2-Dec-2009 At 7:38:05 PM robbio

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Hello fellow food preservers! (are there any?)

I had a mate who used to dehydrate meat based meals (using a proper food dehydrator) and store them in a cupboard in zip lock bags before taking them on hikes. Sometimes they would be stored for over a year, and he never had issues with them going bad.

Throwing caution to the wind, i thought i'd take some of my old dehydrated spag bowl meals on an extended walk in Tassie. I had made them about 18mths prior, and they had been stored in much the same way as my friends, but mine went bad. I ended up having to throw most of my dinners out.

On that very trip i met some nurses who dehydrated meals also, but they also freezedried their meals in order to keep them fresher for longer. If they were meat meals, they also freezed them. The idea of freezing a freeze dried meal that was already dehydrated sounded like overkill to me, but they were nurses, so i guess they knew what they were talking about. And at least they had some edible dehyds as proof.

So, does anyone freeze dry any meals out there? If so, what machine do you have/recommend? I hear sunbeam makes an ok one, but bags sound kinda pricey.

Any advice on freeze drying meals would be greatly appreciated.

Rob