My Harvest Right Freeze Dryer

A little over 1.5 years ago, I bought a large stainless steel freeze dryer. I have tried so so many foods and each new dish is always an experiment but so far I have not been disappointed. By freezing the foods in a conventional freezer beforehand, it shortens the FD time by up to a few hours in some cases. I have made FD Lasagna, peas and carrots, shallots, squash, yams, fajita mixes, mushrooms, citrus, apples and peaches, yogurts, cooked or raw steaks, cooked poultry and fish. I've tried lots of stuff. Italian, Asian, French cuisines...Meats, I've noticed take much less time than fruits or veggies. I've even FD'ed store bought ham steaks but they come out encrusted in salt or some form of commercial sodium. Oils, fats and many condiments don't FD well at all. Oils do better if they're mixed in with other ingredients. My goal is to eventually FD all the cancer fighting antioxidant super food berries I'm growing in my orchards. As well as many of the veggies I'll be raising this year as long as we don't get CME'd 1st.  Lastly, I really appreciate being able to make meals that the big FD companies don't offer like shrimp and scallops in a Linguini de la Pescatora dish. I love to cook!

Just finished a couple cases of Brussels sprouts and a bunch of other stuff from my buddy's restaurant, when they closed for the season.

If anyone has any questions, feel free to ask.

What are the trays of what looks like rabbit droppings?

Michael Cox wrote:What are the trays of what looks like rabbit droppings?

Sausage crumbles precooked

I have one of the large Cabela's dehydrators and have really been considering replacing it with one of the Harvest Right freeze dryers. What size did you opt for? For a comparison for me what time did it take for a tray of vegetables/fruit?

Amazing! I didn't even know there was a freeze dryer available for small-scale producers. Great photos.

How are you storing your freeze dried items?

And, (I almost hate to ask this) how much energy does the FD take?

Leigh Tate wrote:Amazing! I didn't even know there was a freeze dryer available for small-scale producers. Great photos.

How are you storing your freeze dried items?

And, (I almost hate to ask this) how much energy does the FD take?

At some point I plan on making some videos for my YouTube channel on my cooking skills and preservation.

https://harvestright.com

I use mylar bags and oxygen absorbers. I try to only use 6 mil bags due to anything thinner and the bags tend to puncture. Some foods become sharp when they break and can puncture the bags. Another thing I like to do is place the food and Oxy absorber inside a large ziplock bag then placing the ziplock inside the mylar pouch and either iron or use an impact sealer to close the mylar. It's important though to leave the ziplock bag open inside the mylar pouch. Gotta get out that oxygen and if the ziplock was closed, you might get poorer results. The benefits of the internal ziplock is to add extra protection from sharp edges foods from puncturing the mylar bag from the inside, but also, To give you a way to have a way to close the food once opened, in case you're not consuming everything and don't have access to an iron or impact sealer.

As far as power, the Large models run on 220v and the smaller ones on 115v. So, before you order a large unit make sure you have a way to plug it in in your home/kitchen etc...I can't give you exact numbers but depending on use, it can make you bills rise for sure but, in my mind, It's worth every cent especially for what you'll be able to reap way down the road. Typically most FD foods gain a shelf life of 20-30 years without loosing flavor and nutrition. FD foods aren't typically effected by temperature changes either.

Hope this helps and thanks for your interest.

I agree, it definitely sounds like it's worth it. So much better than ordinary dehydrating.

I hope you let us know when you do those videos!

I love my harvest right freeze dryer. Two things i want to add:
1) they are probably best utilized as a shared appliance unless you are really  committed to food independence. They are not cheap and I feel like I can never keep mine full.
2) Harvest right will finance you. If I recall correctly I had to pay around 50% of the cost to get it shipped and then they split up the rest of the cost over the course of 1year.

And I guess a third thing. They are much louder than normal dehydrators.

I would also recommend buying the maintenance free oil less vacuum pump up front. Chaging the oil and filtering it can be a big PITA. My pump started to fail and one of the sales people told me they don't expect a long life from them. They gave me a new maintenance free one with a slight discount. It was still very expensive! I f you have the money, I'd say buy it.

I have always wondered the energy cost vs. dehydrating or freezing, taking into account the shelf life and nutrition retained. It really shines for crops that have a bumper crop every 3-4 years and maybe nothing in between.  And bulk buys and windfalls like the Brussels. The group share sounds great as long as a schedule can be worked out, but it isn't a simple machine and one bonehead in the group could screw up and break it $$$

I looked into it as a home based business, using it to dry herbs for teas and such.  It didn't pan out for other reasons for me, but that could be a way for some to justify it.

D. Nelson wrote:I would also recommend buying the maintenance free oil less vacuum pump up front. Chaging the oil and filtering it can be a big PITA. My pump started to fail and one of the sales people told me they don't expect a long life from them. They gave me a new maintenance free one with a slight discount. It was still very expensive! I f you have the money, I'd say buy it.

To add to this, it may well be worth it to skip the harvest  right pump all together and get one from Robinaire, those things are absolute monsters that you cannot break and are not any more expensive than the pump that comes with it

s. lowe wrote:

D. Nelson wrote:I would also recommend buying the maintenance free oil less vacuum pump up front. Chaging the oil and filtering it can be a big PITA. My pump started to fail and one of the sales people told me they don't expect a long life from them. They gave me a new maintenance free one with a slight discount. It was still very expensive! I f you have the money, I'd say buy it.

To add to this, it may well be worth it to skip the harvest  right pump all together and get one from Robinaire, those things are absolute monsters that you cannot break and are not any more expensive than the pump that comes with it

thank you, I wasn't familiar with Robinaire. Do they require the oil changes?

Has anyone FD'd whole grains? Some, like oats, do not keep well in the groat form. I wondered about soaking them overnight and then doing the FD thing to them. Any thoughts?

Question: anyone know if I can use the pharmaceutical tray holder (10 slot), with the home program, or would I need to upload the pharma program for all 10 tray slots to operate properly? I am asking because I have both the home tray holder (5 slot) and the home program, as well as the pharmaceutical tray holder (10 slot) and pharma program. I’d like to use the 10 slot holder with home program for things like chopped onions, so I can do twice the amount at a time. Any help greatly appreciated

Regarding the following:

s. lowe wrote:I love my harvest right freeze dryer. Two things i want to add:
1) they are probably best utilized as a shared appliance unless you are really  committed to food independence. They are not cheap and I feel like I can never keep mine full.
...

R Scott wrote:I have always wondered the energy cost vs. dehydrating or freezing, taking into account the shelf life and nutrition retained. It really shines for crops that have a bumper crop every 3-4 years and maybe nothing in between.  And bulk buys and windfalls like the Brussels. The group share sounds great as long as a schedule can be worked out, but it isn't a simple machine and one bonehead in the group could screw up and break it $$$

I looked into it as a home based business, using it to dry herbs for teas and such.  It didn't pan out for other reasons for me, but that could be a way for some to justify it.

I've always wanted a Harvest Right freeze dyer, but the sheer power requirements and upfront cost of the device (not to mention maintenance time), along with the volume of food to process in order for it to pay for itself (when compared to a simple freezer), have all been huge deterrents.  I can't recall the exact math and kW-hours per batch off the top of my head...but I think the YouTuber "Retired at 40" says it costs around $3 a batch, and so running only a few batches a month is already more expensive than a deep freezer plugged in 24/7.


I think one way that permies could offset the lifetime cost of this appliance (or other less-frequently used, high capital cost appliances or niche gear like quality chicken pluckers or cider presses) is via pay-per use sharing methods, aka offering freeze drying as a service.  If someone owned a freeze dryer, and had an appointment scheduling system, they could offer their services on a marketplace, such as Permapeople.  

One could list a post here on permies.com in the regional forums, offering the terms of use for your personal freeze dryer:

Prohibited foods/materials

Max weight and volume of food per batch

Preparation requirements (food morsel sizes; delivered frozen)

Extra cost charges for mylar bags and absorber packets

General location

Electricity rate or general cost (maybe $5 - $10 per batch?)

Available days / times for drop off and pickup

I've also contemplated the merits of just buying one and donating it to a food bank to enable preservation of bulk fresh produce donations for long-term storage and community distribution, or to a church congregation to save pot-luck leftovers to distribute to elderly members or the needy.  The community model sounds most appropriate.  But for just a family, it's hard for me to make the math work unless I think with a business hat and shoot for high-value berry sales.  Fruit farm + freeze dryer seems like a really cool combination.  If only the wattage was conducive for solar or renewable energy systems...then I'd be onboard!
 

Ads say made in the USA but the hi vac pump is made in China. When I saw this it went back. Then I started reading the horror show about harvest right and found out first hand they don’t have any knowledgeable staff.  Big rip off

Hi all,

glad there is a thread here on permies about the Harvest RIght freeze dryers,
Both the Small and Medium HarvestRight FD run on regular 15amp outlet. they can be run on an off grid system  Here is some information I have collected in the past week since i ordered and am awaiting delivery.

ONE comment about folks who compare this to having lots of regular freezer space: what about when electricity goes off or is gone due to disasters of any sort? I think having bins of freeze dried foods in mylar bags or jars would keep me and my family going. There might be wasted food, if the refrigerator type freezers no longer have electricity

The youtube channel person on Retired at 40, Brian, has over 100 videos about and using the HarvestRight FD. He has been using them for more than four years. has several models. Retired at 40/Brian has medium and large FD's, and says that although the large does more at one session, it takes longer to FD. Since the medium actually FD's its loads faster, you can FD more foods with two loads in a medium.

I cannot yet speak about customer or technical supports.
(Apologies for duplicating some of the information. my brain...)

here is link.
https://harvestright.com/home-freeze-dryers/

the Harvest Right freeze dryers are made in the usa. the pumps may be a different story.

This Freeze Dryer (FD) seems to be a very worthwhile investment. I am investing in this for long term self-care. for prepping. for aging in place. maybe even for gift giving food to others. the freeze dried foods can last 20-25 years appropriately stored and maintain more than 90% nutrition. I can easily recoup my investment by completely reducing food waste with this prepping and having food and meals ready to eat for the rest of my life, and pass on to someone else after i leave earth.

There is a bit of a learning curve (what in life doesn't have a learning curve?)

I just purchased the Medium Freeze Dryer last week. and am watching many "in use" videos for various foods, flowers and herbs. It can easily FD raw and prepared foods and fully cooked meals, LIQUIDS!, raw or cooked meats (pre-cooked meats, being safely cooked, will not need to be cooked later in case in the future there is no means to cook them).

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There are numerous channels on youtube with videos about these FDs. Have watched more than a dozen videos by one channel, Retired at 40, who has been using these for four years, so has much experience with the pros and cons of the FD, the various vacuum pumps and accessories. Eggs different ways:    
Channel page:  https://www.youtube.com/c/Retiredat40/videos

Folks tend to Prefreeze the trays of food in their home freezer, before putting in to FD which saves time and wear on the FD. Retired at 40/Brian has a website where he has some helpful accessories such as tray stackers for stacking trays easily for the prefreeze in the freezer. and a bag/jar filler. also on his channel has a video on how to make your own silicone tray liners for cheap.   http://www.freezedryingsupplies.com

Other folks have some websites with accessories. Someone has suggested mytopmylar.com for their bags. some folks use hair styling flat irons for sealing the mylar bags.

In the comments sections of the videos, folks share many other innovative ways they do things for their own freeze drying adventures. Some folks are freeze drying and using as a small business/ at farmers markets, etc. There are a few online groups, yet no forums i can find.
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Only a few foods cannot be properly FD. very sugary, very fatty, and something else i can't think of in the moment. someone talked about pureeing tomatos and the puree exploded all over the interior.  folks tend to slice tomatoes then FD. then leave in slices or powder to store. yet folks FD tomato sauces, salsas, etc. folks talk about FD heavy whipping cream and other fatty things, so this will be fun to learn about.

(An aside)
I've seen folks use an automotive brake line bleeder or other vacuum sealer for bags, for further suctioning air out of bags and jars, so that the enclosed Oxygen Absorbers (OA) have less work to do.

________________________________________________
Presently, there is a 2-4 week waiting list for small and medium sizes, a 10 week waiting list on the Large. AND the large requires a 20 amp circuit and special outlet for its added power usage. The small and medium sizes use a regular outlet and 15 amp circuit and can be used more readily on an off grid setup.

From watching videos about the Harvest Right, users say that Harvest RIght is always innovating and listening to the users. There is a USB port on the FD to upgrade the software for free--HR will send you a flash drive. Folks say the customer service is more than just good.

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The Vacuum Pumps: I upgraded to the Premium pump, which is much quieter and requires less maintenance than the basic pump.

The very expensive oil-less pump requires to be sent back to HR every so often to be completely rebuilt for $350, with shipping at owner's expense.

i will invest in another Premium pump to use both and make sure they are in good working order. This way i can keep freeze drying, even if a pump goes on the fritz.

Someone says to buy a vacuum pump directly from Robinair, i will look into this as my delivery is 2-4 weeks out.

two more of the many things to consider:

Sound level. these machines are loud. i am in process of contacting Harvest Right and Retired at 40/Brian to find out if they will share the decibel levels. I live in a small home with no outdoor or basement or garage to set up the Freeze Dryer

Humidity. living in the southeast, my indoor humidity presently stays between 55-65%. Outside right now is 99%. Food will take longer to freeze dry in this amount of humidity. Again, I am contacting the above folks to find out more about this subject matter.

two more of the many things to consider:

Sound level. these machines are loud. i am in process of contacting Harvest Right and Retired at 40/Brian to find out if they will share the decibel levels. I live in a small home with no outdoor or basement or garage to set up the Freeze Dryer

Humidity. living in the southeast, my indoor humidity presently stays between 55-65% even with the air conditioner running to help dehumidify at the indoor temperature of 75-78F. Outside right now at 5:30am 68F and 99% humidity. Food will take longer to freeze dry in this amount of humidity. Again, I am contacting the above folks to educate myself more about this subject matter.

On energy costs, it should be remembered manufacturers pass such costs on to us.  So much of what it costs to run a FD would have been paid for the manufacturers overhead.

Then there is shelf life. Many things would have to be canned or frozen, then be used in a relatively short time. Too, freezer space is limited.  

I like the idea of not having to be over paranoid about losing everything that would be in the freezer, because it's not. It's on a shelf, instead.

Finally, for me, I live next to dams and pay little. In fact, my shop has three dust collectors, two of which are three horse meter spinners. They team up with industrial equipment. Then there is the shop heater/cooling. Put that shop with my house and a $120.00/month bill is high, so these units don't scare me much.

Re:  "[I]'ve always wanted a Harvest Right freeze dyer, but the sheer power requirements and upfront cost of the device (not to mention maintenance time), along with the volume of food to process in order for it to pay for itself (when compared to a simple freezer), have all been huge deterrents.  I can't recall the exact math and kW-hours per batch off the top of my head...but I think the YouTuber "Retired at 40" says it costs around $3 a batch, and so running only a few batches a month is already more expensive than a deep freezer plugged in 24/7. "

Don't forget freeze dried things keep far longer than frozen. You have to pay to keep things frozen every month. The freeze dried thing on the shelf can be there a decade or even two and it cost nothing to keep it there but the loss of space, initial cost for jars or mylar bags aside.

Too, if you were off the grid and relying on solar, the cost of keeping things frozen would go way up.

For us, we're looking at the ability to buy in bulk what we could not before, because of storage issues (e.g., canning, freezing).  We, also, are looking at not passing on the free onions, potatoes, apples and so on available in our area.  Then there is the food that would have been lost to waste.

To be sure, there is a lot of expense, but I suspect a machine would pay for itself in just a few years of moderate use.  Part of that payback would show in peace of mind in trying times.

Freeze drying???
Hmm what temperature does it run at and how high is the vacuum?
Does  it put out alot of heat?
EDIT: So looks like I'm I supposed to write "a lot"? ha.

The vacuum is high enough you can put canning jars in and vacuum seal them. I haven't done this with my FD yet, because it isn't here yet, but I did do it with my vacuum stabilization system for wood and it did the job.

As to heat the FD runs at, dunno, it isn't here yet. But the Aztecs freeze dried by taking food up into the mountains. . . .

craig howard wrote:Freeze drying???
Hmm what temperature does it run at and how high is the vacuum?
Does  it put out alot of heat?
EDIT: So looks like I'm I supposed to write "a lot"? ha.

This may be a stupid question, but I'm wondering about reconstituting the freeze dried product:

1.  How long does it take compared to a regular dehydrated product?
2.  How much water does it take compared to a regular dehydrated product?
3.  How does it taste compared to a regular dehydrated product?
4.  I read about FD things like lasagna - how does that taste, reconstituted?
5.  Does it end up being sort of like the stuff they sell for taking hiking?  I don't remember the product names, but they are sold in places like Cabelas/Bass Pro Shop, and come in mylar-type bags (at least they look like mylar)

I've been looking at getting a FD for a couple of years, but have balked at the price, and whether the benefit was worth it.   When I started looking, it definitely seemed like it wasn't, but several people in my local community have now purchased them and they are using them mostly for food for SHTF, or snack items from fruit.   So far, no one I know has actually reconstituted anything.

I have a freeze dryer I just got a couple months ago.  I haven't had a chance to test drive everything I've done, but freeze drying groups I belong to say the home grown stuff (DIY) freeze dried stuff trumps the downtown stuff.

I did some pre-cooked shrimp. It rehydrates very quickly. Almost instantly. I believe cooling it and adding some cocktail sauce would make it hard to guess if it was fresh from the store or not.  

Ice cream makes a great snack as is (out of the freeze dryer), but might be made back into ice cream with a little water and a lot of cold.

I did some fake crab and just drowned it in water. It took a long time to rehydrate, so it might be an over night thing (e.g., 24hrs).

Jump to raw eggs.  People indicate they just add 1-1/2 TSP to 1 TSP of powdered egg, mix it, then go for omelets they say are indistinguishable from fresh squeezed eggs.

In short, answers to your questions are all over the board. It depends on what you're dealing with. Some things may never rehydrate well. On the other hand, apple chips MIGHT make a good pie.


As to taste comparisons between freeze dried and dehydrated, I have a high end dehydrator and a freeze dryer. I've done cases and cases of produce in the dehydrator. I'll take the freeze dryer any day.

As to water and moisture needed to rehydrate, we are talking about food with under six percent moisture content vs dehydrated food with, say, twelve percent moisture content. I'm of the suspicion, rehydrating the same thing freezed dried versus regular dehydration is only going to be a matte of minutes difference.

Kelly Craig wrote:

In short, answers to your questions are all over the board. It depends on what you're dealing with. Some things may never rehydrate well. On the other hand, apple chips MIGHT make a good pie.


As to taste comparisons between freeze dried and dehydrated, I have a high end dehydrator and a freeze dryer. I've done cases and cases of produce in the dehydrator. I'll take the freeze dryer any day.

As to water and moisture needed to rehydrate, we are talking about food with under six percent moisture content vs dehydrated food with, say, twelve percent moisture content. I'm of the suspicion, rehydrating the same thing freezed dried versus regular dehydration is only going to be a matte of minutes difference.

Thanks, Kelly.  I appreciate the input.  I've had positives and negatives with my dehydrator (apples are great eating 'as is', yellow squash tastes horrible reconstituted), so I'll guess freeze dried might be the same thing. I'm mostly interested in long term storage, more than just the snack items I know I can make.

Bummer on the squash. It might, still, be worth trying in the freeze dryer, since it concentrates tastes far more than does the dehydrator.  

Some of the things I do, I do even if they go to the bland side, because they can be made better with other things (four pounds of cheese and butter?). Perhaps even beef bouillon.  After all, we do Quinoa and flavor it.  If nothing else, they are fuel in times of hard.  Perhaps we need a "Meh" or even a "Yuck -Emergency-Food" symbol.    

If you're thinking of buying a Harvest Right Freeze Dryer, I believe they still have quite a few kinks to workout. This is my opinion as I just purchased one and live in a residential area with neighbors in close proximity.

1st- I purchased the oil less pump because their description stated it was quiet. This statement is false... it is extremely loud, especially during the drying process.  2nd- While in use, water puddles, I mean lots of water flows out from the front of the freeze dryer. When I called customer support, I was instructed to slightly lift the front to allow the water to drain to the back (they no longer provide/include the door pad with your purchase).  3rd- You need small hands and arms to be able to grab and lift the tray holder out of the drum, otherwise you scrap the inside of the drum. My husband cannot fit his hands or arms in.  4th- When placing the tray holder back into the drum (another reason needing arms to squeeze in) you need to make sure the electrical wire doesn't kink or the tray doesn't get caught on the wire   5th- There are no rails to place the tray holder on thus you scrap the inside of the drum and you cannot tell if you placed your trays level into the drum.   6th- This dryer and pump runs hot and where I live humidity is high. Even though I have my doors and windows open I still get a message stating warm temperature, drying time may be longer, thus I turn on my air conditioner, so I don't have to run the freezer dyer any longer than necessary.  For the price paid, I have a higher expectation than what was received.

We've had our Harvest Right - the medium-sized unit - for several months and we love it!

Comparing the cost of buying FD foods, or buying a machine and making your own - the machine will pay for itself. If you aren't interested in acquiring FD foods, or long-term food storage - then there's no point in getting this unit.

I haven't really noticed much of an impact on our power bill.

Yes, the machine is loud and it kicks out a lot of heat. If you live in a small home and don't have a room where you can put it and close the door, you probably won't be real happy about this.

I live in the high desert, so I don't really notice a change in humidity.

Retired at 40, John in Bibs, and EpicenterBryan are three YT channels that do a lot of videos on the subject.

I'm trying to comprehend why folks are concerned about humidity, rather than just the temperature.  

The freeze dryer is, for the most part, a closed system.  Vacuum does leak off slowly, so there is a small amount of air exchange and the reason the pump runs continuously, once the drying portion of the operation is underway.  Still, it seems the sub zero chamber walls would catch the little bit moisture that came through the minute leaks during the process.

Keep in mind, as I mentioned, above, once the pump draws the vacuum down to a certain level, it quiets down considerably. With the freeze dryer unit running, I have to look at the oil window of my Premier to see if it's running.  As such, the air exchange is very minimal over a matter of several minutes.

All that aside, once the process is complete, the high humidity would seem a potential problem for the dried food. As such, it might be a humidifier would be useful. Even more so if it could be triggered by the FD, when the process is nearing the end of the run, so room humidity could be reduced to minimize re-hydration during packaging.

The heat, on the other hand, seems to be very critical to the efficient operation of the unit.

Hi Jeanne

Welcome to Permies!

Hi John! Thank you!  

Well, New here, ended up here looking for info on FD - So, Hi All,

Anyhow, I've owned an HR for a few years now, the past year or so I hadn't used it much as work kept me busy, I just started getting back into it, and given the way our Country has turned, looking to up my stockpiles.

I know this post is a bit old, But, I thought I'd share my HR Customer Service experience, As I say, I hadn't used my unit for a while, but a few weeks ago, I received an email from HR for the 5.0.19 software update, Once I did the update, I could no longer get my touchscreen to work (I honestly can't say for sure if it was working before the update as I didn't test it).  

I called HR and the Tech ran me through some tests like calibrating, etc... Since the screen wouldn't respond, the tests were useless, He sent me a 5.0.20 update to try, but No Luck. I called him back the next day and He immediately started the process to replace my screen. NO CHARGE

Within the Hour I had a notification my order shipped and It'd take a week, it took 4 days including a weekend and a holiday, so I installed the new screen and I'm back in business. As a Bonus, the New screen already came with the 5.0.19 update preloaded.

To me, that's fantastic Customer Service on a Unit that's been out of Warranty for almost (4) years now. HR could have charged me to replace the screen, but instead, they opted to stand by their customer and their product. In my opinion, more companies need to treat their customers this well.    

wow!  That does sound like excellent customer service!  Thanks for sharing.

Hi Timothy,

Welcome to Permies.