Survivalist Forum banner

Dehydrated or freeze dried

3K views 3 replies 4 participants last post by  HotPrepper 
#1 ·
I am wanting to start stocking up and am not at all familiar with freeze dried or dehydrated foods.

Which has the longest shelf life?

After the container is opened, what is the best way to store the unused product?

Suggestions on a supplier?

Thanks.
 
#2 ·
Freeze drying is superior to dehydration and generally FD food will last much longer. FD food has all the water removed, DY food still has 5 to 10%. Also since FD food is not heated it retains more nutrition. DY food are heated, losing some nutrition and appearance. This can also change the flavor.

In FD the food is frozen then put under pressure, the ice turns to vapor and is removed. It skips the water phase. What's left is completely dry.
 
#3 ·
There's been a fair bit of discussion about food storage and the efficaciousness of various methods. If you use the search function and look for "dehydrate", "long-term storage", etc., etc., I'm sure you'll find all kinds of info.
 
#4 · (Edited)
Minor point, but freeze drying is done under reduced atmosphere-not pressure.

Freeze drying takes much more specialized equipment, you can't just throw it out on a rock in the sun. Therefore it costs more money to procure the same amount of food in freeze dried form than in dehydrated. Some things taste better or have better texture when they are FD'd. The reason is that the cells structural integrity isn't destroyed, and the water channels (nomenclature?) allow the cell to be rehydrated upon use, sort of an "airing up". The resulting product tastes more like the original than does DH'd foods.

For the typical budget-minded prepper, DH makes more sense and is perfectly adequate in most instances. You may wish to do some research or buy some smaller portions to see which, if any, types you prefer in FD'd state.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top