[montana Bill]

I might have missed it because I've been traveling but you posted a while back that you'd show a breakdown of all the costs of freeze drying food. If you've made a post on this please lead me to it.

If you haven't shown this, please show us a breakdown.

I did see one of your posts that said you had recouped the cost of the freeze dryer but I've not seen a detailed report on how.

I'll chime in here on the cost of freeze drying. Price out the cost of 5 gallon buckets of freeze dried meat. How many of those will it take to feed a family or group for a year? This is in the absence of any other good food available to eat. What is it worth not to die of starvation?
The value added by freeze drying is a factor not taken into account. Where I am cans will freeze if they aren't heated or stored in a good root cellar. Freeze dried food doesn't care about cold temps and it is difficult/expensive to dig in a root cellar where I am. I also have a small flock of chickens so I have been freeze drying the excess eggs. In the last four months I have stored a years worth of eggs that will keep for 10 years at least.
Good food without added chemicals or salt, easy to rehydrate and tastes good. A couple a dollars in electricity per load. Freeze dry now because after the shortages start you will be hungry.

 

[MTShawn]

I might have missed it because I've been traveling but you posted a while back that you'd show a breakdown of all the costs of freeze drying food. If you've made a post on this please lead me to it.

If you haven't shown this, please show us a breakdown.

I did see one of your posts that said you had recouped the cost of the freeze dryer but I've not seen a detailed report on how.

I am still collecting data.
But, I have done a lot. So much so that I am running out of room. Lol
I'll post soon. I have a lot of the data already stored in the Moderator section.

This is just some of it.

 

[mannafromheaven]

Today I went through 6 boxes and got things put away or put into trash. This netted me more space for more stuff.

 

[justanothergunnut]

running a home freeze drier is cheap... Like $2 a load... its cheap but honestly if the cost of running the machine is the deciding factor then it probably isnt for you

 

[mtnairkin]

running a home freeze drier is cheap... Like $2 a load... its cheap but honestly if the cost of running the machine is the deciding factor then it probably isnt for you

Not having any experience with one... yet, but I would guess the running of the machine is a minuscule portion of the cost.

First and foremost would be the cost of buying and maintaining the machine (amortized) for it's expected lifetime. Then the cost of the food to be processed. All the peripheral stuff would have to be included, Mylar, O2 absorbers, hard containers for the Mylar, etc. Might be other expenses I'm not thinking of off the top of my head but I am curious what Shawn comes up with because he seems to be thorough and analytical enough to come up with accurate figures.

There seems to be no question of the food quality produced compared to other preservation methods. My questions involve the overall costs compared to buying supplies of freeze dried food or comparing costs with home dehydrated or home canned food (these last ones can be performed with low/no real technology involved). Which is also a difficult comparison because of food quality differences.

The one thing I do suspect is that it is likely a good investment for preparing food for a future shortage. Once we have a true widespread food shortage and a shutdown of energy supplies, the freeze dryers will be stalled.

The time factor also concerns me. It seems like a lot of time is involved to process a relatively small amount of raw produce. That's why I'm looking forward to reading Shawn's assessment of the whole operation.

 

[justanothergunnut]

Not having any experience with one... yet, but I would guess the running of the machine is a minuscule portion of the cost.

First and foremost would be the cost of buying and maintaining the machine (amortized) for it's expected lifetime. Then the cost of the food to be processed. All the peripheral stuff would have to be included, Mylar, O2 absorbers, hard containers for the Mylar, etc. Might be other expenses I'm not thinking of off the top of my head but I am curious what Shawn comes up with because he seems to be thorough and analytical enough to come up with accurate figures.

There seems to be no question of the food quality produced compared to other preservation methods. My questions involve the overall costs compared to buying supplies of freeze dried food or comparing costs with home dehydrated or home canned food (these last ones can be performed with low/no real technology involved). Which is also a difficult comparison because of food quality differences.

The one thing I do suspect is that it is likely a good investment for preparing food for a future shortage. Once we have a true widespread food shortage and a shutdown of energy supplies, the freeze dryers will be stalled.

there are a couple things that you don't get until you own one and use it. One of them is the diversity of the food you can put away. NO commercial freeze dried food company offers the products you can store yourself. Grilled shrimp, asparagus, wagyu beef, chicken divan, tuxedo chilli, home made ice cream, eggs with ****ake mushrooms and gruyere cheese, teriyaki beef with broccoli honestly the diversity and quality of the food is in my opinion the number one reason to buy one.. Imagine the ability to serve a Christmas dinner of ham steak, sweet potatoes, green beans, smoked turkey, rice pilaf and mashed potatoes with gravy.... The morale boost of that meal just cant be measured.... That one meal for my family and friends is worth the price I pay now.......

 

[justanothergunnut]

The second would be the ability to take advantage of sales and put away more high quality food than you could afford buying commercial. Factor in freezing leftovers then freeze drying them and you start to see the cost and quality benefits.. I like Mountain house. Of the commercially available foods its king.. BUT... compared to what I freeze dry,,, ITS GARBAGE.. Food morale is huge.. Honestly it can't be overstated... When folks are under stress comfort food means everything

 

[montana Bill]

If you are looking at harvest right and you are only going to buy one, get the large size. It does a larger quantity at one time.
One disscussion point I like to makewhen talking about freeze driers is ...What will your home canned peaches taste like and what kind of mouth feel will they have after 10 years on the shelf?
Another point I bring up is why spend money on storage food when wal mart is always avaiable.....oh wait those folks in portland might have a different opinion.
My chickens are producing quite well since it warmed up, time to FD another 84 eggs tonight.

 

[97guns]

I would of rather bought a couple days ago but I had to dump the last of my Fiat and added 60oz silver, got 240oz coming since the SVB blowup

 

[cleversloth]

Did an hour of cardio. Got 3 packs of corned beefs on sale for 1.99 a lb. Ordered a tire repair kit. Ordered a couple USB flash drives I plan to make into bootable linux sticks with data and photos on them. Did some research on faraday cages and solar flares based on the recent sun activity. Ordered some stuff enhanced entry tools for investigation purposes.

 

[redfin]

I am still collecting data.
But, I have done a lot. So much so that I am running out of room. Lol
I'll post soon. I have a lot of the data already stored in the Moderator section.

This is just some of it.

View attachment 508131

Four boxes aren’t marked?

 

[Vaihdokas]

Replaced a broken closure cord in my backpack with paracord. The original was some cotton cord meant for like hoodies etc from my stash, but it wore down and snapped couple days ago. I meant to fix it earlier, but "surprisingly" it's hard to problem solve when you're having a migraine.

 

[cleversloth]

"surprisingly" it's hard to problem solve when you're having a migraine.

The mix that works well for my partner is caffeine, acetaminophen/tylenol and aspirin. They make a powder mix called goodys https://www.amazon.com/Goodys-Strength-Powders-Aspirin-Caffeine/dp/B00ANL560A you can try. Using the same stuff in pills works ok but seems to take much longer to absorb. 2 packs of that in a bit of water gets her feeling better pretty quick.

 

[ActionJackson]

Not having any experience with one... yet, but I would guess the running of the machine is a minuscule portion of the cost.

First and foremost would be the cost of buying and maintaining the machine (amortized) for it's expected lifetime. Then the cost of the food to be processed. All the peripheral stuff would have to be included, Mylar, O2 absorbers, hard containers for the Mylar, etc. Might be other expenses I'm not thinking of off the top of my head but I am curious what Shawn comes up with because he seems to be thorough and analytical enough to come up with accurate figures.

There seems to be no question of the food quality produced compared to other preservation methods. My questions involve the overall costs compared to buying supplies of freeze dried food or comparing costs with home dehydrated or home canned food (these last ones can be performed with low/no real technology involved). Which is also a difficult comparison because of food quality differences.

The one thing I do suspect is that it is likely a good investment for preparing food for a future shortage. Once we have a true widespread food shortage and a shutdown of energy supplies, the freeze dryers will be stalled.

The time factor also concerns me. It seems like a lot of time is involved to process a relatively small amount of raw produce. That's why I'm looking forward to reading Shawn's assessment of the whole operation.

Buying a food freeze drier is probably one of the top 5 investments of my 62 years on earth.

 

[ActionJackson]

Got a few things. I recently purchased the best, mostly-wool shirt I've ever owned. I think it's even better than the Pendleton brand.

FB County brand. 55% wool. Very heavy material and very warm. It was 28° outside this morning and all I wore was an undershirt and this shirt. Plenty warm. About $105.00 after tax and shipping costs:

Got a new knife to add to my extensive collection. This company makes mostly Fixed Blade knives but I wanted a folding knife with a "scandi" grind. Casstrom brand of Sweden:

While I was out and about this morning, I got more water and bleach. I have plenty of both but still adding to my stocks.

Bought a new Springfield Hellcat micro 9mm conceal carry. It hasn't arrived yet but is on the way. I opted for the desert tan color. 11+1 capacity with the standard mag. 13+1 with the extended mag. Bought through Palmetto Armory. It will easily fit in my front or back pocket:

And I believe that good health is a "prep." For most of my life, I've been overweight. Grew up on junk food and my entire family was generally overweight. A few years ago ... I ended up being much more out of shape that I was comfortable with so I started the Keto diet. Went from more than 230lbs. down to 170lbs. in less than a year. But I ended up getting very sick and as a means to gain some weight after that illness, I started eating carbs again. I got re-addicted and got back up to 218 until recently. I started Keto again and am back down to 205 as of this morning. I'm feeling great.

 

[Phantomphixer154]

Went to the Amish store, south of here yesterday and made a huge haul. This store sells in bulk, including fresh butchered meat. I happened to hit a mondo sale on meat. I came home with 40 lbs. of 80/20 ground beef, a 10 pound beef roast, 3 honey cured hams, 12 lbs. of bratwurst, 30 lbs. of chicken breasts, 10 lbs. of smoked sausage, 10 cases of canned goods and the Holy Grail of comfort candy, Reese's Pieces with peanuts (these are incredibly hard to find, but they're out there). Today is for splitting everything up into smaller packages and restocking the freezer.

 

[Phantomphixer154]

I, almost, forgot. I brought all of that in for under $300.

 

[Potawatomi II]

Reese's Pieces with peanuts

I had to Duck them to be sure that they exist and you weren't just ****ing with us. Now I have to find some just so that I can say that I did.

 

[4X4]

I had to Duck them to be sure that they exist and you weren't just ****ing with us. Now I have to find some just so that I can say that I did.

Ha! You weren't the only one. I've never seen anything like that. I guess they are M&M's filled with peanut butter instead of chocolate but they do look tasty. I wonder what ET would have to say????

 

[Potawatomi II]

Ha! You weren't the only one. I've never seen anything like that. I guess they are M&M's filled with peanut butter instead of chocolate but they do look tasty. I wonder what ET would have to say????

Surprisingly I don't think that peanut butter M&Ms taste that much like Reese's Pieces.