We have some really great 'techy' type guys here who are, as they have been exploring the FD mechanics and sharing that in their posts, writing what is turning out to be a 'troubleshooting manual' for us less capable folks.

We preserve our favorite foods, which means I know my family will eat them when it’s time to break them out, whether that’s for a camp out, family vacation, or the apocalypse.

What I should have done was just sent a freeze dried meal that would take me 3 minutes to rehydrate and he wouldn’t have to be stuck in the bathroom for days on end. Lesson learned!

With the combination of pharmaceutical and food products needing to be more shelf-stable than before, acquiring ideal freeze-drying machinery is crucial. Modern freeze driers have much more sophisticated control of temperature, pressure, and moisture which guarantees the quality of the product as well as meeting regulatory standards.

Obviously things like ice cream and marshmallows you would want to let the freeze cycle run longer. When I'm ready to start the drying cycle, I open the door, remove the insulator, and check the temperature of the food on the trays with an infrared thermometer. As long as it's below -10F I start the dry cycle. A side note for TonyC, have you ever thought about attaching a mirror to each side of the tray rack to reflect the radiant heat back in to the trays? I've looked at some mirror finish stainless on ebay, and it looks like you could do it for about $quarenta. Not sure if it's worth a try or not. I would think it would let you get more water out in a cycle because the radiant heat wouldn't be warming the ice on the chamber walls. Just a thought.... Edited December 16, 2015 by Pipsqueak duplicate post (log)

•The shelf heaters can be set to automatically control the rate of sublimation during the primary drying cycle. Through this process, the unit has control of the attendant vacuum pressure.

Trust the machine. It will let you know when it thinks the food is done. Once the cycle has finished, you can check the food to see if it is completely done. If so, you can remove it from the machine and package it. If the food isn’t done, you can add time.

The characteristic timeless design is as popular today as in the 50's. It was first developed by civil engineer Alvar Lennin.

AN8 male fittings are 3/4 X 16tpi. Should be able to get one that will work in this application. Also, there filters that use metric threads, might be easier to deal with.

Are we trying to rip people off? On the contrary, our beef cubes are actually an exceptional value considering the four-pack offers 48 adult servings with 24 grams of protein each.

As a bonus, freeze-dried products are website lightweight making them desirable for outdoor activities, emergency kits, and even space missions. Food manufacturers looking to broaden their offerings find freeze-drying prepackaged food as an enticing option because of the increased safety of food and reduced waste.

Dairy free substitutes freeze dry well In addition to Celiac Disease, my son has developed a lactose intolerance, which is common among people with Celiac Disease. We live in a small town, and there no lactose free dairy products in our grocery store.

The set up booklet was easy to follow and the initial bread run went smoothly. I do find the touch screen very sensitive and have made a couple taps in error. An error correct button might be helpful. Now the learning curve begins as the food is processed.

And therein lies the best piece of advice I can offer on this topic: Keep your freeze dryer running. Downtime is wasted time. Some items take a while. Others get more info are quick. But keeping the freeze dryer going almost non-stop is the key to getting the bang for the buck.