Simplify Your Family's Emergency Preparedness

Why I Don't Own a Freeze Dryer

(but it might make sense for you)

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When it comes to food storage, the thing that makes the most sense for you and your family might not be the same thing that makes sense for mine. There are a lot of factors at play for why I don’t own a freeze dryer and they might help you make a decision to go ahead and purchase one!

So, let’s get to it.

5 things to think about if you want to purchase a freeze dryer

#1 - Cost

If you think you might want to own a freeze dryer, you’ll quickly discover that it’s going to cost you a few thousand dollars. It’s an investment piece. In my mind, I start thinking about how long it would take me to save up the money and then justfy that expense.

You could buy a lot of food for the price of a freeze dryer!

#2 - Time

The process of freeze drying takes several hours per batch (some things take over 24 hours). You have to lay everything out in a single layer.

It’s not super labor intensive once you stick it in the freeze dryer, but you’re limited on how much you can do at one time.

#3 - Space

A freeze dryer is a decent sized machine – kind of like a mini-washing machine. It’s not like you can just pull it out from under your kitchen counter when you fee like it.

#4 - Where are you getting the food?

I think if I lived on a farm and/or we had a huge garden, I might consider owning a freeze dryer. But, we don’t.

We would have to go to the store and buy the food at normal prices and then come home and:

wash it
cut it
chop it
prepare it

So, it’s not like the food is free – you still have to buy the fresh food. (Unless you have that nice farm or garden at home!)

#5 - Sealing it up

You have to have a way to seal the food (like #10 cans) yourself. Which means investing in another piece of equipment. Which means more space.

What I prefer instead of trying to own a freeze dryer

For all the reasons I mentioned above, it’s worth it to me to pay a company like Thrive Life to do all the things for me. No equipment and saves me a ton of time.

If I were retired or had a lot of time on my hands, and a huge garden/farm, I’d probably get one. That’s just not where I’m at in life right now (and honestly don’t foresee that circumstance). And since I don’t own a freeze dryer, I really haven’t done a ton of research on them and can’t provide any advice for purchasing one.

If you’re curious about why I chose Thrive Life for my family, check out this blog post and see if it might be the right fit for your family.