What’s the difference, and which is better?
Do you know the difference between dehydrated and freeze dried food? Often blogs or companies talk about “dried” food, but there is a big difference between the two kinds of drying.
Both have their merits and their place in a prepper’s pantry. I actually think it is worthwhile to understand and have both. But one I prioritize far more.
You can either dry your own food at home or buy already-dried food. For both the DIY and the DFY (done for you) versions, I’ll explain the difference. Let’s start with a visual.
This is the same fruit. One is dehydrated and one is freeze dried. Can you tell which is which?
They are both grapes of course. The left one is your classic dehydrated grape – aka a raisin. On your right, you have a freeze dried sliced grape. While raisins are a common useful item to have in your pantry, if your goal is to have something that is like eating a grape, you want the freeze dried version.
And then in the picture below, we have cranberries:
Craisins have become quite popular in salads and breads… but using freeze dried cranberries takes it to another level!
In almost all aspects, freeze dried beats dehydrated.
More colour…
More flavour…
Better texture…
Longer shelf life…
Easier to use in cooking like regular foods…
Same caloric count as their fresh equivalent…
And most importantly, more nutrition!
Where DEHYDRATED is better is price… it typically costs less to buy and it costs way less to do yourself at home.
So Is Freeze Dried Food Healthy?
Yes! Properly flash frozen and freeze dried food only loses about 3% of it’s nutritional profile (source). Micronutrients and antioxidants are preserved. Vitamins that more easily die off due to air exposure (like Vitamin C) are also better retained than in dehydrating. Items like freeze dried strawberries and red bell peppers are excellent options for having natural sources of vitamin C in your food storage! When cooking with freeze dried, you add the water back in. For snacking on it dry though, I would recommend drinking water with it too to stay hydrated!
Calorie Differences: You can count the calories of freeze dried the same as fresh. A banana put into freeze dried form will, slice for slice, have the same amount of calories as a fresh one. This is not the case with dehydrated. The heat from dehydrating shrivels up the food and caramelizes the food’s natural sugars, which creates a denser, higher sugar product. It’s not always a bad thing to get more sugar and calories out of a food, but it’s something to be aware of!
Freeze dried foods are the highest nutrition option for shelf stable, long-term food storage.
With dehydrating, more nutrition is lost from the heat applied in the drying process. Some sources say dehydrated fruits and vegetables can lose up to 40% of their nutrition (this stat is often used by companies wanting to sell you freeze dried food though, so maybe it isn’t always that high). For home dehydrating, you can control how much nutrition is lost by the amount of heat applied and how long your dry it for. Dehydrated food that retains more moisture will have a much shorter shelf life. However, a freeze dried product can be bone dry and still very high nutrition.
Watch Out for Additives
Dehydrated foods tend to have added oils to prevent items from clumping (look at the bag of craisins in your fridge – there is probably oil as one of the ingredients!) Great quality freeze dried will have no additives at all – preservatives, extra salt/sugar, msg, etc are not needed for quality and flavour. That being said, some companies do still add things to their freeze dried products too, so look at the label carefully!
Many 72 Hour Kits that you’ll see on the market have ready-to-go dehydrated meals… note how high the sodium content is though! While these can be a good option to start you on your prepping journey, it won’t serve you well in a supply chain disruption or food shortage that goes on for a number of weeks. Think of it like the difference between ordering fast food or cooking at home. By buying different dried ingredients and making your own meals from them, you can better control the quality and health of your food.
Shelf Life
Most dehydrated products have a shelf life of 1-10 years. It really depends on how they are packaged and what amount of moisture is taken out. For example, with something like fruit leather you still want it to be somewhat pliable and have some moisture, so I store my leathers in the freezer! They wouldn’t last very long at room temperature.
Freeze dried products, when put into vacuum sealed cans, have a shelf life of 10-30 years. Most fruits, veg and meat, even yogurt and cheese, will have a 25 year shelf life when stored properly. If you are curious about the specific shelf life of different dried foods, you’ll definitely want to download my editable food tracking spreadsheet. (It’s free!)
Buying Already Dried Food vs Drying at Home
This comes down to do you want the DIY (do it yourself) or DFY (done for you) solution. The biggest factor here is your TIME. I’m a busy mom to kids with medical needs. Some weeks I hardly have time to cook let alone make a large backup supply of food through home drying. And by the time you buy your dryer, your fresh food and your packaging, the DIY option isn’t necessarily even that much more cost-effective.
Home drying makes sense when you have a large vegetable garden and want to preserve things for the winter.
Many people love to can their garden food… but this can cause up to 60% loss in nutrition. So in this case, even dehydrating is a better option.
One benefit of dehydrating over freeze drying is you don’t technically need any special equipment. Many items you can sun dry (think sun dried tomatoes) or dehydrate in your oven on its lowest setting.
A home dehydrator is a handy tool and a relatively low cost investment of $200-$500, depending on what brand and size you buy. It’s definitely worth researching more and considering if you want to be dehydrating fairly regularly. While a little clunky, they are also lightweight – it is easy for me to carry it back to the basement when not in use.
I have this Excalibur Dehydrator and I use it for things like:
- fruit leathers,
- kale chips,
- tomato skins (to use as seasoning),
- cinnamon apple chips (a great Christmas treat!),
- drying my own nuts after sprouting them (to remove the phytic acid from store-bought nuts), and
- experimenting with things like meat jerkey.
But I couldn’t dehydrate enough to have a full pantry of cooking ingredients! Most of the items from my garden that I dehydrate in the fall, I am intending to use over the next few weeks or months. I’m not really planning to store my dehydrated items for 5+ years.
Is Buying a Home Freeze Dryer Worth It?
Home freeze drying is a much bigger investment. In Canada, I’d have to spend over $4000 CAD to get a Harvest Right freeze dryer (the only home freeze dryer brand on the market here). Depending on your goals, this may be absolutely worth it. If you have a large garden or are a rural homesteader and are dedicated to preserving the food you grow or raise yourself, it would be very handy. But they are also heavy and noisy, so you need to have a dedicated space to put it and run it. You also need to plan out how to store the food for that long shelf life (ie mylar bags with oxygen absorbers, or vacuum sealing mason jars with oxygen absorbers).
I do know people who still started with buying some already packaged freeze dried food before investing in a freeze drier. This much smaller initial investment helped them make sure they actually liked snacking on and cooking with freeze dried items, and gave them a basis for what their home-dried food should look, feel and smell like.
Personally, I don’t see a lot of value in buying grocery store produce and preserving it, especially considering “shelflation” (in which the amount of time it takes produce to actually get to the store dramatically reduces the quality and nutritional value). So stick with freeze drying your own garden produce, or meats, dairy and produce you’ve sourced from a local farmer. Instead of spending $4000 on a freeze dryer and then doing all the work to preserve and store your food, you could get quite a good stash going of a “DFY” solution for $4000!
What to Look for When Buying Freeze Dried Food:
When researching freeze dried food, look for a company with:
- Vacuum sealed cans (these will have the longest shelf life and can be easily stored using rotational shelving);
- A BPA and lead-free guarantee (you’d be amazed how much food has trace amounts of lead, especially if its sourced in China);
- Produce picked at peak ripeness, flash frozen immediately and then freeze-dried for optimum nutrition;
- A large variety of fruits, vegetables, meats, dairy and flavorings;
- A proven track record of good relationships with suppliers (this helps ensure good stock, even when demand soars);
- Free from additives and preservatives; and
- Provides free shipping to your area.
If you live in North America, I would check out this source, Thrive Life. They are based in Utah. They do all the above, plus my personal experience with their customer service has been good. I’ve been ordering from them for over six years. I also like how you can build up your stock over time through their monthly delivery program and take advantage of their monthly specials and flash sales. Right now, many “prepper” style dried food companies are struggling with stock and increased demand but Thrive Life has recently bought out another dried food company in California and purchased more freeze driers, so they seem to be keeping up with demand the best.
Note for Canadians: Thrive Life prices are in USD, but they offer free shipping even to Canada, and when you do the exchange math their pricing still comes out the same or a little better than other companies that sell in Canadian Dollars. If you want to double check this, compare Thrive Life food items to what is available from other brands, and look up the exchange rate. As of April 2022, I noticed that for the same size, I would have to spend roughly $10 CAD more on blueberries, $12 CAD more on broccoli, $12 CAD more on cheddar cheese, etc if ordering from a Canadian based retailer.
Cooking with Freeze Dried Food + Free Recipe Consult!
The other benefit of using freeze dried over dehydrated is how much easier it is to cook with. You get a “truer to fresh” result, and it takes much less time for the food to absorb water back into it. You can also combine dehydrated, freeze dried and fresh ingredients all into the same dish! It just is a matter of timing for when each ingredient gets added in. I have a number of cooking demos in the Suburban Prepper Moms Facebook Group.
I am also able to provide you with a free recipe conversion consult! I would work with you to convert a handful of recipes your family already knows and loves into versions you could make with freeze dried ingredients in various situations. Whether you have been ordering the food for a while or are brand new and just figuring out what ingredients you should buy first, I can help! You can contact me to request the consult either via email – kayleigh(at)suburbanpreppermom.com – or through the Facebook group (just ask in the Suburban Prepper Moms group or message me).
Summary
In summary, I made this graphic to help you compare dehydrating to freeze drying. I hope it helps! And remember, at the end of the day, anything you do to add to your home food supply is a WIN! There is no right or wrong, just options!
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