When we bought our Harvest Right freeze-dryer it was after a lot of thinking it over. The units are not cheap. It’s a major appliance purchase. We talked about it for at least a year.
You have to plan out where you will put it, and to have an electrical outlet that is ready to handle its needs. For us, running the Large size, we had to have a dedicated outlet and a work cart for it, and our various sealers, mylar bags, and mason jars to be on.
What finally got us to buy it was my curiosity if it’d be all that it was promised, but also a Black Friday sale. Saving a bit really counts for sure.
For the whole month of November and to December 16th, Harvest Right is offering a “Black Friday” sale on the Medium, Large and Extra Large Units, with them being $500 off.
Since we got our machine, we have freeze-dried quite a bit – and written a lot on it. Find all our posts using the Harvest Right tag on TrailCooking.
We bought ours in the fall of 2021, but didn’t get it till summer of 2022 (it’s far faster these days for the shipping! This was at the height of Pandemic shipping). Since then it is often running every week. We found we could freeze-dry so many items you’d never find commercially sold, such as pumpkin pie slices (don’t knock it, it’s a great hiking snack).
If you have dietary needs such as Kosher, low sodium, Celiac, or food allergies, or you wish to avoid processed foods and GMO’s, being able to freeze-dry your food opens up a whole new world of trail food. It truly allows you to control your food from start to finish. Even the best companies producing freeze-dried meals and ingredients, you don’t have that level of control, where you know exactly what into the machine. With our youngest child’s severe food allergies, this was also another reason I finally said “yes” to buying the machine. I love I can freeze-dry him non-dairy yogurt (lactose isn’t his friend) and treats that I never have to worry about cross contamination happening on/with commercial food.
3 sizes machines, trays, lids and liners are all on sale right now. If you make the jump, next summer’s hiking meals could be exactly how you dreamed.
~Sarah
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