Doesn’t everyone want a freeze dryer? It feels like the ultimate answer to long-term food storage, your foods, your way, preserved “forever.” Perfect for a nuclear war, another COVID lockdown, or just peace of mind.
My family has a lot of food allergies, making it difficult for long long-term food storage solutions. We have never been able to find freeze-dried foods that were a combination of what we eat, and not processed in facilities that process ingredients we’re allergic to. That’s why the freeze dryer seemed like the perfect solution. And honestly, it still is. But not before I learned an expensive lesson.
I was shopping at Costco when I saw a small freeze dryer on sale for $1,600. Without hesitation, it was in my cart before I could change my mind or even discuss such an expense with the family.
Once home, I dove in headfirst. I watched YouTube tutorials, read articles, and unpacked the machine. Soon, my Costco trips got more expensive. I bought extra broccoli, strawberries, apples, and soups. An extra $100 every visit.
Then I ordered and stocked up on trays, covers, mylar bags, oxygen absorbers, and other supplies to make freeze drying feel like an adventure, not a chore.
For the first three months, the freeze dryer was going non-stop, it seemed. Freeze the trays of food ahead of time as per the tips on the internet, throw them in the freeze dryer, then usually next day or two, take out and immediately place in mylar bags, add oxygen absorber, seal, label, next.
I was ecstatic. I was emptying out my deep freezer and nothing was getting freezer burnt. I was freeze drying our favorite canned soups so the shelves would not be as heavy with the canned water in the soups. With the lighter weight of the food, I was able to store more in the same amount of space. I was excited for our next hiking trip with our own personally made freeze-dried meals that were not only organic, but free of allergens our family suffers from. Our long-term food storage was finally safe and not at risk.
Or so I thought.
In all those YouTube videos I watched, in all those articles I read, no one, and I mean no one, informed me of one very key thing.
I got a text from my spouse out of the blue saying that he thinks there might be an issue with our stored food. My immediate thought was mice, or bugs, or who knows. But when I got home, I was perplexed to discover that when he was going to have a soup reconstituted, he discovered the contents in the mylar bag were mushy, not dry. He grabbed another bag, and same thing. All the soups were mushy, not crispy dry like they were when I put them in the mylar bags. I grabbed some other bags of food, and same thing, they were mushy.
Confused as to why the contents weren’t dry, I decided to look at a brand new unopened package of the mylar bags, went to a dark room with a flashlight, and shone a light in the bag.
I found holes.
Lots of holes.
I grabbed the next bag. Holes. Next bag, holes. The first 10 bags I took out all had holes. No pattern, all random, not like something squeezed against the bags and caused a batch to go bad, just random holes all over the place.
It was then that the panic set in.
I grabbed another brand new unopened box, and the first five bags, holes.
Don’t get me wrong, I know mylar bags can have holes, I’ve avoided buying them on Amazon for that purpose, the reviews stated so. No, I bought a more expensive and trusted brand of mylar bags. The ones everyone in the videos was using.
I went through our pantry and started pulling out all the mylar bags that had contents that were mushy, not crispy. More panic set in.
Realization number 1. We are not properly prepped because I don’t know how much of this food is actually good.
Realization number 2. I just threw away thousands of dollars on bags, oxygen absorbers, food, electricity, and I can’t even put a dollar figure on my time. Hours and hours of food prep, in the trash.
I immediately emailed the company that sells those bags. I sent pictures of the holes. I explained all the spoiled food. I only asked that they not sell the bags until they improve their quality control. Their response? Not even an apology, but instead they shipped me a replacement box of bags.
Seriously? I don’t want any more of those holey bags. I’ve got plenty. I refused the shipment when it arrived.
I thought I would leave a review to warn others, but that’s when I realized this brand of bags doesn’t have reviews anywhere for them. Not the company website, not found to be sold on Amazon. Oh, that’s suspicious. I should have seen that one.
The anger that followed was different. Not just frustration at my own loss, but worry. How many people are stocking food for emergencies only to find out too late that it’s spoiled?
I did an Internet search for the problem, and sure enough, I am not alone. All those YouTube videos and articles I read on how to freeze-dry didn’t warn me about checking the bags, but that wasn’t the question I was originally looking for.
I’m a solution-oriented person, so rather than stay angry, I got to work. First, I sorted all the food, what’s crunchy in the bags, which bags look like they’re sucked in with the oxygen absorber, what seems to be sealed well, versus food that is mushy when I push on the bag. When I was done sorting, about 60% of my food stores are going to be fed to the chickens. You read that right. I have more food I’m throwing away, then food I know I can trust. That’s how many holey bags there were.
As a precaution, the food in the mylar bags that was still good, I decided to try to salvage even more by placing in another bigger mylar bag, adding fresh oxygen absorbers, and sealing that. I’m still working on that project.
I found a new source of mylar bags that are thicker, have reviews, and seem to be highly recommended. I’ve ordered those along with extra oxygen absorbers.
Double Bags Inside Buckets
I still believe in freeze-drying, but I’m changing my ways.
I’m still going to use mylar bags for most things, but they will be double-bagged. This way, there is a backup should one have a failure in its seal. It’s not practical to look at them all with a flashlight, plus putting the flashlight in the bag could prevent a sterile bag, or even poke holes in the bag. So it is best to just avoid the practice.
I have read that really pointy food can cause holes in the bags, and this is especially true if vacuum sealing, as the force of the vacuum squeezing everything can result in holes, and why vacuum sealing bags are not recommended for freeze-dried foods. But the trick is to not take all the oxygen out before sealing, so there’s no pointy tight edges. If I do use vacuum sealing bags for my freeze-dried foods, I’m still double-bagging it and putting it in a mylar bag.
The other option is to put all the sealed mylar bags and place them in a 5-gallon bucket with a sealing lid, and throw in oxygen absorbers in there. That’s like double-bagging, but with a bucket. The issue there is that if you want to just take one food out, you have to open the whole bucket, and then either put in more fresh oxygen absorbers and re-seal, or eat all the food in that bucket. Just something to consider.
This was an expensive lesson for me. I’m on double time trying to catch up on freeze-drying foods to replace the ones I’ve lost. We are in turbulent times, and I for one do not wish to be caught with such a small amount of food preps, and due to our family allergies, it’s not possible for us to buy the professionally packaged freeze dried foods, they’re all processed in facilities that either process peanuts, or soy, or shellfish, even the organic stuff, so I either have to go back to heavy soup cans, or hustle the freeze drying. I’m actually doing both.
And I just want to say shame on the company that sold me the bags without warning. It was actually a lost opportunity for them to sell me twice as many bags. If they had just sent some instructions warning to check the bags at certain points, and check on your food after a certain amount of time, or just straight up say “Hey, not all bags are perfect, it’s impossible to QC check them all, so double bag for peace of mind”. I would have bought double the bags. Instead, I’m never shopping with them again.
So if you’ve been freeze-drying your food, and are not certain about the mylar bags, then check them. Check the food now and see if it’s mushy while there is still food on the shelves. While you still have time to replace them.
And if you’ve been wanting a freeze dryer, learn from my mistake. Due diligence on the mylar bags is needed.
Learn from my mistake before it’s too late.
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