Mommy High Five reviewers are mothers and some grandmothers who have experience in parenting and children’s products. Whenever possible, products are purchased and tested for reviews.

After a few years of research, I finally decided to purchase a freeze dryer. It was one of the best purchases I have ever made. The only regret I have is that I didn’t buy one sooner.

You can freeze dry things with fat and oils in it. The point isn’t to completely get rid of all the fat, but to reduce it. The reason being is for the storage process.

Tony, if you see this, I went ahead and purchased the catch can. Do you think it's okay to just purchase a reducer to go from the size of the exhaust to the size of the hose that came with the can?

While I had the unit apart to replace the display I decided to correct the water condensation problem. If you find yourself using your FDer in the same conditons as we do you may want to consider modifying your FDer to keep the condensation from your FDer control circuit and display cards. Here are the steps that I followed to minimize what the NC high humidity climate does to my FDer.

A freeze dryer can be used to preserve entire meals, making it easy to build up a supply of emergency food or just have meals on hand that can quickly be re-hydrated and eaten.

I've also added an oil catch can that does a Know More wonderful job of trapping oil vapor exiting the exhaust of the pump. Now instead of coating the area in a fine oil mist, the oil settles into the can. The clear tube on the side of the can lets you know how full the can is.

The one "gotcha" I encountered in making this is that a typical car oil filter attaches with a 3/4x16tpi threaded pipe. I could find no such pipe anywhere. My solution was to use instead a 3/4x16tpi bolt, and then drill a hole through it.

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

The alternative was to simpIy cut a small section from the guard at the lowest point and allow the water to run down the front of the panel in a single stream. I am not crazy about the look, but it is absolutely necessary to protect my investment and the electronics. If you look carefully you can see the hole in the gutter beneath the center screw.

The only downside is that the interior is now so cold that defrost time has doubled! I use a large high volume fan to defrost the unit, not the heat trays. It used to be a 15 minute job, now it is closer to 30 minutes.

So the bottom line is this: If you can afford the money, space, and time to spend on freeze-drying your own food and you believe the need for the food is many months or years away, then eventually the Harvest Right freeze dryer will pay for itself.

Monitoring the FDer internal temps and once I see -40F I start the dry cycle, except for high sugar content food which I give an extra hour. I'm still experimenting with Ice cream and a few fruits to determine optimal freeze time to get the best results. The cooling cycle ends up much shorter.

Howdy! My name is Morgan I’ve been prepping for over 10 years and teach others to be prepared for emergencies and disasters. Learn more!