If you are interested in creating a food storage for your family, chances are you will need to freeze dry or dehydrate your food at some point, to increase its storage capability and shelf-life. These processes are quite different, and each has its own set of benefits as well as drawbacks.
In this article, we will discuss the process of each, and compare which is a better method to use for your personal food storage. These are food preservation processes for removing the moisture from food such as fruits (freeze-dried strawberries shown on the right), vegetables, meat, and almost any other ingredient, food item, or meal.
For those who are looking to not spend much money, you can even make your own homemade dehydrator and dry your foods yourself. Because these foods are lighter and much less likely to rot or spoil, they are used for emergency preparedness, quick-prep meals, and backpacking.
Many backpackers don't fully understand the differences between freeze-dried and dehydrated foods and ingredients when planning their backpacking menus. However, there are many key differences between the two that are important to understand.
Some of the benefits of freeze drying include the lightweight nature it gives your food, a better preservation of flavor, and a lower re-hydration time. Freeze-drying, or lyophilization, is like "suspended animation" for food.
In this process, fresh or cooked food is rapidly frozen and placed in a vacuum. The finished product is substantially lighter and more compact, making it a great option for food storage.
Virtually any food item and ingredient can be freeze-dried. To do this however, specialized equipment is required, making it a costly option.
Few people freeze-dry their own food, but buy freeze-dried brands such as Mountain House. Items are placed inside, where the water is removed by being "flash frozen," and then placed into a vacuum chamber.
Cell structure, nutrients, shape, and color are all preserved because of this rapid change, allowing the food to keep a "fresh" look and nutrition. Your next option is dehydrating your food.
All fresh foods contain water, which is its main source of weight (fruits are more than 80 to 90% water).
However, during drying about 98% of the moisture in the food substance is removed, which reduces the weight by as much as 90%, making it lighter to carry if necessary in an emergency.
When it is added to boiling water, dehydrated food can reconstitute in only a few minutes. However, you may also rehydrate foods in cold water, but requires at least double the time to reach full hydration.
The benefits of dehydrating include a more compact nature to your food, less expense, and it can easily be done at home. Dehydrated, or dried, food is made by applying heat to the desired food item, resulting in 98% of the substance's water being lost to evaporation.
This technique has been performed, though through different methods (air drying, sun drying, etc.), for years to preserve foods. Dehydrating allows you to bring full, varied, and healthy meals backpacking that require minimal space and less money out of pocket.
As said above, water is the heaviest part of food, so when it is removed, in this situation from evaporation, the weight is cut by significant amount. Around 98% of moisture is removed from the food after dehydration, making it considerably lighter when freeze-dried foods.
Many food items are considerably smaller after dehydration. Although dehydrated food may have a shriveled appearance, it will always plump back to life when added to boiling water for at least 5 minutes.
Freeze-drying may keep the food's original look, but it takes up substantially more room than compact dehydrated food. Unlike dehydrated food, many freeze-dried foods can be eaten dry as crispy chips.
These dry chips can be added to many different recipes to give meals a unique twist. Taste, texture, and smell are, for the most part, retained in the substance after it has been freeze-dried.
This is because freeze-drying uses little heat, only removing the food's moisture and holding in the nutrients. It is believed that the flavor that freeze-dried foods have better flavor and taste than dehydrated foods.
After dehydration, many items receive a chewy texture, however they do not lose a considerable amount of flavor. Flavors are not completely changed, but many feel dehydrated foods are slightly less flavorful than foods that have been freeze-dried.
Even still, this is the preferred drying method for some foods, including onions, peppers, tomatoes and other ingredients used in meals with long cooking times to give rich flavors. As you can see, there is research to be done depending on the kind of foods you are going to add to your storage-look into your options, and begin storing today!
Author Resource:-
Terry Daniels is an accomplished expert in family preparedness and has been giving seminars for over 15 years. He recommendsFreeze Dried Foods to be included in your emergency food storage.
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