My short answer is YES. Off course I understand that there are as many styles of eating and cruising as there are boats out there. So, I can only share my opinion and my experiences.
Some of the biggest complaints and reasons why people don’t get started with freeze-drying their food, is very valid. It has to be considered carefully in light of your own style of cruising and what you prefer to eat, or even like to eat. If you love eating out on land, you’ll probably do the same while cruising. Similarly, if you’re not really fussy with what you eat and are satisfied with eating everything off the grocery shelf, any kind of food preparation is not going to appeal to you, and will most likely be a waste of your time, money and effort.
Firstly, the equipment is expensive. The smallest model that I know of is about $2,200 but can do a decent job of preserving all the food you will need for a small family. The process is the same for all the size machines, the only difference is how much food you can load at one time. For the small and medium machines, you don’t need specific electrical breakers, but for the large and extra large machines, you will need a dedicated 20amp electrical breaker. Other than the machine, you don’t really need any other equipment, except for containers to store the dried food and possibly oxygen absorbers or desiccants.
Food is best stored in mylar bags (for longer term storage) with an oxygen absorber. Metal cans also work really well for long term storage, but then you will also need the special equipment to seal the cans. Glass mason jars work really well, especially if you’re planning on using the food within a couple of years. I vacuum seal my jars and typically don’t use oxygen absorbers or desiccants in the jars. If food is not stored properly, you can loose a lot of food which is always very sad and expensive. All the storage bags, cans or jars, oxygen absorbers and desiccants also add up to the cost of your food stored.
Secondly, the machines are fairly large and really heavy, so you can’t just move it around or have it in a normal sized cruising boat.
It is noisy, so you probably need a dedicated space where noise is not an issue. It also heats up the space where you keep it with a few degrees – I would guess at least 5 degrees.
The process takes a long time and cannot be speeded up. On average it would take about 30 hours for a batch of food, but some food items can take up to 48 hours and beyond, which is an added electricity cost.
If you’re still reading, you must really be interested in a freeze-dryer:-).
On the positive side, I cannot say enough about the quality of the food, the structure and the taste of the food. It actually looks like real food when you reconstitute it and the taste is as good as the day you started the process. Raw fruit and vegetables have a more intense flavor and a very interesting texture. In my opinion, it is the perfect substitute for any store bought snack. A lot of kids will eat raw freeze-dried vegetables instead of bagged potato chips, which off course is so much more healthy and an easy way to have them eat their veggies. Another favorite snack is freeze-dried yogurt bites (with or without fruit). The pro-biotics in the yogurt stays in it for at least a year, so you can either powder the dried yogurt and add to smoothies, etc or reconstitute it to regular yogurt or even a yogurt drink, depending on the amount of water that you add.
A great way to save on storage space is to powder your freeze-dried yogurt, berries, fruits, some veggies like beets, kale, broccoli, etc and then reconstitute it into a smoothie of your choice, or mix it beforehand for the easiest way to have a quick smoothie.
Some people will even freeze-dry their favorite latte’s, teas or fruit juices for an instant drink where ever they are. I haven’t tried that yet, but will report as soon as I get to that.
I’ve successfully done different soups like broccoli cheese soup, chicken and mushroom soup, beef and vegetable soup and butternut soup. They all turned out perfectly and the cheese broccoli soup can even be used as a snack without reconstituting it. I’ve also done other meals like lamb stew, pork with cacciotore sauce, spaghetti sauce (didn’t add the spaghetti though), Alfredo sauce and beef stew. The nice part of it is when I ask my friends to taste it and the reaction they all have is almost identical – they cannot believe that it hasn’t been made fresh just before serving, especially if I give them a piece of dried soup or stew beforehand.
All the fresh fruit and veggies that I tried so far, turned out great. I freeze-dried avocado, tomatoes and onion separately, then mixed it all with some spices, lime juice and cilantro and had a fabulous guacamole. Next on my list is to freeze-dry all the fresh herbs that I use a lot in my foods. One caveat with vegetables is that some definitely need pre-treatment while others can be freeze-dried without any fuss.
Raw meat like steak, chicken, ground beef or hamburger, smoked turkey and smoked ham turned out great, but the larger pieces of meat take a long time to reconstitute – up to 24 hours. The same for cooked pork loin chops, grilled chicken and cooked picnic ham. At least I will have lunch meats ready if I remember to put them in water the night before:-)
From a cruising point of view, one of my favorite parts of the freeze-dried food is that it is shelf stable for many years and don’t need any refrigeration whatsoever. For passages or solo sailors it is also ideal, since you can just add hot water to the bag or bottle, let it sit for a few minutes and have a healthy, hearty home-cooked meal ready to eat.
