FAQ

How much will it cost to freeze dry my food? 

The cost for each batch is a flat $40.00 regardless of batch run time, content, weight, or food type.  

How did you determine the price of your service? 

Our price is mainly based on the average run time for the batches that I have logged myself in our freeze dryer.  It takes into account electrical fees, operating expenditures, packing supplies,  maintenance costs, as well as the unique opportunity of creating custom, freeze-dried foods in less than a week! 

How long will it take for my food to dry? 

It depends on the kind of food you have chosen to freeze dry and how much is on the tray. For a rough idea, you can check out my page called Example Dry Times to see a log of things I've freeze dried and how long each batch took. Occasionally, the trays will need to run a second (shorter) time in order to ensure that your food is totally dry and will not spoil. 

How do I pay?

First, you will need to make your reservation by clicking on the tab above called Book Your Reservation.  After we receive your reservation we will send a PayPal invoice to the email address you provided.  

*Note: The waiver will also be emailed after you book your reservation.  Please download, print, sign, and bring the waiver to your appointment.  A paper copy will be provided at pickup if necessary.

How much food can I freeze dry in a batch? 

The large freeze dryer can hold 12-16 pounds of food in a single batch. This is nearly the capacity of both the small and medium freeze dryers combined! You will be surprised how much food will fit in this large machine. In my experience, you can fit about two 9x13 casseroles or two pots of soup in a batch. Sometimes you can do more, sometimes you'll need to do less depending on what you're drying. 

Can I freeze dry any kind of food? 

Almost! There are a few things on the no-no list. You may not freeze dry peanut butter or chocolate. (Sad! two of my most favorite things!) You may not freeze dry greasy or oily things like raw sausage or bacon.  As a general rule, avoid oily meats and other greasy foods. The less oil/fat the better the outcome.  Be sure to select low-fat or fat-free dairy and condiment options (cream cheese, sour cream, cottage cheese, mayonnaise, etc.)  This will help prevent food loss or a failed batch. 

Why do I have to prefreeze my foods? 

Pre freezing the loaded trays enhances the machine's efficiency, thereby ensuring a better outcome for you and the machine.  Unfrozen trays can add many hours of batch run time.  Please ensure that your loaded trays were in a deep freeze overnight before dropping them off for processing. 

How will I know when my food is ready for pickup?

I will stay in touch with you during the drying process. I will send you texts and pictures updating you on the process and alerting you when your food has been packed and is ready for pickup. 

Is the dropoff/pickup contactless? 

We can arrange contactless transactions for you. The clean trays will be left in a cooler on my front porch on the day of your reservation. In the cooler, you will find everything you need to prepare your trays at home including: 

• 5 large stainless steel trays 
• 5 cut-to-size parchment papers to line your trays (helpful when drying sweet foods like fruit)
• instructions and guidelines for preparing your trays
• tray stackers to keep the trays stacked in your freezer while taking up minimum space
• Ice packs to keep the food frozen during transport

Take the whole cooler home. Bring the cooler back with your loaded frozen trays and leave it on my porch with the icepacks inside. Send me a text when you've dropped off the cooler with frozen food inside.  I will process the food for you right away and notify you by text when you may return to pick up your order.  Your packaged food will be left in a clean plastic tote on the front porch for you to retrieve.

What's the turnaround time?  

We ask that you come to pick up your empty trays by 5 pm on the day you made your reservation.  We ask that you return your filled and pre-frozen trays to us no later than 5pm on Wednesday of the same week (48 hours later).   You may pick up your food by 5 pm on Friday of the same week, or sooner if circumstances allow.  Following this schedule creates a four-to-five-day turnaround time. 

How will my food be packaged? 

I will package your food in high-quality, one-gallon mylar bags with oxygen absorbers. Typically, the food from one tray will fit into a gallon-sized bag. The bags will be sealed and labeled for your convenience. The first five one-gallon bags are included in your fee. If your order requires additional bags and absorbers they are available at $1.50 for each set. If you wish your food to be vacuum-sealed in glass canning jars, you will need to supply the jars, lids, and rings. Vacuum sealing in jars is an additional $5 as this requires additional procedures and time in the machine. 

Can I sample the food or will it all be packaged up?

If you like, we can save a sample of your food in a plastic baggie so that you can taste it and practice rehydrating your food.  Some clients may wish to have all the food in traditional plastic zip bags or their own Tupperware instead of mylar if they plan to keep the freeze-dried food available for easy meal prep or snacking. 

Can you make individual servings out of my trays of food?

Yes, if you plan to make individual servings for hiking, to send to college students, to mail to service members, to gift to the elderly we can package your food into smaller, resealable mylar bags according to your instructions. The first five bags are included in the flat fee. Additional bags of any size with oxygen absorbers are $1.50 each.

*Note: We do not include rehydration instructions for smaller portions. You'll have to use your noggin to do a little math and figure out rehydration proportions based on the pre and post weights that we provide.

Who will package my food? 

Your food will be packaged at the same location where it was freeze dried. This is a personal residence and your food will be packaged by myself, Kelly Araneda. I have obtained a food handler's license and know how to safely handle your food.  All work surfaces will be sanitized before packaging. Gloves and hairnets will also be worn during packaging.  Please see a copy of my food handler's certificate on the home page of this site.

Will I need anything else to prepare my trays at home?

We provide all the essentials for preparing your trays at home.  

How will I reconstitute my food when I want to eat it? 

Because your homemade food is not made in a factory (thank goodness!) there is no precise recipe for how much water to add or what method to use for reconstituting your food. However, we will help you out by weighing each tray before and after processing.  This will tell you how much water weight was lost from each tray and how much water you'll need to add to your food when you want to rehydrate. I have found that about two cups of water equals one pound. Some foods just need water added to them a little at a time until the desired consistency is reached (refried beans, for example).

What are the "methods" of reconstituting food you mentioned above?

Most often, the easiest method for reconstituting freeze-dried food is just adding hot water and letting the food sit until the water is soaked up.  Some foods will require cold water and have longer rehydration times.  For more delicate or bread-like foods, you may want to consider using a steamer to gently infuse the food with moisture.  I have a bamboo steamer that works great for this purpose.

Some foods, such as fruits and vegetable chips, make a great snack just as they are and may not require rehydration of any kind.

Does freeze drying change the caloric value of the food?

Nope. It sure doesn't.  Keep that in mind when snacking!  :)

Do you offer delivery?

Kind of. Delivery fees are not included in your batch fee but may be arranged at additional cost if you live within a ten-minute radius.  We charge $10 per leg of the delivery process (tray drop, tray retrieval, order delivery).  For example, if you only need us to drop off the trays and you can do the rest of your driving yourself, the fee is only $10.  Likewise, if you need us to drive for any two legs of the process the fee is $20.  However, if you need us to do ALL the driving (bring you the trays, pick up the trays, bring you the processed food) then it would be $30.   The fee reflects the fact that we are not set up to be a delivery service, but we are willing to accommodate special circumstances.

What if I can't come to pick up my order before 5 pm on Friday?

You may choose to purchase the delivery service (please see above) or you may choose to pay an additional holding fee of $5/day.  Please note that orders held for over 30 days will become the property of U-Freezeit.com