Homemade Freeze Dried MRE Meals for $0 🤯

[@juliabrown5948]

This was a perfect video for me right now! I'm attempting to make Month of Meals boxes for my family of 4, so 4 weeks of meals ready to go, for having my on hand for emergency preparedness. Wether it's a weather event, a natural disaster, we lose power or just have a family emergency, I really want 4 weeks of meals ready to go, no thinking or planning or going to town needed. I would LOVE to know what your top 5 or 10 favorite MRE meals are!

[@Canadianduke23]

I have used your German pancake recipe now 6 times, my boys are hooked.

[@DIYfreezedry]

@@Canadianduke23 oh yay!!! They’re so good 😊

[@PennieSchiermeyer]

I've been doing homemade chicken noodles and homemade chili and storing for winter!! They turned out amazing!!

[@DIYfreezedry]

@@PennieSchiermeyer yummmm so smart!! They’re fun to make 😄

[@lulamamie8524]

Awesome 🤩

[@lulamamie8524]

We are going on a two week vacation at the end of October. This video has inspired me to make some MRE meals 🤩🥳 Thank you soooo much 🎉❤

[@DIYfreezedry]

@@lulamamie8524 awesome! Such a good idea - its so nice for traveling

[@juliabrown5948]

Can you do a top 5 favorite freeze dried MRE type meals video? It could just be a compilation from other videos with you narrating! I'm making a list of good ones to try and this looks amazing! The curry sounds great too!

[@fygmicrogreens]

Just watch this and your 72 hour kit video, thanks so much! These were just what I needed to move from just candy into more practical freeze drying. I'm curious: when is vacuum sealing useful/necessary? It looked like on the Avid Armor unbox vid, you were doing mostly stuff that wasn't freeze dried, but in the hamburger freeze dry video, you put them in jars and also vacuum sealed. Is this just a way to do it without the oxygen absorbers? Also you've mentioned that you prefer your newer vacuum sealer: does it have a jar attachment like your old one, or would I need different vacuums?

[@onlineservicesolutionsunil]

Who knew MRE meals could be so creative and tasty?

[@DIYfreezedry]

@@onlineservicesolutionsunil they’re my fav to make!!

[@5cyc]

We are getting ready to start, a cycle with german pancakes and potatoes. The pancakes are inspired by your recipe

[@DIYfreezedry]

@@5cyc oh yay!! Such a good idea they turned out great

[@AbbyInman-uq4gp]

Where we live we have TONS of deer + car collisions. Do moose travel with other moose? Like, do you have to wait 1 out to make sure no others are coming? With the deer here, you know if you see 1 then like 4 others will be 1 second behind so you gotta pause longer to wait them out. Thank you and Vanilla Ice again for the video!

[@DIYfreezedry]

@@AbbyInman-uq4gp oh I can see the deer being a problem 😅 with moose typically they’re on their own, moms will be with a baby sometimes so gotta look out for that. But usually they’re alone

[@reneebeam426]

Ohhh, need to hunt up that curry recipe too

[@juliabrown5948]

I know me too!

[@hollysantiago6860]

We really enjoyed that. It looks delicious 😋. Where is the ingredients?

[@lorencolt]

So to make things easy I always go 4 cups per tray with my 4 tray medium freeze dryer. Bags come in pint, quart, and gallon in the stand up bags. So now re-hydration calculations are easier. Water weighs 8.34 lbs. per gallon and 1 cup weighs 8.3214 oz . Before and after freeze drying weights are needed for good re hydration. But you will find that it is just a guideline because not all foods will take in the same amount of liquid as they lost in freeze drying. Milk is easy. 1 quart per tray in a mylar bag, dump in a 2 quart pitcher fill with water while mixing to the 1 quart mark done. Eggs 2 Tbl spoons of egg powder and 2 Tbl spoons of water = 1 egg. Also look up the Wendy DeWitt videos for other food prep and storage ideas. Pre Freeze Driers days.

[@DIYfreezedry]

@@lorencolt this is so helpful thank you for sharing this information!!! Super helpful

[@DangerZone-w6y]

Excellent video! Super good MRE to have on hand. High protein! I would encourage everyone to focus HIGH MEAT PROTEIN meals. Grab those meat sales now wow you are able to. Freeze up the meat till you're able to use it in a FD MRE! I'd invest in a Pressure cooker too. Pressure Cooked meat are shelf stable, and will last much much longer than they (USDA) tells you. You should always do a "lid/jar" check to insure jars have not lost their seal. Between your FD'd food/Pressure Cooked.. you should be able to a years worth of high protein food in a fairly short period of time.

[@juliemaring6048]

@@DangerZone-w6y what do you mean when you say “pressure cooked meat is shelf stable”?

[@pde442]

Awesome video…so trying 😊

[@DIYfreezedry]

@@pde442 thanks so much! Turned out so good

[@AbbyInman-uq4gp]

Great video! PS - love to see the "bloopers" inclusions .... I'm great in the kitchen but some days I feel like I am all thumbs.

[@DIYfreezedry]

@@AbbyInman-uq4gp hahaha glad I’m not the only one 😅😅 and thank you!!!

[@tylermyer1180]

What is the shelf life on this lasagna meal? Thanks

[@DIYfreezedry]

It can be shelf stable 25 years 🤩 if kept in ideal conditions - cool, dry dark place.

[@nh3cowboy1]

Do you use Excel to determine your water to add back in/ food per serving?

[@CherokeeTwilight]

Great videos! Will stews freeze dry?

[@jelenedressler]

Yes they do, very well actually!

[@DIYfreezedry]

I plan to do a stew next!! I’ve heard they’re great

[@swordpanda7panda795]

i think the pasta is a bit over cooked but it is for a camping trip so it should still be better than the store bought one' those become soggy and mushy (ew i just had a flashback of a school trip) yours should be good in comparison

[@5cyc]

How much milk / water did you add to you German pancakes to reconstitute?

[@DIYfreezedry]

@@5cyc so I weighed my tray before putting it into the freezer dryer - then I weighed it after it came out. The difference is how much water I add back into it. And I just add water bc the recipe will already have the milk in it 😁

[@5cyc]

@@DIYfreezedry thank you

[@RhondaBoston-yq5wc]

Do the noodles come out chewy?

[@lizziemarrufo6839]

Do you reconstitute with hot water or room temperature?

[@DIYfreezedry]

@@lizziemarrufo6839 I use hot water so the food will be warm - but any water will work the colder it is it seems to take a little longer

[@juliemaring6048]

Usually cool water with raw ingredients and hot water for cooked ingredients. There are some exceptions, such as shrimp.

[@juliemaring6048]

Please do a bit more research on using the freeze dryer - you’d be ahead if you pre-froze your plans and you’re way over doing the OA’s for that size bag. These are just good cost saving trips as running a freeze dryer is expensive. Great video that will definitely get people interested in exploring the world of freeze drying!

[@_E_P]

ninja possible cooker

[@garycalcote1227]

I love your content but just because you used ingredients from your pantry doesn't make your product zero cost, you paid for it at some point

[@CherokeeTwilight]

I think the point is you can come up with something you already have without running to the store to spend money. Use what you got already at home.

[@AloneInTheGarden]

@@Robert-zr1lg I have one. It costs about $2 per freeze drying session (depending on the length of time needed). Obviously this will vary depending on rates/area you live. I happen to live in an area that has only one electric company, so there is a monopoly and they are able to charge pretty high rates as it’s our only option. I don’t feel like it’s too much, though. I sell a lot of freeze dried products and make a profit, but it is definitely not “free” to run it.

[@DangerZone-w6y]

@@Robert-zr1lg Depending on the size of FD'r they use around 1.2khour during the peak operation..It doesnt run at peak for the full run. And some of the cost depends on your electricty rate where you live. A guy on yt I think it was School Reports.. did a break down of how much it cost in electricity costs. It's relatively small. Those commercials MRE's like Mountain House, and any of the cans by any one of the many others out there cost about 5 to 10 more than the cost of doing this yourself. You have to personally weigh out your time and investment in to a FD. It's clearly not for everyone. But remember a lot of those FD products out there that sell their "crap" in buckets.. THEIR FOOD IS CRAP AND CONTAINS A LOT OF INGREDIANTS THAT IS CRAP! If you FD this yourself.. you control what is and isnt in your food.