Freeze Dried Spaghetti & Meatballs -- Perfect Portions Using the Tray Dividers

Freeze dried spaghetti & meatballs is a meal that almost everyone can enjoy!
It's inexpensive to make and it's easy to make large portions
I'll show you how to make this easy freeze drying recipe with perfect serving portions using our tray dividers!
Get your tray dividers and other freeze drying supplies here:
www.freezedryingsupplies.com
If you are thinking of buying freeze dryer, support the freeze drying community and purchase through us! It helps keep this KZbin content coming!
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#freezedriedspaghetti #freezedriedspaghettiandmeatballs #traydividers

[@live.life.simple.]

TRAY DIVIDERS for the win! GET YOURS at www.freezedryingsupplies.com

[@cmbaz1140]

take a skewer 3mm diameter or so and pierce the meatballs once before freezedrying ... with this you should be able to better adjust the rehydration time of the meatballs more holes = faster rehydration

[@raydennis6409]

Can I adapt the medium tray dividers to fit into my small (3 tray) freeze dryer ?

[@live.life.simple.]

@@raydennis6409 Yes, they can be cut

[@standdown4929]

I was going to ask you where you got your dividers and then saw the link. I just ordered my machine yesterday and spent the rest of the day shopping for supply's. I couldn't find the dividers. I just ordered a set from you, thank you for having them.

[@live.life.simple.]

@@standdown4929 thats great! You will love them!

[@AllisChalmersMN]

I appreciate the fact that you rehydrate and try things in the videos after you make them. It’s nice to see how things turn out.

[@Clarinda787]

You can solve the meatball problem by frying ground beef into crumbles. The crumbles rehydrate really well. In fresh spaghetti, I usually add the meat crumbles to the sauce so it's distributed evenly. I'll have to experiment with that to see if it's better to FD them mixed or separately.

[@stephaniecornwell8766]

Exactly what I was going to say.

[@christoff124]

season the meat like a meat ball before your do it.

[@liznichols4916]

These kinds of things look really awesome for hurricane prone florida.

[@annmacbride3100]

Just did a batch of spaghetti and meatballs. Cut the meatballs into 1/8 pieces and freeze dried first. Then I did a full batch of the pasta topped with sauce and topped with parm cheese. I have the medium freeze drier..used your dividers. We had 5 portions per tray. Put the pasta/sauce portions with 1/4 c of meatball chunks per bag. Rehydrated with 3/4c water for 15 mins in the bag....was AWESOME! Thank you for the video..definitely a win. BTW. 3 lbs of pasta will fill 4 medium trays.

[@user-zd8dw8gb2n]

How much time did it take to FD your Spaghetti?

[@mayhembeading3737]

Glad you designed these, it's BRILLIANT. I will be ordering them today, be quiet and just take my money already.

[@beverlyyork383]

Cooked ground sirloin or beef (etc.) with Spanish Rice, Spaghetti w/ meat or Stroganoff all work really well rehydrated. Maybe the meatballs are just too dense? When I make Spanish Rice, it's a full meal (ground beef, onions, bell peppers, cooked brown rice and plenty of diced tomatoes, sauce and chili powder). Thank you for the trials ... saves me miles! :-)

[@OvcharkaShepherd]

I would have tossed the pasta and sauce together before loading the trays to assure a good coating of all the noodles. Maybe try rigatoni, peppers and sausage next time? I’m working on Indian Curry recipes.

[@live.life.simple.]

Great idea!

[@mosilver1572]

Peppers Sausage, awesome! I'm waiting on my Freeze Dryer, a small one in early December. I dehydrate vegetables, and do canning, but I think freeze drying will get my meat and regular meals to another level.

[@Java-ls3zp]

Congrats on 100K subscribers-you’re channel deserves it!

[@live.life.simple.]

Thank you so much!

[@gurgisgutters725]

Ours be here Tuesday. I can’t wait.

[@live.life.simple.]

Welcome to the freeze drying community!

[@kathygarner419]

You might try putting your combo meatballs and spaghetti upside down with the meat balls on the bottom and the spaghetti on the top when you re-hydrate the MRE. That way the sauce and spaghetti will hold your meatballs under the water making them more likely to get moistened. It just looks like you are trying to rush the process and I agree it may be better to separate the ingredients. Good video valuable info.

[@lonnie152]

Hey, you are working more thank most do with a full time job. So happy you have created a business you love.

[@mycreativeescape]

welp.. guess what I'm FDing this weekend... haha Thank you!

[@BlueCollarHomestead]

Recently we got our freeze dryer and we cannot wait to use it for stuff like this. So far we've done the basics. We love watching this channel!

[@homesteadingwithapurpose9681]

Love watching all your videos. Can’t wait to get a freeze dryer.

[@phyrewillow6463]

Definitely gonna buy those dividers! Excellent product.

[@shirleypayne9218]

Looks great

[@sarahwhite4295]

Joined the Facebook group. Thanks for the info!! So cool!!

[@RVingwithG]

I would so do this one!

[@KowboyUSA]

Excellent experiment.

[@jimt1575]

Great content, thanks!

[@nerys71]

something I would be interested in seeing you try. RE VAC the meatballs! get containers with those "lids" that have the little port so you can "vac seal" the jar. meat balls. hot water. seal and vac. it should not take much vac pressure to lower the gas pressure IN the meatballs themselves which will help them to "suck in" the water. I wonder if that would work to really speed up the process?

[@c.r701]

I want a freeze dryer so badly. I started saving 5$ a month towards my goal to buy one. Unfortunately I think it's going to take me a long time😞. In the meantime I'll just live my dream through your Channel.❤

[@linkay6]

You can put on layaway and pay what you want when you want when you buy from Harvest Right. That will "freeze" the price.

[@truefireangel]

@@linkay6 i don’t see a layaway option when you check out...

[@linkay6]

@@truefireangel I called and placed my order and was able to put it on layaway. Sorry I don't know how to do it when ordering online.

[@gilbertavalos6835]

I was in the same situation as you, slowly saving up to buy one. Then one day I found out Home Depot actually sells Harvest Right Freeze Dryers, not only that I got it on the HD credit card with 12 months interest free. Now I'm freeze drying all I can : D

[@kathymcmc]

For Christmas and birthday, ask for donations to your FD saving fund.

[@leadpelletinass]

Thanks for all the videos and extra stuff. I'm looking forward to getting a freeze dryer and start putting away food that doesn't require refrigeration.

[@brandensimoens1931]

Just purchased the large freeze dryer through your affiliate link, thank you so much for the channel and direction.

[@live.life.simple.]

Hope you enjoy it!

[@lifewantstolive]

Congratulations on the 100,000! I am just doing my 2nd load with my new freeze dryer. I'm so happy with my purchase! Your videos are outstanding and I appreciate the time and energy you put into these! Frying up 6 lbs of hamburger to do in my next load!

[@live.life.simple.]

That is awesome!

[@sv3931]

*@Freedom Lover* You must try his Chili Mac! Wow! Great recipe! Dries beautifully! _Delish!_ The spaghetti I would have made it up like I was serving it, mixed well; using ground beef or Italian sausage instead of meatballs. In fact, think I'll make some tomorrow!

[@carriebeard9926]

❤ Yummmmmm. Great idea!!!

[@TheRealCobraBurnout]

excellent

[@Umkarz]

Weighting those trays like Heisenelli... Amazing product.

[@bubblesaab3620]

Enjoyed

[@aisyabelajarngaji5279]

wow good insight

[@scotts595]

Great video 👍🏻👍🏻💥

[@nickfisherNF]

Awesome video

[@GradeBmoviefan]

This is a terrific video! Thanks for sharing and for the inspiration! Congratulations on making 100+K ! ~Sharon

[@live.life.simple.]

Thank you so much!

[@JenSpice]

Thanks! Looks great. I am making jolibee spaghetti and this will be perfect for portioning.

[@live.life.simple.]

Great!

[@bc24roxy4]

Can't wait till you make some of those dividers for us small Harvest Right owners :)

[@adsrentals]

PLEASE MAKE DIVIDERS FOR SMALL TRAYS! Have recent received my HR small with oil-less pump...LOVE IT! Have some silicone prepping TRAYS but would enjoy more choices for maximizing my trays. Enjoy your journeys...recently paid off my ex, I own 11 rentals clear again!

[@tmw94777]

Thank you so much for this, and your other videos. THeyve been very informative! I recently had four of the large freeze dryers donated to my food bank kitchen. I’ve been testing vegetables and starches, this coming week, I start testing proteins. I cana’t wait to start making freeze dried meals for our unhoused clients!

[@GradeBmoviefan]

Your project sounds interesting! Do you have a page or are you pretty much doing this on your own? I admit...I had been thinking of how something like this could help those in need. ~Sharon

[@OvcharkaShepherd]

What a generous and thoughtful donation.

[@Bill-xs4zu]

Yes awesome donation. You should start a KZbin channel now!

[@resourcefulgirl]

I'm marathon watching! Really enjoy your vids, especially the sangria :). It's perfect timing because I just broke ground on a house I'm building and I'll be homesteading. I rearranged things to fit the large freeze dryer in my kitchen versus the laundry/pantry. I also decided against the medium Harvest Right because I know I'll be using it quite a bit. Because of supply chain disruptions I'm not 100% sure when the house will be done but I would love to join your freeze drying group as I get closer to getting things setup.

[@live.life.simple.]

Great! Thanks so much for your support and I wish you luck on the home build.

[@BellofattoBrews]

This is next on my list to do. I might try meat sauce and like you said, cut the meatballs up into smaller pieces.

[@maddemadetv445]

thank you sir

[@live.life.simple.]

My pleasure

[@motherhen2k2]

I just made my 1st purchase from your supplies link. I love that option. Also, I'm not a big fan of store bought meatballs as they are to dense. Homemade is always better.

[@Barosunflower]

Gonna have to try, I found out not to have trays to heavy otherwise vacuum errors come up.

[@martinroskres1297]

Keep good records of weights pre and post so you know how much water to add

[@RVingwithG]

Congrats on the 108+,000 SUBS SWEET

[@live.life.simple.]

Thanks so much!!

[@IgoOutlateAtnight]

You guys think smaller meat pieces in the spaghetti would reconstitute better? ETA: use geound beef instead if meatballs?

[@AuntieEm30805]

That's what we are thinking, make a meat sauce.

[@live.life.simple.]

ground beef, drained would be your best bet!

[@evaarnim]

congratulations on 100,000 i am going to try the spegetti

[@live.life.simple.]

Good luck!

[@marcfruchtman9473]

Thanks for this instructional video. I really like that you split the meals into pre-made vs just individual ingredients. I do have one question about "freeze drying" spaghetti with respect to prepping, do they actually last longer in the freeze dried state in mylar or in the original state in mylar? If it is about the same, then I am guessing that the one advantage to freeze drying would be that the noodles don't take as long to cook, simply rehydrate with hot water, and its done in a couple of minutes as opposed to a much longer cooking time with regular noodles?

[@Bullfrog0302]

Great to watch, need some new recipes

[@live.life.simple.]

Working on it!

[@nickperry8409]

I psi can and dehydrate ect I can’t wait to buy a freeze dryer

[@live.life.simple.]

You will probably rarely can after you purchase a freeze dryer

[@halifaxguy]

While nice big meat balls is great, I think I would just do ground beef with the same seasoning and do the 3 packs as individual ingredients and once everything is rehydrated I’d mix the meat into the sauce for more of a ‘meat sauce’ effect. Great vid as usual. I pulled the trigger last week and ordered one. Love the idea of the dividers and stackers but the cost of shipping to out of the USA is insane sadly.

[@keithbyrd10]

Love the video. Could I ask a question? I finished a batch of food and when I went out to package it you have to open the drain valve and when I did it didn't have no vacuum on it. Do you know what went wrong?

[@lukeupfold4284]

I love show, i wish i could help people with the Freeze drying .I live SA .Its crazy here food will run out.any help from anyone anywhere before power goes off will be a big help.keep safe out there.

[@brichter4669]

Great video. I am looking forward to making freeze dried spaghetti. I make my spaghetti sauce with lean ground turkey. I think it might be better to mix the spaghetti sauce and noodles together, then freeze dry. I am surprised you used the pillow since you did a video not using it. Is there a reason why you used the pillow?

[@ShaleHollow]

I think I'd almost consider elbow macaroni instead of spaghetti noodles for ease of dividing things up.

[@brandensimoens1931]

Easier to bag them up too.

[@bobbiewilliams3109]

Brian, how do you determine the FD processing time for each batch and most importantly what time to START the batch so that the ending time is suitable for your schedule? As an example: We don’t want to have to add more time at 3:00 am in the morning. 😢

[@jennifersinclair6044]

Very cool! Though I think I'd cut the meatballs in 4ths. Just so they rehydrate at the same rate.

[@jennifersinclair6044]

Oh lol, I wrote that comment before he got to the vacation story.

[@sv3931]

Yeah, ground Italian sausage or beef would be much easier, and mix well with sauce before drying.

[@stephaniejernigan8638]

Can you please tell me what brand scale you use? Waiting on our freeze dryer, we ordered from your link. We watch you daily, learning so much from your videos.

[@papochka7035]

hello Brian, I like your channel and I think I will get my freeze dryer. I am trying to understand the amount of space between trays; another question is can I remove couple of sections from the shelf to increase the space between the trays?

[@live.life.simple.]

The trays have heat pads on them that are tied to sensors in the computer of the HR. You would have to do some big mods to make that extra space.

[@yoadrienne939]

Yes. Vacuum issues are from putting pillow in before the gasket. I was having same issues so I stopped doing that.

[@kareni7535]

I weigh out the servings (small family) and then twirl loosely with chopsticks, leaving room in center for the sauce. Keeps serving portion sizes very close. I learned meatballs take a lot of time and so I use the chopper and crumble them up. Mix with sauce or sprinkle the serving onto the spaghetti with the sauce.

[@colbymoore12]

Could you rehydrate with the meal flipped over? Meatballs on the bottom and pasta on top? Idk might help!

[@davidcarson7897]

Would a pressure chamber help with the rehydration of harder things like the meatballs?

[@ckb49879]

I would use the "broth" created by rehydrating the meatballs to rehydrate the noodles and sauce to prevent flavor loss. Same idea with rice, make it using the meat broth and gain a lot of flavor in your meal. We do that even with daily cooking, boiling rice in bone broth gives so much flavor and added protein.

[@Bill-xs4zu]

Great idea about the meatball eater!

[@charleyarchuleta4932]

Great suggestion

[@michaeljansen9017]

How long would the spaghetti and meatballs MRE last in the mylar?

[@zachreyhelmberger894]

Dang you are making me hungry!! How long was the cycle? How much water did you pull out?

[@bettynickelson779]

TRAY DIVIVERS!

[@jeremyb66]

I’m sold on the tray dividers

[@salinal2783]

I don’t want to be disrespectful, but they do sell the same exact ones on Amazon & Etsy, by SophosSurvival, for significantly cheaper. These are almost 35-40% more.

[@jeremyb66]

Your not rude. I don’t know much about Etsy so for Amazon I will look and see what they offer. After using the harvest right I’m very happy and my kids love all the food I have done. Ya the price is a lot but now that I have used mine so much. I wish I would of gotten the biggest one they sell.

[@The_Priory]

love your videos, but I'm trying to find out more about the settings you use on your Harvest Right when you do these.

[@live.life.simple.]

I feel like people get too wrapped up in changing settings. For 99% of foods, just put them in and let the freeze dryer do its thing. Just my take on it

[@Gipsiwriter]

When I make spaghetti sauce, I fry up a combination of Italian sausage and hamburger in crumbles and add that to my sauce. And I bet that would rehydrate much easier and be easier to make.

[@markwinter2857]

Regarding rehydration: One milliliter of water (1 ml) = one cubic centimeter (cc) is equal to one gram (g). The conversion of the weight of water to its volume is one gram to one ml. So you could use your pre to post weight difference as milliliters. No weighing necessary.

[@oliveburchett4442]

How did you get your freeze dry machine what do you go get one at

[@aliciahoward1598]

What's the pillow for? And why would I use the oil filter thing the dryer came with?

[@peggymccoon]

Hey people i was just pudding my sugar free pudding away after going threw the Harvest right. Sugar free chocolate pudding instant works

[@valeriefleischman2988]

Or use browned ground meat (beef, chicken, turkey, etc.)

[@paulacomstock3742]

Waaaaaay more sauce needed 😆

[@Bejuicycafe]

Great channel! Where did you get your large freeze drier.

[@live.life.simple.]

affiliates.harvestright.com/416.html

[@gudnuf2060]

Have you tried rehydration using vacuum? For instance, take your meatballs and put them in a jar then cover with water. Place the jar in the FD (remove the tray holder) then pull a vacuum on it for a minute or so. This will pull all of the air out of the food. When the vacuum is released, water will be sucked into the pores and it should rehydrate faster. You'll want to use cold water since vacuum will cause water to boil at lower temperatures. You can nuke it for a minute or so afterwards to heat things up. Where you don't have access to a FD, you can use a Mason jar with a vacuum sealer attachment and a hand vacuum pump. It won't be as hard a vacuum but you should still see some improvement.

[@live.life.simple.]

I have not, but it has been coming up alot lately. I will have to experiment with it

[@MonkeyToDaddy]

My vacuum sealer has a marinate function. Do you think that might work?

[@gudnuf2060]

@@MonkeyToDaddy yes

[@morsdon]

I was thinking the same thing

[@arnoldreiter435]

i really like the tray dividers but as i have the small FD there seems to be no option for the smaller trays.......can one of the other sizes be modified to work?

[@live.life.simple.]

yes, they can be cut down but the outside portions will not be the same size as the inside.

[@juliewagie5353]

Do I have to defrost the unit between every batch. I am a brand new eager learner.

[@danakline5120]

where do you get the pillow thing?

[@marthaadams8326]

You could take the meatballs and put them in the food processor and mix into the sauce and it should work easier.

[@ThroughTheBiblewithMySisters]

maybe use a meat sauce,,, love your channel

[@sandrayoung6771]

What is the pillow? When and why d you use it? And where do you get one?

[@BlessigOkeke]

This is good. Pls what is the best freeze dryer to buy now that will last in Nigeria.

[@range8977]

Where to buy the divider treys

[@MrRDVIII]

Did you increase the height of the green stackers. Thanks

[@live.life.simple.]

The green stackers are designed to allow plenty of room for food. You would not want your tray filled higher than they allow or they will be severely overloaded

[@jesuslovesyou7475]

Cook the sauce together with the meatballs warm up the noodles then when they are done add them all together.

[@MrBiron1]

Just bought the dividers.... The meat balls should of been on the bottom. the noodles turn to insulation . that's why it was a long batch. The freeze dryer use conduction to dry. vacuum can max R-value is 50 a inch. meat had the highest density

[@PumpkinKingXXIII]

How much energy/cost per hour to run the freeze drier?

[@user-vx2wx4th1m]

What is the pillow for? where do you get one

[@lynwarner2701]

How long did it take to freeze dry? It looks like you did not freeze first...correct? Thank you!

[@Malaea1]

Hello there! Great video! I am a little confused about how you came up with 1/2 cup of water to reconstitute the spaghetti. Can you please tell me exactly how you got that again? Thank you!

[@live.life.simple.]

the best way on these types of recipes is to weigh the trays before and after freeze drying. The difference in weight is the amount of water that you need to add back in for rehydration. If you use dividers, just divide that amount by the amount of portions.

[@patriciaschuller4259]

What is pillow used for?

[@KrusinTheSierra]

Why are you removing the rubber gasket?

[@kimsgirl1999]

Where did you get the pillow?

[@aidenadams2783]

Should you get the medium freeze dry or the small one I live in a trailer home

[@live.life.simple.]

It will ultimately depend on your needs and situation. Think about how often it will run and the amount you are trying to produce before purchasing.

[@trishcannon586]

Tell me more about the "pillow". What is it? What is it's function? When should it be used? Where to get one or two? Do they need to be washed are they machine washable?

[@jestes7]

why don't you use a cheap vacuum sealer? Do they not work with mylar bags or something? Seems like you could save a lot of wasted space, and increase shelf life that way.

[@mikemcclintock1]

When using jars for storing long term, will the rubber on the lids dissolve or be ok for 20 to 25 years

[@live.life.simple.]

I have moved away from storing in jars unless its less than 1 year storage. There is not enough data to show how they will hold up over the long term. Just my opinion