I've been tracking that for years! :D We love freeze-dried things. I've loved astronaut ice cream since I was tiny. Over the last 5-10 years, local vendors at street fairs have started carrying options. Our favorite is freeze-dried saltwater taffy. I also love freeze-dried strawberries.
Recently we found a vendor who will rent out her machine! She charges $25 for 1-2 gallons of whatever you want to freeze-dry. So we're slowly collecting a load of nonperishable stuff like Peeps (another of my partner's favorites) and may add other things like different candies or fresh fruit. So if you're a fan of freeze-drying and you have local vendors of it, check to see if any of yours are offering that service. Around here, sometimes the Amish stores will have a massive box of produce for $5-10, and now we have someone to call for, "Hey, I'm looking at several gallons of cheap tomatoes, is your freeze-dryer available today or tomorrow?"
The cheapest freeze-dryer currently is a bit over $1000 and most are in the $2-3000 range, but at least they're down to major appliance levels from the professional only levels they used to be at. When they get below $1000 I'll start looking in more detail.
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Date: 24/5/25 17:27 (UTC)Recently we found a vendor who will rent out her machine! She charges $25 for 1-2 gallons of whatever you want to freeze-dry. So we're slowly collecting a load of nonperishable stuff like Peeps (another of my partner's favorites) and may add other things like different candies or fresh fruit. So if you're a fan of freeze-drying and you have local vendors of it, check to see if any of yours are offering that service. Around here, sometimes the Amish stores will have a massive box of produce for $5-10, and now we have someone to call for, "Hey, I'm looking at several gallons of cheap tomatoes, is your freeze-dryer available today or tomorrow?"
The cheapest freeze-dryer currently is a bit over $1000 and most are in the $2-3000 range, but at least they're down to major appliance levels from the professional only levels they used to be at. When they get below $1000 I'll start looking in more detail.