5 Freeze-Dried Food Items I Recommend You Store
One of my secrets to saving money on my grocery bill is this list of 5 freeze-dried food items. I also have other ways, but these are my favorite go-to foods in my pantry. The fantastic thing about these is that they come in a can already pre-washed, chopped, diced, or sliced. You have to love that!
If you store freeze-dried food items like these, you’ll never run out of the items you usually pick up at the grocery store. You’ll use the items you harvest during your growing season if you have a garden, but you need some pantry items that have a long shelf life for your long-term storage.
I’m talking about going to the grocery store to pick up some fresh vegetables for that favorite recipe you want to prepare. The more I stay away from shopping, the more money I save. If you see a lady with gray hair walking fast down each aisle to grab and stash stuff in her shopping basket, it may just be me. I’m on a mission when I hit that store with my list; yes, I always have a list. I call it “get in and get out.” Grocery shopping is not my favorite thing to do, especially with the high cost of food these days.
Grocery Shopping
Sometimes, people ask me, “How much do you spend on groceries every month?” Here’s the deal: I live a few miles from the nearest grocery store, so I have to consider gas money, my time, and how much I will spend if I drive there. My secret is going to my pantry instead of the local grocery store whenever possible. I stock my pantry when freeze-dried food items go on sale.
What Is Freeze-Dried Food
Let me explain freeze-drying food in a nutshell. The first step is freezing. The second step is placing the frozen food in a vacuum chamber under low heat. The third step starts when the frozen water crystals evaporate directly from ice to vapor, a process called sublimation.
What’s really nice about freeze-dried food is that it generally lasts longer in your storage stash, depending on the manufacturer. Please always look at the cans and see the shelf life. You can eat the food directly out of the can without adding moisture; therefore, it uses a lot less fuel, if any, when it comes to meal preparation.
Freeze-dried foods usually have an open shelf life of 1-2 years. Again, please look at the #10 size or the pantry cans on the company’s website for details.
Pros: The food lasts 20-25 years, depending on the company where you purchase it. You can also eat the food directly out of the can. You don’t need to slice, chop, or cut it into bite-size pieces.
The Cons: They are usually more expensive. Remember that you use less fuel to prepare meals using freeze-dried foods and the freeze drying process makes them shelf-stable for a long time.
Pros: the food not only lasts a long time but it maintains most of its flavor and taste, retains the nutrition benefits, makes using the items as recipe ingredients easy, and the containers store easily in your pantry.
5 Freeze-Dried Food Items
I’m only spotlighting Thrive Life freeze-dried food today. If you’re wondering if I sell it, I do not. My goal is to educate my readers on my website and learn from them, and freeze dried foods are an important component of an emergency preparedness plan. So, let’s get started today.
1. Onions/Chopped & Sliced
How Can I Use These
- 1 cup freeze-dried equals 1 cup fresh
- Sliced onions are great on Homemade Pizza
- Stir fry dishes
- Add to hamburger for tacos
- Add to hamburger for spaghetti
- Add to a pot of soup
- Egg omelets
- Creamy Sausage Potato Soup
- These are great for White Chili
- They are fabulous in Breakfast Casseroles
- These are perfect in Homemade Sloppy Joes
- These are perfect to put in Meals In A Jar (short-term storage only)
Thrive Life says, “Add 1/3 cup of water to 1 cup of Chopped Onions; let sit covered for 5-10 minutes or until tender. Fresh equivalent, 1 cup dry = 1 cup fresh (nearly one 4 oz. package). “
Shelf-Life
25 years unopened in optimal storage conditions (please don’t store them in a hot garage)
2 years when opened (please remove the oxygen absorber and throw it out)
2. Celery
How Can I Use These
- Minestrone/Vegetable Beef Soup
- Chicken Noodle Soup
- Baked Egg Foo Young
- Any casserole that has celery
- Any soup that calls for celery
- Chicken Salad Sandwiches
- Egg Salad
Thrive Life says, “Add 1/3 cup of water to 1 cup of THRIVE™ Celery. Let sit for 5–10 minutes, then drain any excess water. For a fresh equivalent, 1 cup dry equals about two stalks.”
Shelf-Life
25 years unopened in optimal storage conditions (please don’t store them in a hot garage)
Two years when opened (please remove the oxygen absorber and throw it out)
3. Red, Yellow, & Green Bell Peppers
How Can I Use These
- Casseroles
- Omelets, yay!! We always have bell peppers ready to go now!!
- Soups
- Homemade Vegetarian Chili
- Chili
- Stir fry
- Pizza
- Rice dishes
- Bean burritos
Thrive Life says, “Add 1/3 cup of water to 1 cup of peppers; let sit covered for 3-5 minutes or until tender. Fresh equivalent, 1/3 cup dry = about one bell pepper; about two green chili peppers.”
Shelf-Life
25 years unopened in optimal storage conditions (please don’t store them in a hot garage)
One year when opened (please remove the oxygen absorber and throw it out)
4. Potato Chunks/Potato Shreds/Diced Potatoes
How Can I Use These
- Mashed potatoes
- Potato Salad
- Creamy soups
- Creamy chowders
- Cheesy Potatoes, aka Funeral Potatoes
Thrive Life says, “Add 4 cups of hot water to 1 cup of potatoes and let sit until tender. Let potatoes soak for 3-5 minutes until tender. Drain water. Fresh equivalent: 1 cup dry = about 1/2 large potato.”
Shelf-Life
25 years unopened in optimal storage conditions (please don’t store them in a hot garage)
Two years when opened (please remove the oxygen absorber and throw it out)
5. Green Onions
How Can I Use These
- Add to steamed rice
- Add to steamed brown rice
- These are great with cooked quinoa
- Just sprinkle on top of soups right out of the can
- Sprinkle on top of your 7-layer bean dip (layer beans, sour cream, guacamole, grated cheese, chopped tomatoes, chopped black olives, and green onions right out of the can)
Thrive Life says, “Add 1/4 cup of lukewarm water to 1 cup of Green Onions and let sit for 2-3 minutes or until tender. Fresh equivalent: 1 cup dry = 6 1/2 cup stalks.”
Please note that I rarely hydrate them; I use them dry more often than not.
Shelf-Life
25 years unopened in optimal storage conditions (please don’t store them in a hot garage)
One year when opened (please remove the oxygen absorber and throw it out)
Are There Other Freeze Dried Foods I Should Consider?
If you were to see my freeze-dried food stash you’d see the following:
- Veggies: corn, peas, carrots, cucumbers, and spinach
- Fruits: sweet cherries, orange pieces, mango chunks, peaches, blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, and pineapple chunks.
Final Word
Here’s the deal: we can store many freeze-dried food items, but these are the top 5 I use almost daily. I never have an onion go squishy, moldy bell peppers, green onions never go slimy, and I always have some potatoes ready to use in any recipe. It’s all about cooking from scratch and using food from our pantry. You will love it, I promise. Thanks for prepping; we need to stay on it, my friends. May God bless this world, Linda
How To Survive On Freeze-Dried Food
Copyright Images: Bell Peppers Chopped Depositphotos_48795385_S ByTorsakarin
I love your site and look forward to your advice. One request I’d like to make is about your recipes. Is there anyway you could set it up so that we could view all your recipes by name in order to select the one we are interested in without having to go back through all your posts until we reach what we want. Just a list would be great. I was looking for your Ebleskiver recipe and really didn’t have time to keep going back through your posts until I found it. I wanted to know if I could make them in a muffin tin or a mini muffin tin as I do not have an Elbleskiver pan-in fact, until you wrote about them I had never heard of them.
THANKS
Hi Sandra, you may want to type in the word in the “SEARCH”, I “tag” every post so you can find them. If you look at the black line with the words: Home-Recipes-Food Storage-Ebooks-Categories-My Favorites-About-Contact……then you will see the little magnifying glass deal. Click on the magnifying deal and then you enter the word you are looking for. I hope that helps. As far as the muffin tins, the only issue would be turning the Ebelskivers over in the oven midway. It’s worth a try! Linda
Linda, thank you for your great info and list. I like your suggestion of how to use them.
We strive stick to the basics: wheat/grains dry beans/lentils, and have come up with amazing ways to enhance using these by having a lot of spices/herbs/flavorings, and doing some sprouting.
Our list of dried/freeze dried….
dried chopped onions
potato flakes
potato slices
shoestring carrots (from Honeyville grains) celery
bell pepper mix
peas
corn
broccoli
apple slices, strawberries, banana chips, raspberries, peaches
It can get crazy trying to figure what to store and what works for each of us as we all have different tastes. I just tried to keep notice of what we used a lot of, plus
tastes we loved and would miss in an emergency situation.
Also have trained our tastes over the years to accept healthy grains/wheat and dry beans/lentils. As you know, in an emergency we can’t just jump into using basic storage items that we aren’t used to.
I have so many ways to use lentils that we could go a month or more using them everyday . Same with grains and wheat.
Thus now plan daily meals this way:
Grain/wheat/fruit
Dry beans/lentils
Vegetable based meal
(meat sparingly in one of those meals)
Hi Janet, wow, now I need to go get some shoestring carrots from Honeyville!! Great tip! I love that we can share ideas with each other!! I love the bell pepper mix too! My goal is to help people realize they can stay out of the grocery stores if they stock their pantry. Thanks for the reminder on the lentils, I need to buy those again. Life is so good if we know how to cook from scratch!! Linda
Hi Linda, I really like your lofty goal to help people realize they can stay out of the grocery stores if they stock their pantry. Sadly, grocery stores are now a huge bloodsucker of our money and health if we are not very wise and prayerful.
Lentils, low in calories and high in nutrition!! We store/use red lentils and green. Both fairly common. Red lentils break down in cooking like split peas do. I actually prefer brown lentils over green but they are getting harder to buy at a decent price, and are the same as far as green lentils in cooking and use.
So……red lentil tomato soup is a fave, as are lentil tacos in our family. Chocolate lentil cake, apple lentil cake. Lots n’ lots of lentil soups, we especially like it with chicken and chicken stock. Mexi lentils n’ brown rice: we then make different meals from this…..topped with cheese; taco salad; mexi taco soup; burritos; tostados, over mashed potatoes topped with cheese. Red lentil curry soup topped with cilantro Greek yogurt; lentil curry and rice; green lentil soup with coconut milk and Indian spices; lemony lentil soup (uses red lentils); honey bbq lentils; Italian lentil wheat stew (yumm);
Carmelized onion lentils n’ eggs; lentil feta salad; lentil potato soup; lentil spaghetti; lentil hamburger chili. To name a few
Hi Janet, thanks for the lentil tips, I have got to try these lentils!! Thanks for sharing all these lentil ideas!! I love it! Linda
I like your list as I just love to add onions, green peppers, celery and green onions to dishes. And my favorite side dish are potatoes except the potatoes require peeling and removal of bad spots, so sometimes I don’t want to bother. But worse thing is when they suddenly go bad and one has to find rice corn or noodles.
Also, considering the cost of processed versus fresh, I like having canned or frozen foods at home to allow for quick meals. You pass on all that preparation time, there is no waste material as the foods are ready to go right into the pan, pot or casserole dish. I like fresh foods, but used to chop, slice, dice and freeze vegetables to preserve them, reduce waste and provide convenience. So, there really isn’t a difference other than the extra work. Cost wise the cheaper option just depends on what those foods are selling for at the time of purchase.
When I get a chance I am going to look at the cost of some freeze dried foods, meats in particular (No need to worry about defrosting ahead of time) as cooking can be fun, but often times it’s a time stealing chore. In my household a little convenience would be appreciated and allow more time for other things.
PS: Love your book! So well done.
Hi Frank, oh thank you, you are so nice! I’m with you the more food I have at my house, the better. I’m thankful for my pressure cooker when using frozen meat. Oh, and cheap cuts of meat!!! LOL! It makes the meat super tender, even stew meat. I need to figure out how to do a video!!! Thanks again, my friend, Linda
It’s getting harder and harder to order freeze dried or any other food storage things. I wish the process was easier. I would like to buy a #10 can of freeze dried food a month. I am elderly and can’t maneuver the internet orders. I would like to be able to buy a mix of 6 cans of freeze dried food sometimes too. I just can’t find an easy way to do it. Maybe I would buy a case of I freeze dried celery, onions, bell peppers, green onions, potatoes, and hamburger, but I can’t figure it out. IT JUST SHOULDN’T BE THAT DIFFICULT. If you’re in the business it should be easier to do.
Christine ~
Thrive Life has a monthly way of ordering. From their website:
How does the delivery service work?
This is an ongoing delivery system where customers can pick their products and receive regular scheduled deliveries. Customers have full control of their deliveries, which means they pick the products they receive, they pick the day their delivery processes, they control the price point, and they can also skip a delivery or cancel at any time.
Simple Plate can only be purchased through the Delivery Service.
Customers can also order our other grocery products in the Delivery Service such as a can of sliced onions, muffin mixes, and more.
Hope this helps you with your food ordering. Also, if you are, like me, a single person household, they have Pantry Cans – much smaller than the #10 cans. They store more easily AND when opened, they are easier to “finish” before their expiration date (or best by date). I prefer the Pantry Cans for this very reason. I do store some #10 cans but most of my FD storage is in the Pantry Can size. Also, I have never been disappointed with their food products.
Hi Christine, I wish we were neighbors I could help you. I know a girl that can help if you are interested. Her name is Jodi from Food Storage Made Easy. I order my monthly order online through her. She will help you, she is so patient. Let me get her email. Christine are you on Facebook? I will link you to her. Linda
Hi Christine, here is Jodi’s email. She is really good at helping me. fsmethrive@gmail.com
Hey, Linda and everyone: Thank you kindly for reminding me that I need to get back to using our Harvest Right Freeze Drier. I have not used it recently, once the gardening Harvest Season was pretty much over, but it certainly is time to get back to it! We have some venison in the freezer that would be a good idea for Fr. Drying, as it doesn’t contain a bunch of fat like some ground meats do. I don’t love freeze drying fatty items, because the fat tends to splatter all over the place and then go moldy if you don’t realize it needs cleaning up asap. Cheese, on the other hand (though fatty), freeze dries really easily and is so yummy right out of the package.
We have loved our Fr. Drier right from the first batch of food we Fr-Dried. Just be aware of the fact that even when you pre-freeze the foods you want to Fr. Dry, your electric bill is going to go up! Otherwise, it is a flavor saver!! We adore the freeze-dried strawberries, especially. BUT you really should pierce or slice in two most fruits/berries that are round, or sometimes they don’t come out correctly OR may not get dry enough. We have also not had great luck with blackberries, either. Everything else is wonderful! I especially love to freeze-dry the big bulk 5# packages of frozen carrots, celery or whatever veggies from Azure Standard, that are so much cheaper than the 10 oz. packages per lb. We were looking to get more Vit. A in our stockpile, when I discovered Azure had those 5 lb. boxes with diced carrots, sweet potatoes, etc. LOVE those! Inexpensive and already frozen, so you can start your first trays immediately and freeze the rest until you want to Fr.Dry more to add some to soups or make your bags of peas into peas and carrots! LOVE Azure Standard and LOVE their bulk veggies (includes chopped onions, too). Thanks, Linda, for reminders of things to add on to my March order, so I can freeze-dry some more veggies! Oh, and they also sell organic instant potatoes that are pretty good, too. We initially got those for storage, but now use them when things are crazy-busy! We bought the huge 40# bag to split with other prepper friends! When cooking, I just add in some onion powder to give them more flavor. Like that, they are easy and GREAT tasting!
HI Jess, oh I love your comment, you and matt know how to use them!! Food storage is such a necessity for all. of us and the cheaper the better with good quality of course. Linda
Linda,
My list is identical to Janet’s. And I’d never even thought about the green onions, so thanks. As a rule I get the smaller cans of freeze dried veggies because there are only two of us.
On the fresh veggies front my tomatoes are flowering again and setting fruits. I just planted Jericho, Red Iceberg and Crisphead lettuce, Kuroda, Scarlett Nantes and Tendersweet carrots, Bright Lights Swiss chard, Pak Choi, Matador Spinach, Danish Ballhead cabbage, Mammoth Melting and Dwarf White Sugar Snow Peas. Also harvested the last of my Derby green beans–an experiment I was disappointed with (next year I’ll stick with Dragon Tongue, Provider, Contender, plus Cherokee Wax beans and Anasazi beans). Next month I’ll be digging Russet potatoes and Bush Porto Rico sweet potatoes. I only grew Hopi Pale Gray squash this year and it’s the first year they’ve let me down–lots of growth and no fruits. I think that’s because it got too hot too quick. Next Spring I’ll plant them earlier (and some Black Beauty Zucchini as well).
Hi Ray, I’m with you I have to get the smaller containers. Oh, I love hearing about your garden. I would love to walk next door and take a look at all the vegetables you grow! You rock, my friend! Linda
Hi Linda, nice post! I would say to just be careful with the potatoes as most of them have sulfites in them and some people are sensitive or allergic to them, me included! Bob’s red mill seem to be the best without the sulfites but you have to use and rotate as they are not packaged for long term storage. They are very good!!!
Hi Jan, this is good to know, thank you. Thrive Life shows “potatoes” only. Augason Farms shows Potato shreds, salt, dextrose, freshness preserved with sodium bisulfite and BHT. Thrive Life nd Augason Farms has a shelf life of 25 years so they would be good for long term storage. So Thrive Life wins in that situation. The Bob’s Red Mill potatoes have a shelf life of 18 months. Those would be great for short term storage. Great comment, Linda
I love Thrive products. (To be fair, I do sell them and have 2 customers, me and my sister) I do buy the large container of dehydrated onions at Sam’s Club or Costco instead of the freeze dried for every day use.
Another item I would add to your list is mushrooms.
I will have to look for the shoestring carrots from Honeyville. I also like their products but they only sell #10 cans and with just two of us here, I like the Thrive pantry cans.
I also like the shredded potatoes and we often find small cartons of Ore Ida hash browns in a case at Sam’s Club or Costco. They are dehydrated but last for about 2 years. Great for short term storage and camping. I like the small milk-carton like packaging. If we are making hashbrowns, I add the dehydrated onion to them.
Hi Topaz, I love those milk carton size hash browns, they are so good from Costco. I can sell sell Thrive, i basically am a consultant to get the discount and get a delivery every single month. My preference for sure is the pantry size cans from Thrive Life. They are a great size and Thrive has a lot of sales. Honeyville has limited choices now. I just looked. There are so many new companies now. Linda
My daughter and I just put up several jars of freeze-dried homegrown celery, bell peppers (red, yellow, orange and green), onions, and rhubarb!! She hasn’t dug her potatoes yet but soon! She is having a lot of fun with her freeze-drier!! She plans to powder some of the rhubarb to sprinkle on oatmeal, ice cream and possibly add to cookies and cakes. But most of the rhubarb will be re-hydrated for pies.
Hi Leanne, oh my gosh, I LOVE this, how fun! I would have loved one when I was younger, we had a large garden, and fruit trees galore we could pick from fairly cheap. This is so exciting, life is good! Linda
Can I add Thrive Life powdered milk to your list? An amazing product that dissolves amazingly well in water. Don’t tell the grandkids, I refill their milk carton with the Thrive Life! Having onions and celery are a must 24/7 in our house. Hubby used the freeze dried onions this year in his homemade salsa! I sometimes purchase the family size to try a product but I find if it is a fruit, I will personally devour the whole can myself, LOL!
Love all your suggestions over the last couple of years! Many times, just the reminder I need!
Hi Marilynne, oh the instant milk by Thrive Life is the best. I’m going to try and write about a few every two weeks or so. I got the giggles over “don’t tell the grandkids”! I love hearing your husband used the onions to make salsa! The convenience of freeze dried food is the best! Thank you for your kind words, Linda
I can find the Lehi Mills lemon muffin mix in Sam’s here in New Mexico but can’t find blueberry or any other muffin mix. I like making a couple batches each week because we eat so many muffins in my family. (5) persons Is there anyone else who lives in New Mexico or who knows where to find them or will i have to order the mixes. I like the idea that I could have the organic mixes rather the regular mixes because of my allergies. I was diagnosed as being Allergic to Modern life in 1990 so I make everything from scratch. If anyone has muffin recipes they could share I would really love to get the recipes so I can make them myself. I am a bit of a purest when it comes to the food I make for my family. I know I can’t make everything from scratch but buying organic would be a whole lot of help. My husband and I are 73, Our daughter and daughter in love (my sons wife) is 50 and my son is 45. We lived in Tennessee most of our married life and we always had a garden but that is impossible here in New Mexico
Hi Jackie, that’s rough being allergic to so many things. I hope you find some muffin recipes you can use. You will probably need a basic muffin mix that you can make and then add the different fruits you like and can tolerate. Linda
I am so sorry I goofed. My daughter is 50 and my daughter in love is 54. I think my daughter would be a bit upset it she found out I said she was 54,
Hi jackie, I changed her age to 50, all is well my friend. Linda