I can’t farm enough corn for us because I live in a subdivision unfortunately. But, every year I buy a couple of bushels of really good silver queen corn and simply put it in a pillow case and set in the freezer. Then it’s ready for me to take out every how many ears we need to use. It tastes exactly like it came from the field. Bake it in the oven and then shuck it very very easily after it’s done. Fabulous corn.
I cut my corn the same way. The only extra item I use, is a corn cob holder. I use one stuck in the top of the cob, to hold onto, so my fingers are away from the knife, and I can easily cut, from top to bottom, in one stroke. If you are super short on time, you can freeze them in their husks. Just peel a few outer layers, cut the silk, and bottom stem off, and put in freezer bags. I have 4 bushels picked just this morning, that I have to deal with after work tonight. I will be shucking corn at midnight. It is so great, you guys work as a team.
Shalom! Beautiful beautiful sweet corn. Thank you so much for taking us into your garden and sharing how to pick, shuck, cut, get the chicken food out, blanche, bag and store corn. Blessings to you all!
Good morning Danny and Wanda! They say you can't teach an old dog new tricks,but that can't be further from the truth! lol!! I learn something new every time I watch you guys! It fascinates me how nothing is wasted. Even the worms!🐛 Have a super blessed day! 😊👍
thank you for sharing your beautiful homestead. some folks say they are blessed with land. I believe you both are the blessing to the land. true Stewart's that share a deep respect and love for this life. sure easy to follow your videos. nice to see your corn has yielded a good harvest. send me a little rain please. most of all I can see the love you all share for each other. good video. one of the greatest or the greatest Homestead channels. thanks Eric for the cake pan tip. nifty idea. htgde.
We've been working on our corn too. I blanch and freeze on the cob. We love the peaches and cream . 71 ears yesterday and we'll be working on the rest today. Thanks for sharing your knowledge. Love your videos.
Cool we use a bunt pan too. works great, We also use a fish fryer outside with a big turkey pot. 5 gal. bucket at a time...so fast...and we have 2 electric filet knives going. But we do 70 or 80 quarts at a time. Never saw tomatoes frozen whole...Have to show that to miss Apryl.
Sometimes you ONLY need a handful of corn at a time, freezing it is super handy, just break a bit off, much better than having to use a lot, saves on wastages
Great video Deep South Homestead.That is enough corn frozen up and now corn on the cob for the weekend. I know the Danny corn is for the meal and you should have a good crop as long as no micro bursts over the crop.
Loving the gate entrance to the corn patch, your overalls (Wanda), and the freezer bag holder. :) We prefer the flat freezing as well - everything just fits better!
I blanch mine for 12 minutes and keep 2 sinks of cold water going switching 1st sink full of corn over to 2nd sink when next batch come out of blanching pot. So my corn is cool when it is cut off and I do stack mine on top of each other and never had any sour. I also change the water in both sinks about every 2 batches that are blanched . Like I said I've never had any of my corn sour.
When you grow that much corn, what do you do besides freeze it? Do you have any idea (ball park here) what fraction you freeze and what you use use fresh, and anything else you do with it?
Great video, I especially appreciate knowing the tips about how to freeze to keep from souring! I have some of that variety planted as well, but my corn is only about a foot tall. We don't get to plant corn until around Mother's Day here. I have several varieties we planted to see what we like best. That hand helper tool is really awesome! Where could I find one? I'll check Amazon but wasn't sure what it was called. Praise God for a beautiful harvest he provided!
Thank you for sharing your country wisdom and knowledge. I never knew about using enamel pots. That bag holder is a clever tool! And how did you ever figure out that stacking the corn during the freezing compromised it?
Very awesome! I'm going to have to try this with some of the corn we get from the farm stand this year. Save room in the freezer from all the corn cobs being in there too! I'm a little disheartened about our garden now though, because yesterday a hail storm knocked everything flat. From our cabbage, to our peppers, to our zucchini. :-( Kinda like your corn being knocked over last year by a storm. I'm praying some of our stuff makes it. Right now it looks like we're starting over on most stuff though.
I was wondering do you have a video on how to freeze tomato ? Thank you for sharing this video, I will have to share the information with my mom. She freeze corn.
That is just so strange, how you are picking corn, and corn here is JUST starting to come up! Most of it is only about 1" to MAYBE 6" tall. LOL! LOVE your enamel dishpans!!! Thank you for another really awesome video! So interesting at the differences between the southern states and the northern states. I agree Danny, I would rather eat corn ANY DAY, that worms and other bugs are eating on. Healthier and the way it was meant to be! :)
Where do you purchase the extra set of hands? Did your friend tell you. I think that is a great idea. Also I never seen tomatoes put up whole could you do a video on that as well. 👍 as always. You two seem like good people.
I'm looking at your tomatoes in the freezer! Do you just put them whole without blanching? Do you thaw, peel , and cook when you need them? I'm looking for an easy way to store tomatoes!
Pigs are great. Like chickens on steroids / extreme garbage disposal. Ha I love the double pan idea. That is a fantastic tip. It is amazing how sticky things can get.
I never thought to freeze a whole tomato, is there a trick to it or is it as simple as it looks? Thanks guys I always learn new things from your videos.
I thought you were going to cob them. Wondering if there is any ancestor way (like an apple/potato peeler hand crank machine) that can process a corn cob. Just push onto the tines, and crank. One cutting blade, like a woodworking lathe blade (that slightly moves to the left and right on a central pivot pin). Corn cob lathe (that could also be mechanized) starts at the cob tip, slicing the kernel off right at the cob, down to the end, and no waste. Then take the cobs, and scrape down with a knife for the rest of the creamed corn and seed with the Vit E and corn oils inside the cob.
I love the bag holder, great idea..where do you pick up that up at? That cirn will be aweful tasty at Thanksgiving time!! I use to put corn up every year, in Ohio, hard to do in Fl. no land..ugh.. I am so over Fl.. but hubby will never move, unless God intervenes. which I am praying for. . !
:) thanks guys this was a great how to video. Love the extra hand device. Great tips on the freezing process. Questions for you: do you ever freeze any on cob? (we love it that way) & where did you get your beautiful enamel pans at? And how long can you keep the corn in the freezer? :) Thanks!
I'm a little confused about the blanching time. Isn't a blanche usually under a minute or two or even less. Seven minutes sounds more like you are fully cooking your corn. When I cook fresh corn I only cook it five minutes. So are you blanching it or fully cooking it? In other words did you mean minutes or seconds?
Danny you talk about not letting your corn come in contact with metal because it takes on the metallic flavor, but I see you use a metal knife blade and Wanda using a metal pan to blanch the corn, is this not enough to hurt the corn?
Great video guys. Question, can you use stainless steel pots and bowls? I do have enamel jam pots that I could blanch in but all my bowls are stainless steel. Oh, and what is the proper name for the bag holder? I might try and get one of those. Thanks for taking the time to teach us the proper way to do things so that we get the most from our produce. You guys are awesome, I know,I've said it so many times already. 😀🌽
Wanda you said to never stack your corn on top of each other or it will sour...but I noticed you stacked three bags on the counter when you were bagging the corn? Is it ok to put them like that for a short while? I love all the tips you gave us in this video...things I didnt realize while processing my corn here! thanks a bunch! :-)
That was done so I could take them to the freezer. I meant not to stack them and leave them that way. I stack them in a dishpan to take out to our freezer. . Just don't leave them stacked.
Why does stacking while freezing cause it to sour? I thought maybe it was because of the weight causing damage, but if you are putting between frozen tomatoes then I suppose that's not it. Just curious thanks!
If you stack it all together the bags in the middle don't freeze for several hours. That will cause souring. You want it to freeze as quickly as possible. Thanks Great question.
Deep South Homestead Ahhh, I see! Perfect! I was getting worried as I don't have a ton if freezer space, but I can definitely intersperse with other frozen stuff. Thanks for the answer!
Great video we love our sweet corn also. We did green beans yesterday and are pickin our corn today. If you can could you pass our email to the person that designed y'alls Logo please I think I need someone with better ideas than I've got. Thank y'all for what you do . God Bless
deepsouthhomestead.etsy.com We have some for sell . But if looking for a large amount of seeds, look for Stowell Evergreen Sweet Corn. Several seed companies carry it.
YT Canadian Prepper has latest vid talking about HARVEST RIGHT FREEZE DRYER. 90+% of the farm homestead can be freeze dried and stored, versus the greater expenses of root cellaring, wet canning, canned food, refrigerator, and freezer foods. This would be an excellent way for (timely) processing all the harvest, and minimal storage volume. Online North Bay Trading Company shows their intense inventory of air-dried and freeze-dried of vegs/herbs/meats/ ... and other soups, stews, honey crystals, tree/sugar cane sap crystals, milk/cream powders, egg powders, etc.
John Lord I've been kicking the idea of getting a freeze dryer around for a couple years. The only thing is the fear it won't hold up long enough to see a return on investment. I definitely see the benefits of having one though.
The (said) cost is $3000-4000 (+tax +transportation) for the marchine ... and that is less cost for a year of supplies ($5000 +tax +postage/handling +transportation fees) by most survival food companies. The cost of electrical usage, and small preventative maintenance would still seem to be part of the lesser cost. As always, it is the off grid/homestead/survivalist/prepper person, doing all the work at the comparable $8 minimum wage (with no retirement/medical/dental/optical benefits) ... that is the higher cost that you defray as volunteered work and time. So all your personal work and time is the trade off you consider giving up for the seeming less overall cost, and you control all the food safety (and no added chemical ingredients). The cost savings is growing your own, and processing the food on your time schedule. If you do (like most first-time homesteaders) grow an initial monster garden (and then get overwhelmed by the vast production therefrom !!!) you have vast produce to work on - and will achieve your year + of food supplies. This is where the freeze dryer provides its savings ... not doing root cellaring, jar canning, metal canning, air-drying, refrigerator, or freezer processing. No buckets, sawdust, sand, jars, lids, metal bands, cooking and canning gear, and household appliances and electrical energy costs. If you also network with other people in the area, (and here is the hook), you process their food, and for cost, you get a % of their food supplies, giving you a growing inventory of stored food. There are multiple harvesting schedules that can be worked with fruitings (like apples, early spring, spring, summer, later summer/fall, winter, ...) interspersed with veg species harvesting (carrots, beets, broccoli, cauliflower, ...) and then deal with the early and late summer corn harvests in between these other species. The real pain of this machine is that it has only 4 trays to process, much like small bread trays. Depending on the water/moisture of the vegs/herbs/meats etc. (as said) it takes 24-48 hours (1-2 days) to fully process 4 trays. The question remains of how much "stuff" can be stacked on each tray. Same for initial blanching and steaming down such vegs (breaking open their plant cells), wilting them into small volume, then freeze dry them. This freeze dryer is like the same-sized original microwave machines, ... and now we have the small microwaves units of today. If the machine could be minimized, or maximized by volume increase for the same large-sized machine, it would be a great option. If you have a local network of such farm/homestead peoples, then you could become a small businessman (as the food processor). You gain YOUR own food storage from doing the work, and getting a cut of the produce. This would seem to be a greater financial opportunity and ROI. Even doing this in a church network group setting. Others are the land holders and garden growers, you remain the food processor, and get a cut of the produce. Also blendering up the freeze-dried product into powder saves even more space, and moves whole food into such ingredients for soups, stews, sauces, etc. Some technically good options to consider.
There is a suspect option for double racking each tray ... making 8 trays. Whether this double volume processes in the same 24-48 hours or the 2x volume rate (48-96 hours) would remain to be seen. If the former could be accomplished, this would be an immense production value.
Very true! I'd like to see one in person as well as talk with a real user about this. One thing I also saw mentioned is the frequency of oil changes. Of course people have found "fixes" for this on TH-cam again I don't want to have to modify a product right off the bat.
I can’t farm enough corn for us because I live in a subdivision unfortunately. But, every year I buy a couple of bushels of really good silver queen corn and simply put it in a pillow case and set in the freezer. Then it’s ready for me to take out every how many ears we need to use. It tastes exactly like it came from the field. Bake it in the oven and then shuck it very very easily after it’s done. Fabulous corn.
Been freezing mine in the shuck for many years. Learned that from my grandpa in law in Woodville ms.
I cut my corn the same way. The only extra item I use, is a corn cob holder. I use one stuck in the top of the cob, to hold onto, so my fingers are away from the knife, and I can easily cut, from top to bottom, in one stroke. If you are super short on time, you can freeze them in their husks. Just peel a few outer layers, cut the silk, and bottom stem off, and put in freezer bags. I have 4 bushels picked just this morning, that I have to deal with after work tonight. I will be shucking corn at midnight. It is so great, you guys work as a team.
Shalom! Beautiful beautiful sweet corn. Thank you so much for taking us into your garden and sharing how to pick, shuck, cut, get the chicken food out, blanche, bag and store corn.
Blessings to you all!
Good morning Danny and Wanda! They say you can't teach an old dog new tricks,but that can't be further from the truth! lol!! I learn something new every time I watch you guys! It fascinates me how nothing is wasted. Even the worms!🐛 Have a super blessed day! 😊👍
thank you for sharing your beautiful homestead. some folks say they are blessed with land. I believe you both are the blessing to the land. true Stewart's that share a deep respect and love for this life. sure easy to follow your videos. nice to see your corn has yielded a good harvest. send me a little rain please. most of all I can see the love you all share for each other. good video. one of the greatest or the greatest Homestead channels. thanks Eric for the cake pan tip. nifty idea. htgde.
That will good this winter!! Great job
So happy the bag holder is helping! Knew you'd use it :-)
orphanlady thank you
where can you get the bag holder would love to have one for myself
I am so glad that the Lord has blessed you with all the corn you needed!
We've been working on our corn too. I blanch and freeze on the cob. We love the peaches and cream . 71 ears yesterday and we'll be working on the rest today. Thanks for sharing your knowledge. Love your videos.
Thanks for all of these great tips on freezing sweet corn.
Wonderful in depth video on freezing corn! Thank you!
Thanks so much for the tips..I never knew about using an enamel pan.. Gonna go get one now...Thanks again..God Bless...
Thank you for sharing all your knowledge.
Cool we use a bunt pan too. works great, We also use a fish fryer outside with a big turkey pot. 5 gal. bucket at a time...so fast...and we have 2 electric filet knives going. But we do 70 or 80 quarts at a time. Never saw tomatoes frozen whole...Have to show that to miss Apryl.
great video. thanks
Sometimes you ONLY need a handful of corn at a time, freezing it is super handy, just break a bit off, much better than having to use a lot, saves on wastages
Thanks for the video. Lot of great tips.
Fantastic
Great video Deep South Homestead.That is enough corn frozen up and now corn on the cob for the weekend. I know the Danny corn is for the meal and you should have a good crop as long as no micro bursts over the crop.
Loving the gate entrance to the corn patch, your overalls (Wanda), and the freezer bag holder. :) We prefer the flat freezing as well - everything just fits better!
You are right that flat stacks better. The overalls are an experiment to see how cool or not they are in the summer here in MS. LOL
Great video Wanda & Danny..Never knew about the stacking of the corn & the enameled pan great tips !! Thank You for sharing God Bless :)
NICE LOOKING CORN.PIGGIES WILL LOVE IT I'M SURE.GREAT INFORMATION AS ALWAYS.THANKS YOU TWO.GOD BLESS.♡♡♡♡...
I used a madoline for cutting the corn off the cob and it worked awesome
Good tip on the corn 🌽 I like the way you use your knife and the way you freeze it in the freezer thanks for the good information
I just knew you had a video somewhere...lol A friend gave me a huge box of corn and I want my mom to see this...lol
Corn Silk tea is wonderful. :)
love the bundt pan tip!
I blanch mine for 12 minutes and keep 2 sinks of cold water going switching 1st sink full of corn over to 2nd sink when next batch come out of blanching pot. So my corn is cool when it is cut off and I do stack mine on top of each other and never had any sour. I also change the water in both sinks about every 2 batches that are blanched . Like I said I've never had any of my corn sour.
I planted corn and will plant some more
Great video! Corn is so messy to put up. I hate getting all sticky.
Love the information, How do you use the frozen tomatoes
When you grow that much corn, what do you do besides freeze it? Do you have any idea (ball park here) what fraction you freeze and what you use use fresh, and anything else you do with it?
Great video, I especially appreciate knowing the tips about how to freeze to keep from souring! I have some of that variety planted as well, but my corn is only about a foot tall. We don't get to plant corn until around Mother's Day here. I have several varieties we planted to see what we like best. That hand helper tool is really awesome! Where could I find one? I'll check Amazon but wasn't sure what it was called. Praise God for a beautiful harvest he provided!
Thank you for sharing your country wisdom and knowledge. I never knew about using enamel pots. That bag holder is a clever tool! And how did you ever figure out that stacking the corn during the freezing compromised it?
Great video Danny, I learned a lot, helping hands is on my list. My corn is 3 weeks behind yours. Do you have a video on saving seeds?
What a freezer full of gold you have there! You WORKED for it, and you'll be eatin' good rewards in the future! : )
Have you ever tried an electric knife to cut the corn off the cob? It works very well!
SO MUCH great info in one video. Thank you both for sharing your knowledge/wisdom! ^_^
Very awesome! I'm going to have to try this with some of the corn we get from the farm stand this year. Save room in the freezer from all the corn cobs being in there too! I'm a little disheartened about our garden now though, because yesterday a hail storm knocked everything flat. From our cabbage, to our peppers, to our zucchini. :-( Kinda like your corn being knocked over last year by a storm. I'm praying some of our stuff makes it. Right now it looks like we're starting over on most stuff though.
Excellent content. Very informative information. Love sweet corn. Thank you for sharing the process. God bless you. Take care. :)
I was wondering do you have a video on how to freeze tomato ? Thank you for sharing this video, I will have to share the information with my mom. She freeze corn.
Just wash, core them, cut an x on the bottom with a knife, and throw in a ziplock bag.
I like that gadget
Really like the large enamel pans you use. Where would I buy them?
Ask at your hardware stores. They may have to order them. Our store ordered these for us. Thanks
It's an angel food cake pan. I was born in Jackson.
Where did you get those nice enamal pans you had the corn in?
That is just so strange, how you are picking corn, and corn here is JUST starting to come up! Most of it is only about 1" to MAYBE 6" tall. LOL! LOVE your enamel dishpans!!! Thank you for another really awesome video! So interesting at the differences between the southern states and the northern states. I agree Danny, I would rather eat corn ANY DAY, that worms and other bugs are eating on. Healthier and the way it was meant to be! :)
Wanda, in a recent video,you mentioned your container green beans. Where do you purchase your containers. thank you in advance. love you guys
Wow, wish I had 400 ears. That's a lot. God Blessed you!
Where do you purchase the extra set of hands? Did your friend tell you. I think that is a great idea. Also I never seen tomatoes put up whole could you do a video on that as well. 👍 as always. You two seem like good people.
love the overalls Wanda
Great tips, Danny and Wanda! I saw you had whole frozen tomatoes in your freezer too; do you have any tips for doing that?
I'm looking at your tomatoes in the freezer! Do you just put them whole without blanching? Do you thaw, peel , and cook when you need them? I'm looking for an easy way to store tomatoes!
We put them in the bag without doing anything to them. We will do a video next week on how we use them. Thanks
I do the same thing. I just finished making salsa, with some of last years frozen tomatoes, and peppers.
Nearly Organic Noshing We are going to be making salsa with ours also.Thanks
You can easily put fresh tomatoes on a cookie sheet and freeze them. Once frozen put them in a sack in the freezer. I personally use pillow cases.
Pigs are great. Like chickens on steroids / extreme garbage disposal. Ha I love the double pan idea. That is a fantastic tip. It is amazing how sticky things can get.
I never thought to freeze a whole tomato, is there a trick to it or is it as simple as it looks? Thanks guys I always learn new things from your videos.
I thought you were going to cob them.
Wondering if there is any ancestor way (like an apple/potato peeler hand crank machine) that can process a corn cob. Just push onto the tines, and crank. One cutting blade, like a woodworking lathe blade (that slightly moves to the left and right on a central pivot pin). Corn cob lathe (that could also be mechanized) starts at the cob tip, slicing the kernel off right at the cob, down to the end, and no waste. Then take the cobs, and scrape down with a knife for the rest of the creamed corn and seed with the Vit E and corn oils inside the cob.
I love the bag holder, great idea..where do you pick up that up at? That cirn will be aweful tasty at Thanksgiving time!! I use to put corn up every year, in Ohio, hard to do in Fl. no land..ugh.. I am so over Fl.. but hubby will never move, unless God intervenes. which I am praying for. . !
:) thanks guys this was a great how to video. Love the extra hand device. Great tips on the freezing process. Questions for you: do you ever freeze any on cob? (we love it that way) & where did you get your beautiful enamel pans at? And how long can you keep the corn in the freezer? :) Thanks!
I'm a little confused about the blanching time. Isn't a blanche usually under a minute or two or even less. Seven minutes sounds more like you are fully cooking your corn. When I cook fresh corn I only cook it five minutes. So are you blanching it or fully cooking it? In other words did you mean minutes or seconds?
on the spent cobs.. you guys don't make corn cob jelly?
Have you thought of using the cobs to make corn cob jelly before feeding them to your pigs?
That's our Life Yes but we already have 100s of jars of jelly already.Thanks
where is the best place to find the Enamel large pan
Wanda, DID Y'ALL DO A VIDEO ON FREEZING THOSE TOMATOES AND THEN WHAT YOU USE THEM FOR? Thank you
We freeze them whole. Video next week on what we are gonna do with them. Thanks
Danny you talk about not letting your corn come in contact with metal because it takes on the metallic flavor, but I see you use a metal knife blade and Wanda using a metal pan to blanch the corn, is this not enough to hurt the corn?
Danny is there any way I can buy some of the evergreen corn seeds from you for next year? Thanks
I forgot to blanch my cream corn. before putting it I'm bags to freeze. How will it affect my corn.
Great video guys. Question, can you use stainless steel pots and bowls? I do have enamel jam pots that I could blanch in but all my bowls are stainless steel. Oh, and what is the proper name for the bag holder? I might try and get one of those. Thanks for taking the time to teach us the proper way to do things so that we get the most from our produce. You guys are awesome, I know,I've said it so many times already. 😀🌽
Have you ever tried laying the corn down to cut it off? I don't mean to be argumentative but I saw a metal pan being used twice. Is stainless ok?
Stainless is ok dont use aluminum or bare metal.Thanks
Can I use an enamel cast iron pot?
I thought we were supposed to save the corn cobs for planting maters next year?
When is your next video? :D Keep it up!
Tomorrow morning at 5am central. Thanks
Will you try dehydrating some? ✌🏻
No, we finished putting it all in the freezer yesterday.
Great video than you. I am so going to do that.
Wanda you said to never stack your corn on top of each other or it will sour...but I noticed you stacked three bags on the counter when you were bagging the corn? Is it ok to put them like that for a short while? I love all the tips you gave us in this video...things I didnt realize while processing my corn here! thanks a bunch! :-)
That was done so I could take them to the freezer. I meant not to stack them and leave them that way. I stack them in a dishpan to take out to our freezer. . Just don't leave them stacked.
Thanks :-)
Could you use big plastic bowls?
PeeWee S Yes plastic is fine.Thanks
Why does stacking while freezing cause it to sour? I thought maybe it was because of the weight causing damage, but if you are putting between frozen tomatoes then I suppose that's not it. Just curious thanks!
If you stack it all together the bags in the middle don't freeze for several hours. That will cause souring. You want it to freeze as quickly as possible. Thanks Great question.
Deep South Homestead Ahhh, I see! Perfect! I was getting worried as I don't have a ton if freezer space, but I can definitely intersperse with other frozen stuff. Thanks for the answer!
Great video we love our sweet corn also. We did green beans yesterday and are pickin our corn today. If you can could you pass our email to the person that designed y'alls Logo please I think I need someone with better ideas than I've got. Thank y'all for what you do . God Bless
Sauerkraut cutter not kraft cuttrr,any way it is old, a long rectangle board aith a sharp blade used to shred a head of cabbage
I do my corn the same exact way. I do not like corn canned
Danny, where could we buy the seed?
deepsouthhomestead.etsy.com We have some for sell . But if looking for a large amount of seeds, look for Stowell Evergreen Sweet Corn. Several seed companies carry it.
YT Canadian Prepper has latest vid talking about HARVEST RIGHT FREEZE DRYER. 90+% of the farm homestead can be freeze dried and stored, versus the greater expenses of root cellaring, wet canning, canned food, refrigerator, and freezer foods.
This would be an excellent way for (timely) processing all the harvest, and minimal storage volume.
Online North Bay Trading Company shows their intense inventory of air-dried and freeze-dried of vegs/herbs/meats/ ... and other soups, stews, honey crystals, tree/sugar cane sap crystals, milk/cream powders, egg powders, etc.
John Lord I've been kicking the idea of getting a freeze dryer around for a couple years. The only thing is the fear it won't hold up long enough to see a return on investment. I definitely see the benefits of having one though.
The (said) cost is $3000-4000 (+tax +transportation) for the marchine ... and that is less cost for a year of supplies ($5000 +tax +postage/handling +transportation fees) by most survival food companies. The cost of electrical usage, and small preventative maintenance would still seem to be part of the lesser cost.
As always, it is the off grid/homestead/survivalist/prepper person, doing all the work at the comparable $8 minimum wage (with no retirement/medical/dental/optical benefits) ... that is the higher cost that you defray as volunteered work and time. So all your personal work and time is the trade off you consider giving up for the seeming less overall cost, and you control all the food safety (and no added chemical ingredients).
The cost savings is growing your own, and processing the food on your time schedule. If you do (like most first-time homesteaders) grow an initial monster garden (and then get overwhelmed by the vast production therefrom !!!) you have vast produce to work on - and will achieve your year + of food supplies. This is where the freeze dryer provides its savings ... not doing root cellaring, jar canning, metal canning, air-drying, refrigerator, or freezer processing. No buckets, sawdust, sand, jars, lids, metal bands, cooking and canning gear, and household appliances and electrical energy costs.
If you also network with other people in the area, (and here is the hook), you process their food, and for cost, you get a % of their food supplies, giving you a growing inventory of stored food.
There are multiple harvesting schedules that can be worked with fruitings (like apples, early spring, spring, summer, later summer/fall, winter, ...) interspersed with veg species harvesting (carrots, beets, broccoli, cauliflower, ...) and then deal with the early and late summer corn harvests in between these other species.
The real pain of this machine is that it has only 4 trays to process, much like small bread trays. Depending on the water/moisture of the vegs/herbs/meats etc. (as said) it takes 24-48 hours (1-2 days) to fully process 4 trays. The question remains of how much "stuff" can be stacked on each tray. Same for initial blanching and steaming down such vegs (breaking open their plant cells), wilting them into small volume, then freeze dry them.
This freeze dryer is like the same-sized original microwave machines, ... and now we have the small microwaves units of today. If the machine could be minimized, or maximized by volume increase for the same large-sized machine, it would be a great option.
If you have a local network of such farm/homestead peoples, then you could become a small businessman (as the food processor). You gain YOUR own food storage from doing the work, and getting a cut of the produce. This would seem to be a greater financial opportunity and ROI. Even doing this in a church network group setting. Others are the land holders and garden growers, you remain the food processor, and get a cut of the produce.
Also blendering up the freeze-dried product into powder saves even more space, and moves whole food into such ingredients for soups, stews, sauces, etc.
Some technically good options to consider.
There is a suspect option for double racking each tray ... making 8 trays. Whether this double volume processes in the same 24-48 hours or the 2x volume rate (48-96 hours) would remain to be seen. If the former could be accomplished, this would be an immense production value.
Very true! I'd like to see one in person as well as talk with a real user about this. One thing I also saw mentioned is the frequency of oil changes. Of course people have found "fixes" for this on TH-cam again I don't want to have to modify a product right off the bat.
How Did you freeze those whole tomatoes?
Billy Pressley Just put them in bags and freeze no other treatment needed.Thanks
Deep South Homestead Thanks
close-ups are blurry... last several videos. i go to put my glasses on.. they're already there, LOL :)
I cut my corn off the cob with my kraft cutter, have for years.
:)