Snacks

Here are some fun snack items to try FDing!

• Chocolate Éclair ice cream bar  ü
• Cosmic Brownies
• Creamsickle  ü
• Éclair  ü
• Fudge Rounds ?
• Granola  ü (it turns from chewy to crunchy) 
• Ice Cream  ü
• Ice Cream Sandwiches  ü
• Jello  ü
• Marshmallows  ü
• Nutty Buddy 
• Oatmeal Cream Pie ?
• Oreos ?
• Pudding  ü (we did them in ice cube trays and they taste good, but tend to become gummy once in the mouth, next time I'm trying smaller bites like yogurt drops. It also works to re-hydrate it! Just grind up the pudding powder, add water or milk and stick in the fridge for a few minutes!) 
• Strawberry Shortcake ice cream bar  ü
• Starcrunch ?
• Stroopwafel  ü
• Swiss Rolls/ Ho Hos  ü
• Tapioca  (I haven't tried yet, but it's on my to-do list)
• Twinkies  ü
• Zebra Cakes ?

Sausage Dishes

Will it Freeze Dry?

• Biscuits and Gravy   ü (if you like mushy biscuits you can FD them all together and re-hydrate together as well. For "crunchier" biscuits, FD separately,  place dry biscuits in bowl and top with re-hydrated gravy.)

Bread

Have extra bread that you need to FD? Here are some ideas for uses!

• Breadcrumbs! This one is so easy. Simple FD the bread or rolls as it. Blend once they are dry. I like to add Italian Seasoning to mine for flavor! 
• Croutons. This is another hit at my house. I've done plain bread for croutons before, but my husband prefers "flavored" ones. Once the bread is cut up into crouton sized pieces he tosses them in a little butter (real butter NOT margarine as oils don't FD) and then sprinkles on some garlic, Italian Seasoning would also be good on them. 
• Grilled Cheese. These are amazing for soups! You seriously just make grilled cheese sandwiches, cut them up into about crouton sized pieces and then FD them!   

I haven't tried it yet, but I want to make a French Toast Casserole and the Freeze Dry it! If I ever try I will update how to turned out. 

Fruit

Will it Freeze Dry?

A lot of fruits and veggies do freeze dry well, but do NOT re-hydrate well. They tend to turn spongy or soggy.

• Apples  ü (eat FD) -or reconstitute for pies! 
• Apricots ü (eat FD)
• Bananas ü (eat FD)
• Blueberries  ü
• Cantaloupe ü (eat FD) 
• Cranberries ü (poke skins before FDing, they actually re-hydrate great)
• Grapes  ü
• Honeydew ü (eat FD)
• Mango ü (eat FD)
• Pineapple ü (eat FD)
• Raspberries/ Blackberries ü (eat FD)
• Strawberries  ü (eat FD)

Recipe: Cranberry Bites

The recipe is one bag of cranberries, one apple and one orange (zest and fruit), ground cinnamon and ginger and sweeten to taste with your choice of sweetener. Finely chop all fruit in the processor and then mix in spices and sweetener. Spread on a tray and freeze dry!

*Sweetener- coconut sugar, maple syrup and a little white sugar. Or whatever you choose to sweeten it with.

-Thanks Jamie C.!

Beef Dishes

Will it Freeze Dry?

• Beef Stew  ü
• Chili   ü (on top of NOT re-hydrated corn bread, the moisture of the chili makes it perfect instead of mushy) 
• Ground Beef ü

Storing Freeze Dried Food!

Here are some great ideas for storing food that has been freeze dried! Before we bought our Freeze Dryer it never crossed our minds about storing all the food once it was freeze dried! This is 4 MONTHS worth right here!

Here are some pictures courtesy of Kim K. (her Facebook group here)

Thanks Rosanna H. for her pic-

Drink Mixes

Looking to use Freeze Dried items for drink mixes?
Here are some conversions for ya!

Jumex Nectar/ Kern's Nectar: 1- 12 oz. can =
Per 16 oz bottle of water: light taste- 2 Tbsp, medium taste- 3 Tbsp, strong taste- 4 Tbsp.

Orange Juice Concentrate:

Milk: 1 Cup milk = 2/3 cup freeze dried powder

Conversions

Need to know how much Freeze Dried item you need for a recipe? We have a conversion list below!
 (Freeze Dried to fresh)
Dairy:

• Egg: 3 1/2 Tbsp. = 1 Large Egg
• Milk: 2/3 cup = 1 cup milk
• Buttermilk: 1/2 cup powder = 1 cup buttermilk

Vegetables:

• Celery: 
• Jalapeno: 1/2 cup = 1 whole  
• Onion: 3/4 cup = 1 whole onion

Sauces:

• Salsa (all salsa is different, this is my homemade) 1/4 to 1/3 of a cup = 1 cup fresh 

Does it need a mat?

Some items NEED to be Freeze Dried on a silicon mat.
Here is a simple list   ü = Needs Mat,  X = No mat needed



Breads, Biscuits, Croutons: X

Candy:

• Gummies (bears, worms)  ü
• Gummy Sharks:
• Junior Mints   ü
• Marshmallows:
• Milk Duds: ü 
• Peach Rings: 
• Salt Water Taffy: 
• Skittles: ü 

Dairy: 

• Cheese: 
• Ice Cream Sandwiches: ü 
• Yogurt:  ü

Fruit:

• Apple Fries:    ü 
• Apples with Caramel on them ü 
• Bananas:    ü
• Cantaloupe: 
• Cherries: 
• Cranberries 
• Honeydew 
• Peaches ü 

Herbs: X

Veggies: X

Condiments and Sauces

Will it Freeze Dry?

• Alfredo  ü
• BBQ Sauce
• Enchilada Sauce  ü
• Fry Sauce
• Honey
• Hot Sauces  ü
• Jelly/ Jam
• Ketchup
• Mustard
• Mayo
• Peanut Butter
• Pesto (I use water instead of oil)  ü
• Ranch
• Ranch that is homemade  ü
• Salsa   ü
• Sofrito    ü

Beverages

Will it Freeze Dry?

• Apple Juice ?
• Breast milk (I haven't tried since I don't have any, but I've heard it does!)
• Cranberry Juice ?
• Good Belly Juices   ü
• Milk  ü
• Orange Juice Concentrate   ü(it does expand like crazy!)
• Orange Juice (fresh)  ü
• Smoothie  ü
• Soda ?

Dairy

Will it Freeze Dry? Dairy

• Cheese (shredded)  ü
• Cream Cheese  ü
• Half and Half  ü
• Heavy Cream (our first batch was great, our second one was really fatty)
• Sour Cream  ü
• Velvetta  ü
• Yogurt  ü
• Chobani ü 
• Danimals ü 
• Go-gurts ü 
• Yoplait ü