Survival Food - Freeze Dried & MRE

Mountain House is the commercial brand of Oregon Freeze Dry. On Mountain House’ website they have a good chart on how they freeze dry food and other facts about the freeze drying process.

Also a good reference is the “Introduction to Freeze-Drying Technology” on Freeze-Dry Foods website.

Freeze Dried Food Process Steps

1. Fresh or cooked food is “flash frozen”
2. The flash frozen food is then placed in a vacuum chamber
3. 98% of the moisture is evaporated at temperatures as low as -50 degrees F
4. The food is then sealed in oxygen proof packaging

Step 4 can also be done in a nitrogen environment that has no oxygen.

The benefit of a “nitro-packed” container is that inside the container there is the same pressure as outside. During storage the air in the room which contains oxygen is not fighting to get in the container (as is the case with vacuum sealed containers) since both the room air and nitrogen in the container are at the same pressure. For most regular vacuum packed food we buy at the supermarket, air getting into these properly sealed food packages is not an issue since we use them in a relatively short period. But vacuum sealed packages will slowly become pressurized from outside air over long periods, enough to ruin the contents.

Stored at room temperature with nitrogen and therefore no oxygen present, and 98% of the water removed, the freeze dried food will maintain freshness, color, and taste for up to 25 years or more without degrading.

Freeze-Dry foods’ website states;

“The dried product will be the same size and shape as the original frozen material and will be found to have excellent stability and convenient reconstitution when placed in water”. This means freeze dried foods will taste almost as good as fresh when you add water.

Where to get;

• Mountain House Freeze-Dried Food

• MRE’s

• 72-hour Survival Kits

• Free Shipping on orders over $100

KT

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