Best by date is not a expiration date. It’s used for groc stores to keep up with when to get off shelf as soon as possible. But freeze drying them is a good idea.
Watching this video again for second time to remind myself of all this very informative information. I have saved alot of money by not throwing out usable food. I have been putting all my rice and sugars in mason jars, taking out air with brake bleeder and no oxygen absorbers. Since using a freeze dryer this past year,, I don't pressure can as much, freeing up the jars . I'm now in the process of going through freezer meats and freeze drying them. Tomorrow will be taco meat and sloppy joes. Next week grilled and raw sirloin steaks, then cashew chicken and chicken piccata. Food storage is an ever evolving process. Just can't set it and forget, I'm always watching out for ways to improve and save
Thanks for taking time to make these videos. With my oils I am transferring them to glass jars and pulling a vacuum on the jar. As an example I recently opened a jar of olive oil that was 5 years old. The oil was clean and fresh. Keep an eye on vacuum sealing those bags with powdered items, that powder will travel back inside your pump and mix with your oil. Keep up the good work.
Great ideas Phil, thank you. For flours i learned from a miller, to keep flours, even in an open bag (50kg), add a couple of bay leaves and you will not have spoiled flour, it remained well for us till the last bit, even after 5 years of storage.
I went though my pantry and found a few cans that need freeze drying. Thanks for going through this with us. It was good help to keep our rotation up to date.
Excellent information. I have been going through all my canned foods that I canned in 2020 , green beans, carrots, tomatoes, beans and they are in line for the freeze dryer. Going to hold off on the store bought cans for cple more years. My freezers are so full of stuff in line for the freeze dryer. I should have gotten the medium instead of the small one. I haven't done the vacuum sealing in the FD yet that is so cool. Thanks for the ideas.
The one exception to that is those pool top have a weaker seal because it's thinner metal and they will explode, crack open before the ones that you have to use a can opener for
Pop top can’s don’t keep as long. Also, rice and flour can go rancid. I no longer store large quantities of rice. I vacuumed sealed 5 pounds of rice and it smelled off and was discolored. I only store large amounts of wheat berries in sealed buckets. I have a grain mill. Wheat berries last forever.
When I packaged up my pancake mix from Costco, I took the precaution of placing O2 absorbers in; since they contain flour I thought it would be prudent for longer term storage. Great vid, cannot wait to start freeze drying condensed soups. Prices are going up!
I always rotate my food but I take a script marker and I put the date on the front of the can and I checked my canned goods all the time very few times have I let them run past their date
Good idea on freeze drying your expired canned good items. On a side note always remember to try and keep your food stored in a cool dry place including your freeze dried items. While getting my degree in Nutrition I helped with a study for the DOD for their field rations under different conditions and just a few degrees in temperatures and small change of percentage of humidity would make a huge difference in our environment review test and lab results.
Hi Phil, thanks so much for this VERY timely video! My wife and I actually were in the process of inventorying our pantry just last night because we found a bunch of "expired" dates. Then this morning I stumbled across your video! Well done! Question for you please. It was not clear to my WHY you made a cut in the bags. In addition, I was not able to discern WHY you chose to make the cut where you did. Would you explain please? Thanks so much!
I missed why you cut the vent in the bag. Doesn't that let moisture in or is that done between the zip and the seal? I see why the cut now that I have watched the hole thing!! Excellent. I haven't tried to vacuum seal bags in my freeze dryer so I don't know if it will work.
Some good things to keep on hand that have been freeze dried: Milk Avocados Guacamole Egg Nog Jalapeños Green Chili Cilantro Grated cheese Grilled cheese bites (great in soup) Yogurt
@@Philat4800feet well, I am the only one in my family who likes egg nog and it is seasonal. Perfect use of a freeze drier aside from prepping. Guacamole goes bad really fast, so it’s a good candidate too. Powdered milk on hand is great for adding to oatmeal, mac and cheese, coffee and whenever you run out of milk and don’t have time to get some. Same with cilantro and other herbs, which are great for adding to cooking or teas.
If the area around the vent is clear, the two layer will be forced shut from the vacuum within the bag. The stronger the vacuum the greater the force holding the two sections closed. I will pinch the corners until I can seal them.
Great tips. Thank you. I just question the sugar, I've heard (not tried) that sugar becomes a brick when you vacuum seal. So that is my question, how did yours turn out? Thanks!
Freeze dried sugars can crystalize, much as they do when running Skittles. Often If I get a "brick", I'll powder it by running the food through a food processer.
@@JaniceCrowell Depending on your age...do you remember the Morten Salt Girl ad? Their salt will pour when it rains. Yes, salt can get hard in moist air.
Flour should be placed in the freezer for 48 hours. After that, let it come to room temp and then pack it in Mylar bags with oxygen absorbers. No larva etc after freezing:)
The end of this video is very confusing to me. I don't understand the vent holes or what you are doing with the freeze dryer. Would you mind explaining this to me? Thank you.
Indefinite doesn't mean 'a long, long time'. Indefinite, by definition, means unstated, unclear, or vague. This means that they cannot tell you whether the food is good until you open it and see the contents. Period. Could that food be good for many years after? Yes. Could it have already have lost its appeal or nutrient value? Also yes. One of the major benefits of freeze-drying is the nutrient retention. However, by freeze-drying canned goods, you aren't getting the same nutrient value. Generally speaking, canned goods lose about 60-80% of their nutritional value (compared to fresh) due to the high heat required for preservation. I'm not sure it's worth spending the time to freeze-dry canned goods, just make sure you are rotating your stock regularly instead. Freeze-dry your fresh ingredients and use up those cans instead of using the fresh, for example. In the case of repackaging your sugar, instead of oxygen absorbers, use a silicon/desiccant packet. Moisture is the enemy of sugar, not air.
"The texture, the color is pretty much the same" . . . . Color maybe but the texture was so obviously different that Phil almost qualifies as a CNN reporter for trying to tell everyone that what they just saw with their own eyes is not what was reality. Not saying the older soup was bad by any means but to say they are the same when the old can was obviously rubbery and basically held a prefect can shape (down to where you could still see the rings from the can) and the new soup started flowing and spreading out immediately when dumped in the tray was a pretty obvious difference.
It would have been helpful to add additional steps and reconstitute the older food against new food and perform taste tests and measure any loss of nutritional valve. I'm currently waiting on tests on 45 year old Mountain House freeze dried food. The carrots are white.
I love your channel Also I have great news 😂 I finally bought a freeze dryer I’m so excited I got it at a gun store in beeville Texas same day But now I need to hire a electrician
Yes, but the issue will be the fat. Is it cooked? You'll need to render any fat either low and slow at 140 degrees for several hours or use a sou vide cooker. I would then vacuum pack it with an O2.
The corner is only "unsealed" for a minute or two until the bag is taken to the sealer. For the time the bag it isn't sealed the vacuum forces inside the bag is pulling on both sides of the bag and keeping the bag closed and sealed.
I love having FD mushrooms. They are great to add into backpacking foods to increase flavor and jazz the meal up.
Best by date is not a expiration date. It’s used for groc stores to keep up with when to get off shelf as soon as possible. But freeze drying them is a good idea.
Watching this video again for second time to remind myself of all this very informative information. I have saved alot of money by not throwing out usable food. I have been putting all my rice and sugars in mason jars, taking out air with brake bleeder and no oxygen absorbers. Since using a freeze dryer this past year,, I don't pressure can as much, freeing up the jars . I'm now in the process of going through freezer meats and freeze drying them. Tomorrow will be taco meat and sloppy joes. Next week grilled and raw sirloin steaks, then cashew chicken and chicken piccata. Food storage is an ever evolving process. Just can't set it and forget, I'm always watching out for ways to improve and save
I don't think my FD has been idle for more than a day.
Great information. Thank you. I love my freeze dryer
Thanks for taking time to make these videos. With my oils I am transferring them to glass jars and pulling a vacuum on the jar. As an example I recently opened a jar of olive oil that was 5 years old. The oil was clean and fresh. Keep an eye on vacuum sealing those bags with powdered items, that powder will travel back inside your pump and mix with your oil. Keep up the good work.
Sounds great!
Great ideas Phil, thank you. For flours i learned from a miller, to keep flours, even in an open bag (50kg), add a couple of bay leaves and you will not have spoiled flour, it remained well for us till the last bit, even after 5 years of storage.
Great tip!
It’s my understanding (from many sources) that the bay leaves are to prevent bugs not prolong shelf time.
Thank you for sharing.
I leave flour, sugar and other powdered or granulated items in their original bags and vacuum seal the entire bag.
Good idea
I was thinking that since my flour was in 10 pound bags, I would transfer to brown lunch bags and do that. Thanks!
@@sharonritchie6365
That's what I do with instant potatoes.
Thank you for this great information! Your demonstration's are very helpful. I am looking forward to your next video.
Glad it was helpful!
That was slick!! Thanks for sharing!!
Glad you liked it!
I went though my pantry and found a few cans that need freeze drying. Thanks for going through this with us. It was good help to keep our rotation up to date.
Glad it was helpful!
Excellent information. I have been going through all my canned foods that I canned in 2020 , green beans, carrots, tomatoes, beans and they are in line for the freeze dryer. Going to hold off on the store bought cans for cple more years. My freezers are so full of stuff in line for the freeze dryer. I should have gotten the medium instead of the small one. I haven't done the vacuum sealing in the FD yet that is so cool. Thanks for the ideas.
My home canned carrots were wonderful, but freeze drying after canning-not so much. But my dogs loved the FD canned carrots!
I purchased the medium, I now wish I decided on the large.
The one exception to that is those pool top have a weaker seal because it's thinner metal and they will explode, crack open before the ones that you have to use a can opener for
Good to know
Pop top can’s don’t keep as long. Also, rice and flour can go rancid. I no longer store large quantities of rice. I vacuumed sealed 5 pounds of rice and it smelled off and was discolored. I only store large amounts of wheat berries in sealed buckets. I have a grain mill. Wheat berries last forever.
When I packaged up my pancake mix from Costco, I took the precaution of placing O2 absorbers in; since they contain flour I thought it would be prudent for longer term storage. Great vid, cannot wait to start freeze drying condensed soups. Prices are going up!
Break it down and store it in the freezer for three days. Take it out two days. Put it back in for three days. Then stored as you need it.
I always rotate my food but I take a script marker and I put the date on the front of the can and I checked my canned goods all the time very few times have I let them run past their date
Good idea on freeze drying your expired canned good items. On a side note always remember to try and keep your food stored in a cool dry place including your freeze dried items. While getting my degree in Nutrition I helped with a study for the DOD for their field rations under different conditions and just a few degrees in temperatures and small change of percentage of humidity would make a huge difference in our environment review test and lab results.
Very cool work.
Hi Phil, thanks so much for this VERY timely video! My wife and I actually were in the process of inventorying our pantry just last night because we found a bunch of "expired" dates. Then this morning I stumbled across your video! Well done! Question for you please. It was not clear to my WHY you made a cut in the bags. In addition, I was not able to discern WHY you chose to make the cut where you did. Would you explain please? Thanks so much!
I was vacuum packing the food. See video:
czcams.com/video/WjIa1WUmnzw/video.html
I missed why you cut the vent in the bag. Doesn't that let moisture in or is that done between the zip and the seal? I see why the cut now that I have watched the hole thing!! Excellent. I haven't tried to vacuum seal bags in my freeze dryer so I don't know if it will work.
I wondered the same thing. In future videos can I ask you to please explain why you are doing what you are doing? Appreciate it. New subscriber.
Also if you get your canned foods before they expire you can jar can them and give them a longer shelf life
Some good things to keep on hand that have been freeze dried:
Milk
Avocados
Guacamole
Egg Nog
Jalapeños
Green Chili
Cilantro
Grated cheese
Grilled cheese bites (great in soup)
Yogurt
Sound like you're in party mode.
@@Philat4800feet well, I am the only one in my family who likes egg nog and it is seasonal.
Perfect use of a freeze drier aside from prepping.
Guacamole goes bad really fast, so it’s a good candidate too.
Powdered milk on hand is great for adding to oatmeal, mac and cheese, coffee and whenever you run out of milk and don’t have time to get some.
Same with cilantro and other herbs, which are great for adding to cooking or teas.
Also some of your prepackaged food can get weevils in it I had to throw out alot of instant oatmeal. Cardboard doesn't protect it from bugs.
My problem is Pantry (Grain) Moths
This is a great idea, I feel really bad if I waste food.
It can add up to hundreds of dollars.
Great video, one question. When you cut the corner of the mylar bag to vacuum seal it, will air not go back into it when you pull it out of the fder?
If the area around the vent is clear, the two layer will be forced shut from the vacuum within the bag. The stronger the vacuum the greater the force holding the two sections closed. I will pinch the corners until I can seal them.
@@Philat4800feet Thank you
I’m new to all this and wondered if you have to pierce the kidney beans like you have to do blueberries before you freeze dry them?
No, but I did wash them after the second try to remove the "heavy liquid" they were canned in.
I was watching your videos and two different times the report this video came up and wouldn’t go away. I had to close out if you tube and come back.
Hmmmm...don't know why
Use your cream corn in boxed corn bread.
Love creamed corn, jalepeno slices and grated sharp cheddar cheese in my cornbread.
Great tips. Thank you. I just question the sugar, I've heard (not tried) that sugar becomes a brick when you vacuum seal. So that is my question, how did yours turn out? Thanks!
Freeze dried sugars can crystalize, much as they do when running Skittles. Often If I get a "brick", I'll powder it by running the food through a food processer.
I think I heard the same thing about salt, too. Is that true?
@@JaniceCrowell Depending on your age...do you remember the Morten Salt Girl ad? Their salt will pour when it rains. Yes, salt can get hard in moist air.
@@Philat4800feet yes I remember her!
@@JaniceCrowell I don't know
Flour should be placed in the freezer for 48 hours. After that, let it come to room temp and then pack it in Mylar bags with oxygen absorbers. No larva etc after freezing:)
Will that kill eggs?
@@Philat4800feet yes it will
@@Philat4800feet maybe add diatamtiousearth
The end of this video is very confusing to me. I don't understand the vent holes or what you are doing with the freeze dryer. Would you mind explaining this to me? Thank you.
The vent hole is for vacuum packing. Check out this video:
czcams.com/video/CDj02lxBFiQ/video.html
Indefinite doesn't mean 'a long, long time'. Indefinite, by definition, means unstated, unclear, or vague. This means that they cannot tell you whether the food is good until you open it and see the contents. Period. Could that food be good for many years after? Yes. Could it have already have lost its appeal or nutrient value? Also yes.
One of the major benefits of freeze-drying is the nutrient retention. However, by freeze-drying canned goods, you aren't getting the same nutrient value. Generally speaking, canned goods lose about 60-80% of their nutritional value (compared to fresh) due to the high heat required for preservation. I'm not sure it's worth spending the time to freeze-dry canned goods, just make sure you are rotating your stock regularly instead. Freeze-dry your fresh ingredients and use up those cans instead of using the fresh, for example.
In the case of repackaging your sugar, instead of oxygen absorbers, use a silicon/desiccant packet. Moisture is the enemy of sugar, not air.
Thanks for the comments
"The texture, the color is pretty much the same" . . . . Color maybe but the texture was so obviously different that Phil almost qualifies as a CNN reporter for trying to tell everyone that what they just saw with their own eyes is not what was reality. Not saying the older soup was bad by any means but to say they are the same when the old can was obviously rubbery and basically held a prefect can shape (down to where you could still see the rings from the can) and the new soup started flowing and spreading out immediately when dumped in the tray was a pretty obvious difference.
It would have been helpful to add additional steps and reconstitute the older food against new food and perform taste tests and measure any loss of nutritional valve. I'm currently waiting on tests on 45 year old Mountain House freeze dried food. The carrots are white.
I love your channel
Also I have great news 😂
I finally bought a freeze dryer I’m so excited
I got it at a gun store in beeville Texas same day
But now I need to hire a electrician
Guns and Freeze Dryers, That's what great with America.
Electrician? What size FD did you order?
@@Philat4800feet
A medium size
@@IAMYOU-. I made a video on how to tell if an outlet can handle the amperage. (Location, location, location).
@@Philat4800feet
Awesome I’ll check it out
Also I’m a new subscriber as of last week and I’ve been binge watching your videos
I have lots of canned corned beef hash in my pantry. can you FD it?
Yes, but the issue will be the fat. Is it cooked? You'll need to render any fat either low and slow at 140 degrees for several hours or use a sou vide cooker. I would then vacuum pack it with an O2.
I love sous vide cooking. just got one. what temp and how long? would I then just brown it and FD it?
Today is January 2020? I must be living in the future! 😱
Am I having a moment? What did I say?
@@Philat4800feet - I was just joshing with you. Around 1:05 of the video you said today was January of 2020. But I think we all knew what you meant. ☺
I don’t understand how it stays vacuum sealed with the corner unsealed.
The corner is only "unsealed" for a minute or two until the bag is taken to the sealer. For the time the bag it isn't sealed the vacuum forces inside the bag is pulling on both sides of the bag and keeping the bag closed and sealed.
Did I miss the explanation of why you snip the corner of your bags? Looks to me like you ruin the seal.
It's to make a vent hole to vacuum pack my bag. After applying the vacuum, the corner is sealed
czcams.com/video/CDj02lxBFiQ/video.html
My pantry fell through the floor when it got wet
:o
@@Philat4800feet a freeze dryer seem to be cheaper
You CANNOT freeze dry applesauce.
Sound like this should be my next project.