Monday, January 14, 2013

The Cost of Freeze Dried Food





As I talk to people about freeze dried food one of the things I hear over and over again is that it is too expensive.   

It is an interesting statement.  I think some of it is about perspective. I used to think the Freeze Dried raspberries were super expensive, $29.99 for a can of raspberries. That is highway robbery right?

Turns out I was wrong. I spoke with my friend Amber, a friend who is also into storing freeze dried foods.   


Amber told me that her family commercially raises and sells fresh raspberries in my local community, mostly at roadside stands and farmers markets.  Her family business is well known to me and I have purchased raspberries from them several times over the past few years.  


 She sells fresh raspberries for the family business at the local farmers market.   Where I live it gets cold in the winter (It was -18 degrees last night) so the market only runs during the warm summer month.   During the summer Amber sells a flat of raspberries for $30.00 each flat has approximately 12 cups of raspberries in it.

Okay now think about the last time you purchased fresh raspberries.  What did you have to do?  You had to use them fast.  Like right now today or they go moldy.   The last time I bought raspberries I ended up throwing away several cups worth because I did not use them fast enough.  I was so sad but what do you do?
Well you can buy freeze dried.  I can buy a number 10 Can of THRIVE raspberries for $29.99 and they will be good for 25 years unopened and once I open them I have 18 months to use them.  Not one of the raspberries in that can is going to go bad.  I can use them every morning on my cereal and they will not go moldy in the fridge.  And guess what.  There are approximately 12 cups of raspberries in each can. I am saving money by buying FD instead of fresh because I'm not throwing them away.   

Do freeze dried foods seem too expensive to you? 

20 comments:

  1. Thanks for the comparison of fresh and FD prices. very helpful

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  2. Thanks for putting the cost into perspective. You make some good points.

    Instead of losing several cups of fruit, next time you should freeze them. Frozen fruit is great in smoothies!

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  3. Hi Heather, Your giveaway is live!! Share on your facebook!

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  4. I guess maybe it depends on where you are buying them from too. Or I need to look for other places to buy my FD fruit...I think it's closer to about $3.50/cup?? I'm in California. :p My girls love them in their cereal or even just to snack on. :)

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  5. I have never tried FD foods. I will have to check out your page further. Love to learn healthy ways to save money. Heard about your giveaway also on "A Bowl of Lemons" pages, love her.

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  6. i didn't know you could freeze dry raspberries! I am going to have to try some out! I eat raspberries with my yogurt every morning.

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  7. i love freeze dried fruit but also cringed at buying it. i guess i'll cave now.

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  8. I have never bought freeze dried food before. I think I need to look into it. I LOVE raspberries!

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  9. I don't think freeze dried foods are too expensive - especially for things like fruit that have a distinct season and go bad quick. Fresh fish and flash frozen fish are often the same price - as long as the nutrients are not compromised its good.

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  10. I always thought the freeze dried food was expensive, too. But once I thought about what you said, I do ALWAYS end up throwing some away. The #10 can is the same cost as a flat, but lasts way longer. I will have to look into more freeze dried foods. Thanks for posting.

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  11. You know it did seem a bit expensive until you laid out some really good points. I will look at it differently now. :)

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  12. Thanks for the idea to purchase freeze dried raspberries. I never thought of it before but we always throw out fresh raspberries as they go bad so fast.

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  13. Thanks for doing the comparison! I have seen and liked these products but have too thought they were too expensive. When you consider that fact that you will not throw out food because of spoilage than it makes even more sense to purchase freeze dried. Thanks!
    Marilyn H

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  14. This is so intriguing! I love the idea of this.

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  15. Very interesting would have thought it was too costly to buy freeze dried but your right it would be worth not having the waste of fresh berries.

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  16. I've just been starting to looking at buying freeze dried fruit, but it's been hard to swallow the cost. This post really put things into perspective for me! Thanks! :)

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  17. My first reaction seeing the cost of the raspberries was they are expensive but when you made the comparison to fresh ones it isn't expensive. I am new to food storage so this post showed me how to break down the costs of food.

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  18. Wow - thanks for pointing that out. I have always believed freeze dried food was too expensive, now I'll definitely look into it more.

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  19. I've been wanting to try freeze dried fruits but I had a question. I was wondering once you open the #10 can, can you divide the fruit into mason jars and use a foodsaver to suck the air out to make them last longer than the open can expiration date?

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  20. It seems kinda expensive at first but when you break it down its not so bad. Check out the huge buckets at Costco.com

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