Choosing Between Freeze Dried & Dehydrated Foods
If you are planning to start your first food storage supply, you have a number of options to choose from. Any food with a long shelf life will do, but there are two main types of food that people often use in their emergency storage. These are dehydrated and freeze dried foods.
You may have heard of these two types of preserved foods and wondered how they were different from each other. Both have very long shelf lives, which makes them both good choices for food storage supplies. Read below to see some of the common ways in which these two items differ from each other.
Preservation Process – Both dehydrated and freeze dried food are “dehydrated” in a sense. However, the processes they go through are much different. Dehydrated foods are exposed to a heat source (the sun, a machine, or other mechanism). Freeze dried foods are flash frozen. This is a complex and expensive process. In both processes, foods have up to 97 percent of their water content removed.
Size & Weight – Since both foods have a substantial amount of their water removed, they are both much more lightweight than they were in their previous stage. Dehydrated foods tend to weigh a bit less than freeze dried foods, but both options are lightweight and compact. This makes them easy to store. It also makes them very easy to transport by backpack or any other means. This is why the foods are popularly used by hikers and outdoors adventurers, as well as for emergency preparedness purposes.
Taste & Nutrition – This is where the two types of food vary greatly–mostly when it comes to already prepared meals produced for emergency purposes. Compared to the original meal, the taste and nutritional value of meals that have been dehydrated is diminished. Dehydrated meals tend have a blander taste, changed texture, and less nutrients. Flash freezing literally leaves food in a state of “suspended animation.” When water is added the food is exactly as it was before being flash frozen. This means you get the same great taste, aromas, textures, and high nutritional value.
You can buy already prepared meals and other preserved food items from a food storage company. Having any type of food storage supply is important, and knowing what your options are will help you decide where to start.
Want to find out more about food storage, then visit Tom H. Ronson’s site on how to choose the best top food storage companies for your needs.
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