Couple threads over the years on this.  I'm checking out a Harvest Right home freeze dryer.  Wonder if anyone has one and can tell me the pros and cons.  Pretty pricey at just under $3k, but I'm thinking it could potentially recoup my money pretty quickly on what I'm freeze drying.  

https://harvestright.com/product/home-freeze-dryer/

I have been using mine for about 6 years now. It has paid for itself several times over.

It is a purpose built machine that does one thing and it does it well.

It's important to think through why you want one and what you expect to use it for.

My main reasons:

I have always sought out grocery store deals. Usually Wednesday and Thursday are times for great deals. I recently bought 4 pork butts at $1.29 a pound. Over a couple weeks I slow cooked then freeze dried it all. Makes it super easy to have a Pulled pork dinner, just add in rice, beans, or other sides. Great for sandwiches.

I buy bulk chicken from Sam's Club. I slowly process it and either make it into meals, or something even more convenient is having lots of 1-2 serving pouches to add into meals, like a salad, and you know it's always ready and requires no effort to make (unless boiling water is a task lol)

Baby food is expensive. It's like $1.25 for a tiny can. I can buy a crap ton of regular food (sweet potatoes, rice, whatever) for dirt cheap and put that into small mylar bags or mason jars. Now I have a healthier option for a child that saves a ton.

We're big campers, mountain house is expensive and lacks meat. My own meals are way cheaper, tastier, and healthier.

Also, food costs keep going up, freeze dried chicken will last 25 years, I can all but guarantee chicken won't be $2 a pound 20+ years from now. It's a legit investment in your future.

Emergencies of course is another use.

I've had one for about a year and I bet the amount of savings ive got from buying a crap ton of whatever is on sale that week, has paid for the freeze dryer.

Also, reach out to a sales guy when you buy one. Don't order online. I got $200 by working with one guy.

My friend and I both bought a medium size one a few months ago. Mine has worked great but my friend has already gone through 3 failed units. The first one was used (unit logs had 200 hours on it). Harvestright still hasn't made it right for him.

Thats a bummer, gotta be real frustrating. I hope they end up making it right

I've had mine about six months. Not a single problem. I do mostly raw scrambled eggs, fruit, veggies. Just getting my feet wet, learning about the system.

Going to start doing full meals. Maybe chili, pasta and meatballs, rice and beans, etc.

Great machine.

We've had one about 6 months.  Already stacked back a ton of food.

Guy had some year old corn off the cob, vegetable beef stew, and spaghetti the other day.  Opened the bags, poured in hot water, let set for 10 minutes and we ate it.  Couldn't tell it from a meal right off the stove.  I was impressed.

I bought a used one about a year ago.  It is a 2019 model.  Zero issues, super easy to use, stacking food deep.

Runs pretty much constantly these days.

It is a small, and I wish it were a medium.  But I only paid $800.

I follow the groups on facebook and it seems that they are having quite a few QC problems right now.  And when you have a problem, customer service is backed up.  Also, because of how big and heavy these things are, the vast majority of problems are handled by shipping you parts and you installing them.  

I'm glad I got one when I did.  

If you have any place local to you selling them, I would suggest that route.  That way is there is a problem, you can return it.  

Tractor supply sells them in some markets.  There is a guns store near me that sells them.

This is great info everyone.  Thanks for the tips.

What exactly do you mean when  talking about a  sales guy? Someone at Harvest Right?

Email this sales guy and let him know you're interested in buying one and wondering what current pricing is. He'll give you a deal as compared to just buying one via the regular online checkout. Or at least I got a deal...

[email protected]

You can also ask if they have scratch and dent models. They didn't when I bought one but months later he emailed me letting me know they had some.

When did you buy? I have a hard time believing they will discount anything with how they're selling now.

Since covid they can't ship them fast enough. It's a 6-10 wk wait to get one. They stopped offering colors just so they can fill orders faster.

That being said, I recently purchased one and talking to a sales guy got me an extra 50 bags & OAs free.

ETA, they have scratch & dent units available for immediate shipment at discount prices but there's a catch. There are supply issues with the vacuum hose and they're robbing hoses from scratch & dent units to fulfill orders on new retail machines. Your scratch & dent will come with the hose on backorder. I have a spare I would be willing to let a member in good standing with good feedback use if you're willing to put a deposit on it and send me your new hose when you do receive it from Harvest Right.

I'm sure it wont hurt.  I do the same with hotels.  When I'm traveling, i'll check the internet price then give the specific hotel a call. 9 times out of 10 i'll get a better room, at a better rate when I talk to someone.

We've had one for several years. We have lots of fruit trees/berry bushes that call go ripe within a month or so, and its been great for preserving all that for eating through the winter.

Call them up and they will come up with a 'blem' at a good deal.

What I don't see mentioned often is that they are loud and put off a fair bit of heat. Something to consider if you were thinking of putting it in the kitchen.

Standard pump & oil free pump are loud. Premier pump (now included for no extra charge) is pretty quiet. But it does still produce noise. It's a freezer with fans and a vacuum pump. The hum of the fans is the loudest part.

With garden season in full swing I am considering buying a second freeze dryer.

Got a new medium sized Harvest Right in June for $2400 from a local farm & ranch store.

I did a test run in it that didn’t turn out great because I didn’t know what I was doing. Got busy, took a trip, got more busy and finally got back into it a few weeks ago. In that time I’ve gone through over half of the 50 mylar bags and OA’s that come with it and the machine is awesome!

Green Beans—2x 5LB bags
Sweet Peppers—35 large peppers (I just completed the 3rd run and bagged these up today)
Sweet Corn—2x 5LB bags
Broccoli—1x 4LB bag

English Muffins—(30)

Mixed Berries (blue, rasp, black)—2x 5LB bags
Sweet Cherries—1x6LB bag
Apples—Probably 50 apples so far?

Just started my first run of onions tonight out of about 30LB of red, yellow and white onions we’ve acquired to put up freeze dried. After these batches I’ll be switching to potatoes for a run to soak up the onion taste in the machine, then a couple batches of cooked chicken breast to make sure it’s gone. Then I’ll be on to shredded cheeses, more fruits and veggies and so on all the way until the famine starts.

Oh, I didn’t mention my 16 laying hens are just starting to produce. I’m getting 4 eggs a day pretty regularly with the ultimate goal to get about a dozen a day. I’ll fill multiple 27gallon totes with bags of freeze dried eggs before I ever sell one egg.

A freeze drier is a bit of work but the amount of food you can stack up in a short time is awesome!

I HIGHLY suggest processing equipment if you’re doing whole foods. Dicer, food processor, cherry pitter, heck even a mandolin or apple corer is a huge improvement and time saver over using a simple knife and cutting board.

We’ll probably try our hand at my wife’s “better than italian restaurant” lasagna as our first full meal we freeze dry. It’s usually 4” thick so we’ll have to deconstruct it after it’s been baked, but it’ll taste the same.

From there I’d like to recreate some MRE type meals but with tailored ingredients. Still need to research a bunch of that stuff. As it stands I’ve just been cleaning out the freezers and getting some bulk fresh veggies and fruits processed so far (apples, onions, peppers, potatoes). This thing has been running almost nonstop for 3 weeks and I don’t seen it ending for months.

It does put off some heat so for the summer we have it in a disused bedroom with windows open, a fan in a window and the ceiling fan going with the door closed off from the rest of the house. We heat 99.9% with a wood stove so the extra heat will be welcome in winter and the machine will be moved into the kitchen/dining area that is one of the coldest rooms in the house (avg 61 degrees in the morning in winter).

I can’t suggest Harvest Right enough. It’s a heck of a thing to be able to do what we’re doing, knowing that my family and select neighbors will be cared for with healthy, nutritious foods if we ever need to stay out of the ~25,000 resident town 15 miles away for some reason.

I bought in Jan of this year, had a 10 week wait. I also double checked and I actually only got $100 off. It was $2795 for a medium with premier pump and starter kit. So not a big amount but I'll take it!

I got mine a few weeks ago after 8 week wait

Medium or stainless? Those have longer waits.

I got my large black after 6 weeks.

We paid $6k for ours. Just over a year ago, as stated above it has already paid for itself many times over. We have made meals, snacks and individual stuff. Great investment!!

How did yours cost 6K? Oil free pump? My medium was $2400 with premier pump this spring. (got 10% off for signing up for some club the local farm & ranch store has).

Large black one

This post is gold.

No need to change oil everytime unless you have the old basic pump. I change mine every 20 batches with the premier pump.

Yes oil free pump.