Harvest Right Freeze Dryer Reviews

Have you been considering taking the plunge to purchase a Harvest Right Freeze Drier? Well, we did and liked it so much we ended up purchasing a second one. Now we have 2 large machines. We have ran so much food through the machines that would have had to remain in the freezer to not go bad. Now, after freeze drying and storing in mylar bags, refrigeration is no longer needed for these items. We have freeze dried so many things like salsa, Pico de Gallo, guacamole, meats (raw and cooked), whole meals, leftovers, ingredients, eggs, tomatoes, just to name some of the things. Canning or dehydrating items is good, but you lose some of the nutrition in the food doing those processes. Freeze drying foods is supposed to keep over 90% of the nutritional value compared to the other methods of storing food.

Practical application: Today for lunch we made chicken salad with the leftovers from a rotisserie chicken. We did not have any celery to put in it so we had some freeze dried raw celery in a vacuum sealed jar we added. Tasted just like if we had added fresh raw celery.

We took a trip up north and had brought freeze dried meals with us to save money and also not have to eat out. All we had to do was stop at a gas station and get hot water to add to the food and wait a bit for it to soak up the water. We ate a homecooked meal that did not require refrigeration! This would also be ideal for someone who camps or backpacks.

Do know if you purchase one, there is maintenance involved. Just like owning a house or car, there is maintenance! Just keep that in mind when purchasing.

I have only been using mine for about a week now, but the thick sliced garden fresh tomatoes i did turned out great.( My wife even enjoyed the taste and texure of them). I put some in the mylar bags with abosorbers for later use down the road. I have tried some samples at the store I purchased my machine from and they have been very tasty and light. (sliced apple with carmel on it, also zucchini withsome spices on it) VERY TASTY.

Very excited and happy with my new toy.

I have had a Harvest Right Freeze Dryer for several years and have really enjoyed freeze drying a lot of different food items. I purchased a new freeze dryer last fall and was told by one of my co-workers that there was updates I could do to for a candy mode that would save a lot of time. I called customer service to see about doing an update on my dryer. I spoke to Mario and he emailed me the updates and walked me through the process. It was as easy as he said it would be. He was prompt in emailing the updates to me and very helpful!

We bought our first Harvest Right freeze dryer about six or seven years ago.

We use our dryer mostly for fruit. We did do some turkey which turned out good.

When I asked about how she liked it, my wife said she loved it except when it didn't work.

It quit working about three years ago. So we were without a freeze dryer for that long. This year, we had so much fruit that we decided we had to have a freeze dryer.

I didn't know enough at that time to fix our old one; so we decided to buy a new one.

We bought the medium-size dryer with five shelves in it. We have been using it for about a month now and it has been very dependable. The new vacuum pump is much better than the one we formerly had. It is nice to have the extra shelf. That makes it so that we can do 25% more each batch.

I have been watching a lot of videos and learning a lot about how to check the various parts and functions and how to fix them.

Since working with a Harbor Right technician, I think we have isolated the problem with the old dryer. It looks like I need to put a new relay board on it. There is a video on You Tube about how to do that. Hopefully, when I get that done, it should be working. So we will have two units that we can process the fruit in.

We love the fruit that has been dried. It tastes delicious when eaten dry and reconstitutes to look and taste like the fresh fruit.

One caution--they are not cheap.

I made the smart decision of investing in a 4-tray Harvest Right Freezer four months ago, and it has been a game-changer in my kitchen. I've experimented with freeze-drying fruits, veggies, candies, full meals, and even leftovers! Over time, I noticed it was taking longer to complete cycles, and I kept getting a vacuum error. However, the Harvest Right support team went above and beyond, dedicating days and hours to troubleshoot and even making an in-person visit. They identified two vacuum leaks, and now, my freezer is running smoother than ever. I'm thrilled about the endless possibilities for preserving food for my family in the years to come. Harvest Right freeze dryers are truly unmatched!

I purchased a Harvest Right Freeze Dryer a few years ago. This is a stunning piece of equipment! I am still amazed that this is the only company producing high-quality freeze dryers for home use.

I appreciate the mastery of the product demonstrated by customer service. When I have called in, for one reason or another, I have always connected with a support team member knowledgeable and capable. Unlike customer service from so many companies, the staff of Harvest Right are US citizens located right here in the States, speak clearly, and seem to have intimate knowledge of all aspects of the machine. In addition, staff are always patient and willing to work thru any questions or difficulties I may have.

I highly recommend Harvest Right

I have had my medium freezer dryer for 4 years now. I have a love/hate relationship with it!! On one hand it has been wonderful. I have been able to process and store so many fruits and vegetables and also meals. My family loves the fruit and it’s so handy for traveling or just for snacks. On the other hand I have gotten the dreaded “vacuum error” message a few times and had to do a few different fixes. This last time customer service was able to help me out and figure out the problem, however, it took several weeks and I missed the most abundant harvesting time! Overall, I’m so grateful to have my harvest right freeze dryer!

We live off grid and got a solar upgrade in fall of 2022, boosting our system to panels producing 3840 watts and 400ah of Lithium battery storage. After monitoring our household draw for several months, I felt confident I would be able to run the freeze dryer on our system and purchased one in July. During peak sun, the dryer can run off the wattage we are producing, not drawing anything from the batteries. Overnight, if the dry cycle is running (which consumes the most power), it draws down our storage by half. Now that it is later in the fall and we are at 49o N latitude, I have to wait 2 days between cycles to get the system back to full charge. This is only possible because we have Lithium ion batteries now, wouldn't have worked for the drawdown (unless you had a HUGE system) on lead acid.

Pros: Great customer service.

Finished freeze dried product is great, especially proteins.

Once you have figured out what you are doing, it is set and forget until done.

Cons: I had trouble with my vacuum cycle, pretty much out of the box (although I didn’t realize it until 5 or so cycles in). This lead to a lot of frustration on my part because you get an error message but not much else. Customer service helped right away, I just wish I’d called sooner.

The owners manual could include a little bit more of the technical information. For example what the average or acceptable length of each part of the cycle is, basic physics for how it works (so I don’t have to keep explaining to my husband!).

Overall, I’m happy with my purchase and look forward to making lots of awesome things.

I know a lot of preppers!! Everyone says get the medium 5 tray.., optimal size and speed of processing. I know the owner of ‘Freezed Dried Ohio’… she has 5 Harvest Right units… she agreed that medium unit with 4-5 trays would be the unit to get with the premier pump if you can afford it… the modern pumps and units are very efficient. About $1 a batch of 5 if you start with product frozen in freezer to begin with. Runs about 30 hours each time. Don’t get the small unit… not worth the effort.

I have owned and operated a Harvest Right freeze dryer now for just over five years. While my unit has certainly not been trouble free, it is still an excellent value, especially when compared to the cost of off-the-shelf freeze dried meals. My unit paid for itself in just over two years of use supplying high-quality, homemade freeze dried meals for my family of five. Having home prepared meals with ingredients that I prefer readily available anywhere I am simply increases the units value to me, I recommend to my friends frequently that they consider purchasing their own freeze dryer.

My wife wanted a freeze dryer and so I did a little research and watched a lot of YouTube videos on them. I bought a medium size Harvest Right freezer and it arrived very well packaged and very easy to assemble. I ordered the oil free pump for convenience and ease of use. It arrived beginning of August and I have been running it almost non stop. The instructions are easy to follow and there are hundreds of videos to see on YouTube on how to set up and get started to how to freeze dry different types of food. So I just had my first issue October 2nd with the freeze dryer not achieving a vacuum. Ice was built up behind the door gasket and after defrosting the freeze dryer I ran the dryer again with no issue. To be on the safe side I called The Harvest Right company guy or assistance. They answered the phone right away and actually spoke English that you can understand. He scheduled an appointment with a call from a technician 2 days later. I was sent an email from the technician scheduled to call me, and in the email was an explanation of how to download the freeze dryers log files and send them to Harvest Right to help troubleshoot my issue. Also in the email was the latest software update for me to put on a thumb drive and install on the freeze dryer. Fairly easy to do if you have a little computer experience. I updated the software and ran a load of apples with no issue. The technician called me and explained the new software should take care of the issue. So I have freeze dried apples, bananas, blueberries, blackberries, tomato’s, yellow squash, cucumbers, kale, peppers, watermelon, strawberries, and eggs. The longest freeze dry time was watermelon and some of the melon did not come out good. I believe I would need to cut the pieces smaller if I were to to it again. So far I am very happening the freeze dryer and also with how fast you get an actual person talking to you when you need help. I will probably buy another in the future.

Love the machine, but frustrated with ongoing tech issues with premium pump and getting tech support

Customer service is great! Absolutely Love my Harvest Right freeze dryer. I love it because we can freeze dry all the leftover meals that taste just like the way I made it.

I am very satisfied with the machine. Most recently I had a vacuum error that required technical assistance, but with the help of Harvest Right staff my issues were quickly solved.

I’ve done dehydrating, But Freeze drying is next level. I love my medium Harvest Right Freeze dryer. It’s running continuously. I have so much peace of mind having shelf stable food ready for my family and dogs! Thank you Harvest Right.

I was happy for 200 loads. Then it stopped freezing. Customer service was great, but the 3 year warrantee for freezing is sketchy. I was told that the part that I need to update the software and fix the freeze problem is not covered after all.

We've owned our freeze dryer for about 2.5 years and have been highly satisfied. We live near an orchard and have had great success freeze drying all kinds of fruit. We've also done bone broth, cheese, eggs, hamburger patties, avocados, pasta meals, and spiral ham among many others. We haven't tried ice cream yet but it's definitely on the list! Freeze drying is a great way to clear out freezer space and have more reliable long term storage.

I purchased the large Harvest Right freeze dryer (scientific) with oil-free pump. I have had issues with the software not operating properly, which may be a hardware issue that we are still working through. Customer support has been responsive but can be slow at times. Otherwise, I have had a good experience with operating the freeze dryer and food coming out well preserved.

We had such a bumper crop from our orchard of fruit trees this year so we decided that this was the year for a freeze dryer. We got an extra large unit. We’ve been freeze drying night and day with only apples remaining for the process. The FD fruit is fabulous! Pears are my favorite. We had some issues early on but called Harvest Right and they addressed them and got us back freeze drying. Wish the machine didn’t require new ‘downloads’ regularly

I have had good experiences dealing with Harvest Right on tecnical issues. The only reason it does not get 5 stars is becuase of having to pay for technical service and know you have to do all the trouble shooting via videos and written directions yourself. I understand this does keep the cost more affordable to everyday people, but it can be frustrating

We got the large freeze dryer. I'm both Chemical & Electrical Engineer having done technical work for 32 years at Shell, so.... I'm thorough and like to get things right. Seems like HarvestRight is just so! I've read the manuals and help screens, videos, and called their tech support like 8 times asking all kinds of questions to make sure the machine works correctly and that I'm doing everything right in all situations that I'm seeing or anticipate. Their Tech Support seems always available, 7 days a week, no garbage phone menus, not frustrating, easy and quick, and they answer all my questions and go get help from more knowledgeable support staff when needed, and quickly I might add! Well I told my wife she'd like this thing, and she thought not so much really. Well, I was right! She's all over it and constantly thinking of ways to load up a new batch:) It is a lot of fun eating freeze dried food.... hahaha, but it's true! of course, we have 25 years to do so with color, nutrients, texture completely preserved, but it's hard not to just start consuming it, makes tomatoes taste a lot better than they do fresh, don't know why. Anyway, the freezedryer works well, has enough sensors and is smart enough to protect itself and deal with different scenarios properly on it's own. I'm impressed with the premier vacuum pump's performance. We didn't use the machine for a little over a year after we bought it, and nevertheless it performs way past the function test acceptable level. It gets down to about 350mTorr, and below 500 mTorr in just 13 minutes. Also the refrigeration gets down to -60 degF quicker than expected. so, what's not to like?

I really love my machine, only that I have had several problems with my unit and we have been able to fix them with the Harvest Right team, just frustration constantly with the problems.