Harvest Right Freeze Dryer Reviews

We have been enjoying our new medium freeze dryer now for about a month. The first thing we did was run a few candy batches for Christmas presents – fun stuff. Now we are into the serious business of working on our food security for these increasingly “interesting” times we all are are living in…. Our new machine did develop a vacuum leak though, but the courteous Harvest Right customer service sent us clear and simple fix to try, which did the trick. And even though I had fixed the leak before the tech called to discuss, he was kind enough to take the time to answer in detail some other unrelated questions I’d had.

So despite our vacuum issue (which is less common than the interwebs might suggest), we are very pleased with our new machine.

I would not hesitate to recommend getting one. My only suggestions would be to get plenty of extra trays and lids. And clear out a shelf in your upright freezer to accommodate them….. you’ll need it!

Received my large machine a year ago with an oil-less pump. Absolutely no issues with it so far. One of the reasons I wanted to purchase a machine was to preserve my garden produce. I don't buy a lot of canned goods at the grocery store. A few years ago, I decided to do a lot of canning. It mostly went to waste, as my family doesn't like canned food. So, instead of canning green beans, I freeze dry them raw. I'm able to rehydrate them and cook and we have green beans that are similar to fresh.

One of my favorite benefits of a freeze dryer is my leftovers don't go to waste anymore. I keep leftovers in the fridge for two days, then I freeze in bags, flattened in the deep freezer. When I'm ready to run a load in the freeze dryer, I pop the food out of the frozen bags and place in the trays and freeze dry a whole load. We use these for backpacking/camping meals or road trips.

Very pleased with my Harvest Right freeze dryer!

We are happy with our Harvest Right Freeze Dryer. It is good to know that we are preparing food to use later down the road as needed. We like vegetables and find that freeze drying is the best way to preserve them. We have preserved meat, fruit, vegetables and are looking forward to doing a little candy.

I bought my Harvest Right freeze dryer a couple of months ago and have had nothing but problems. After going through the initial setup instructions and running a batch of bread slices as suggested, the unit produced

an error message "Inadequate Vacuum." When I pulled the bread out, I noticed I had inadvertently stacked two slices together and they were still moist in between. Still, I discarded them and tried to run a batch of tomatoes and got the same error message. I've run several batches with the same result.

Tech Support suggested I outgas the shelving unit which I did twice at the recommendation of some online users. No help.

There was a fix disseminated by a user group which involves using self-binding silicone tape that I couldn't find at Lowes or Home Depot so I ordered some online and now I'm waiting for it to arrive. If it doesn't fix the problem, I will be taking the unit back.

Maybe HR will apply this fix on future units they send out.

Also, the impulse sealer doesn't seal the mylar bags unless I press down multiple times. HR said they would send me a new one but I have yet to see it.

We really like using our machine and have made some great food. Recently we experienced a mid-batch fault but the online troubleshooting and over the phone tech support has been great. Looking forward to getting out machine back up and running.

Harvest Right stands behind their warranty. We had used our new Freeze dryer about a month when it developed a vacuum seal error. After calling in for customer assistance we were contacted by a technician Jenn who corresponded by telephone and email to send her our log files then run a series of tests so she could determine where the leak was occurring. After a few weeks of back and forth we were instructed to seal the epoxy harness and our freeze dryer is up and running again!

We’ve owned our unit for about 2 yrs and LOVE this machine. It’s great for food storage, emergency meal prep, and pet food. You won’t regret buying a unit! A little learning curve at the beginning but there are tons of videos online to help.

My husband and I have been running a very successful disaster response team for the past 20 years.in Florida. Six years ago I purchased.a Harvest Right Freezer dryer to make ready-made meals to hand out to survivors in dire need of good healthy food. Hot or not they are good.

I have made hundreds of meals to help those in need and one of the best investments I have ever made.!

Harvest Right are good people and is a very well organized friendly American company.

The Harvest Right Freezer Dryer has been such a huge blessing in our disaster work. We see the benefits of quick, homemade amazing meals delivered with a bottle of water… the meals hydrated taste amazing!!! Almost just as you cooked it.

I have had so much fun trying every possible meal there is. Believe it or not … even ice cream bars.

The Harvest Right freezer dryer was easy to learn to use and maintain.

The Company was like part of our team in it’s great set up of help resources….assembly videos, its instant question and answering services, it’s friendly supply and ordering service. No waiting or delays.

Folks that visit my freezer dryer in my garage are instantly envious and impressed at my demonstrations and packed meals stored in very large instant carry duffle bags lining the shelves.

Freeze drying is a hobby for me and an ever delightful exploring of plain or exotic recipes/ knowing when you finally open in time….just pour in a bottle water … and it tastes just like you cooked it .

Better yet….my meals are all healthy-focused with studies showing that meals that keep for the maximum of 25 years the nutrition and vitamins remain 99% when used.

A Harvest Right Freezer Dryer is an essential in every large family today knowing survival meals are at hand especially in times of disasters big or small. You are secured in supplies and forever prepared with this very high quality fun-to-run machine.

Customer service is the best. Mark was really helpful and solved my problem in seconds. Even in this busy time of the year, they answered the phone quickly and was very helpful.

Have had our Harvest Right freeze dryer for a little over four years. For a few years before getting it, living close enough we went to their plant at that time on the west side of Salt Lake City. Cost and space prevented us from getting one then. Moving to a larger house we finally had the space to get one and and came up with the money for it. Now we can have freeze dried ice cream that I fell in love with in 1974 anytime and can have a bigger choice of flavors as we can buy what we want to freeze. Opening packages of what we have done the past few years, things have been in good shape and taste like when we dried it. Looks and tastes better than dehydrated foods.

For us customer service and other employees we have talked to have been friendly and helpful, including the president of the company. We have the large five tray dryer with an oil less pump. Like any mechanical item, we have had a few problems, but with customer support they have been taken care of. Yes, it will take a lot of drying of items for it to pay for itself and there is the additional expense of electricity, bags, I recommend 7-mil mylar bags ad the oxygen absorbers or you can use airtight jars or seal the items in cans. Although we have not had the problem yet, mylar bags are are not mouse proof. Besides growing items to dry you can buy most any food item to dry as well, except fatty and sugary foods. Unless you want to take the tray holder out to clean it off, watch what sugary items you put in. Pecan pie filling made a real messy dryer. Haven't tried other pie fillings.

HarvestRight is the best! I have been using the large freeze dryer for a year and it is perfect.

Let me be clear: In a world of "set it and forget it" appliances, a freeze dryer is unique. It's the perfect machine for the DIY-er who is willing to be "hands-on" with a machine that will occasionally need some maintenance and upkeep. Harvest Right offers great customer service, and social media is flooded with experienced FD users who offer helpful advice and share their own experience. If you love to "tinker" and want to preserve food for years to come, this machine is the way to go.

I purchased my medium-sized machine last October (and already wish I had purchased the large!) and in the two months since setup, I've run more than two dozen batches of foods and candies. I'm excited to harvest my garden next year, knowing I'll preserve every last bit of it. I love finding great deals on groceries, knowing I can preserve them long term and take advantage of low prices when they come. I love stocking up my married children's pantries with freeze-dried essentials; I love making fun and interesting Christmas treats and gifts.

I've had to troubleshoot the occasional problem with my machine (I had a firmware crash I had to update), and if you purchase one of these machines, so will you. If you buy a freeze-dryer, be prepared to get "hands-on" with it! But Harvest Right support was there every step of the way, and my "downtime" has been less than 24 hours. I anticipate being a Harvest Right customer for years to come.

I happened to order the wrong size silicone matts. The person I spoke to Greg, was very helpful and made the process of changing my order very easy.

An easy machine to use. The screen gives clear directions and the results are perfect. Plus, it is easy to clean when your done with a batch

I have loved my freeze drier! I use it constantly! It feels so good to stick up my food storage. I do wish the company offered repair technicians, but I think they grew too fast and will someday be ready to offer that.

We purchased the large and have used it once. We did bananas, chicken broth, lemons, limes and strawberries. All of them turned out great. Our only issue is the machine went back to factory settings for some reason and we had to call customer support, they were great, so we are hoping we don’t have to do this every time. If not for that, it would be 5 star so far!!

I took delivery of my Harvest Right Freeze Dryer on 1 Nov 2022. I freeze dried four batches of assorted items-eggs, vegetables, cheese and milk with great success. However, on the 5th batch the dreaded "inadequate vacuum" error was displayed on the control panel. I watched videos and followed instructions in the Harvest Right Troubleshooting Guide - after hours of trouble shooting I gave up and called customer service, only to be told there were no appointments available for several days. Finally, my first appointment with a service tech was on 15 Nov 2022. I subsequently had a total of six different appointments. Each time I needed a follow on appointment it was a 2-3 day delay. All told I personally spent at least 15 hours, watching videos, twice removing and reinstalling the outer case of the machine, testing the vacuum pump and performing one test after another before ultimately solving the problem. What's frustrating is I had to spend my own money (purchased additional vacuum pump oil and silicone sealant) to solve what I consider is a manufacturing defect that Harvest Right knows about. The wiring harness assembly that goes through the vacuum chamber wall was not thoroughly sealed on the machine I purchased. The first month I owned the machine it was out of service over half the time!!!

The positive experience was dealing with the Harvest Right Technician. She was very positive, knowledgeable, thorough, polite and upbeat. Very, very professional. I can't say enough about her. It took over two weeks to get the machine back up and running. I have since run 15 different batches and have one running almost daily.

Would I buy a Harvest Right Freeze Dryer again? Yes, it does a fantastic job with everything I have put through it. Just a very frustrating and time consuming first month of ownership. Fortunately, I am retired and had the time and inclination to fix a brand new machine that costs almost $3000.00. If a year from now my freeze dryer is still working like it does now then it is definitely a 5 star machine!

I am very happy with this freeze dryer (medium size with premium pump). My goal was to find an alternative method to store food without the tedious task of canning. So far, I have freeze dried the following:cooked meats, yogurt, lemons, apples, blueberries, milk and eggs, and I haven't had an issue with anything ( each batch is between 20-26 hours depending on the type of food). My first batch was apples, and after it was completed, my kids devoured it in seconds. I highly recommend this purchase especially if you like to garden. The machine is easy to use and customer service is excellent!

I have only had my Freeze Dryer a few days, so I am a newbie. The power went out and I couldn't get the machine off of factory reset. Customer service helped me in no time at all. Thank you!

We went to North Salt Lake to purchase our freeze dryer. The salesman was very knowledgeable and in a short time we were loaded up and headed home. When we set up the freeze dryer, we noticed we were supplied with the wrong sealer. It was a 220 volt 50 Hz sealer. I called customer service about the issue because we live 120 miles from Salt Lake. The customer service agent was very polite and accommodating and he had the correct sealer sent to us in a couple of days at no charge for shipping. We have used our freeze dryer several times and it has ​​​​​ performed as advertised. We love it.