How Healthy is Freeze Dried Produce?

Many of Shelf Reliance's THRIVE foods are freeze dried.  Freeze dried foods have many benefits:

• A long shelf life, making them ideal for "food insurance"
• Lightweight (about 90% lighter than fresh), making them convenient and easy to eat on the go
• Easy to rehydrate so they can be used very similarly to the fresh product, making them ideal for your own home grocery store.
• Healthy!

Yes, that is right, freeze dried foods are healthy: they are good for you! 

Who says freeze dried foods are healthy?
In fact, the American Institute for Cancer Research proposes that while water and oxygen are removed from freeze dried foods, the nutritional value of the food is not changed or reduced.  In addition, The American Dietetic Association suggests that freeze dried produce contains the same amounts of antioxidants as the fresh counterparts. 

What exactly happens during the freeze drying process?
Here is how freeze drying works:

• Fresh produce is allowed to ripen until it reaches its peak (when it has the maximum possible nutrients)
• It is then cleaned, sliced or chopped and flash frozen
• The oxygen is removed (a vacuum chamber is created)
• 98% of the water is removed, but none of the nutrients are removed.
• It is sealed in moisture and oxygen proof cans to ensure freshness
• Once you re-hydrate the food it retains its original color, shape, flavor, nutrients, and most of its texture. (Imagine what a piece of produce would be like if you froze it and then thawed it out.  That is what freeze dried produce is like when hydrated)

Better than fresh produce?
Unlike some produce you buy at the grocery store, freeze dried produce is not picked before it is fully ripe, there are no hormones used to force it to ripen quickly, nor it does not sit in a truck or at the store or in your fridge losing nutrients before you eat it.  It, and all its nutrients, are flash frozen.  Then, you can enjoy it, and those nutrients, up to 25 years later any time of the year!

Even better, freeze dried foods require no additives, preservatives, salt or sugar to retain that 25 yr shelf life.  What goes into the can (fresh produce) is exactly what comes out!

References:

• American Institute for Cancer Research: Are freeze dried fruits a good health choice?
• Health effects of freeze dried food