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Freeze-Drying Batch Planner

The short version: pick a food and a fresh weight and this returns the dried weight, the trays or batches, and the absorbers, each with the source behind it. For most foods the dried weight comes back Not published, because three foods in the whole research set carry a fresh-to-dried figure and all three are secondary-tier.

No extension service publishes a yield figure for any food. No source publishes a general pounds-per-tray figure, and neither research pack publishes how many trays a machine holds. A bag count cannot be derived from a weight at all. Those gaps are the reason this page exists in the shape it does, and each of them is named where it bites rather than papered over with a plausible number.

Plan a batch

Every food in the research pack’s per-food table is listed, including the ones with no published yield, because knowing a figure does not exist is the answer to the question for most of them.

Weigh the food after trimming and cutting, not at the store. No source states which point in preparation its yield figure was measured from, so treat any result as conditional on that.

Batch capacity is published in pounds. The one per-tray figure for milk is published in cups. The two are not converted into each other here, because no source publishes the density that would let them be.

Small, Medium, Large and X-Large are the size names every publisher uses. They are not the same machine across brands, and the published capacities differ accordingly.

Bags you plan to fill

A bag count cannot be calculated from a weight. Doing it needs the bulk density of freeze-dried food and the measured interior volume of the bag, and neither is published by any source in either research pack. PackFreshUSA states its own quart bags “hold more than a quart”, so a bag’s printed size is not its volume either. This tool asks how many bags you intend to fill rather than inventing the conversion.

Results update as you type. The button is here for anyone who would rather press it.

Expected dried weight

1–1.25 lb

10 × 10% = 1, and 10 × 12.5% = 1.25. Published as “~8–10 kg fresh : 1 kg dried, varies by spec”. Converted on this page from the published ratio: 1 ÷ 10 = 10.0% and 1 ÷ 8 = 12.5%. Arithmetic on the published figure only.

[3] — secondary source

No primary-tier strawberry yield figure exists. The published ratio comes from a commercial supplier’s buying guide, and that source states it varies by spec.

Trays

Not published. Not published. No source publishes a load weight per tray for this food, and no source publishes a general pounds-per-tray figure. Plan in whole batches instead.

Batches on a Large machine

Batches needed, one row per publisher. The publishers disagree about capacity and none is preferred here.
PublisherBatchesPublished capacityThe arithmeticSource
Harvest Right (current FAQ)118–27 lb per batch10 ÷ 27 = 0.37 and 10 ÷ 18 = 0.56, rounded up to 1–1[5]
Utah State University Extension (2019)112–16 lb per batch10 ÷ 16 = 0.63 and 10 ÷ 12 = 0.83, rounded up to 1–1[8]
Blue Alpine114–24 lb per batch10 ÷ 24 = 0.42 and 10 ÷ 14 = 0.71, rounded up to 1–1[11]
Prep4Life (The Cube)Not publishedNot publishedServings only. The spec page is image-only and its numbers are not extractable.[12]

Absorbers

Enter the number of bags you plan to fill above. A bag count cannot be calculated from a weight. Doing it needs the bulk density of freeze-dried food and the measured interior volume of the bag, and neither is published by any source in either research pack. PackFreshUSA states its own quart bags “hold more than a quart”, so a bag’s printed size is not its volume either. This tool asks how many bags you intend to fill rather than inventing the conversion.

One absorber per bag is published practice: “Drop one absorber into each bag right before sealing.” — Wallaby Goods [21]. If you are unsure, use one slightly larger absorber — not doubling up. No manufacturer publishes a mechanism for the one-per-bag rule; it is published as practice only. [17]

Every published absorber size for these three volumes

Publishers disagree, and the disagreement is the finding. Each row is that publisher’s own figure with the condition it attached; nothing is averaged and no size is recommended over another.

ContainerVolumePublisherPublishedCondition attachedSource
Pint473 cc — published [15]PackFreshUSA94.6ccCalculated for an empty pint jar (473cc ÷ 5), not a filled one.[15]
Pint473 cc — published [15]AGM O-Busters20cc / 50ccIndexed on void space, not food type: 20cc under 10% void, 50cc at 25% void or more. The 10–25% band is not published; do not interpolate it.[18]
Pint473 cc — published [15]Discount Mylar Bags (OxyFree)100ccNo food class stated.[24]
Pint473 cc — published [15]Dry & Dry100ccNo food class stated.[25]
Pint473 cc — published [15]Wallaby Goods300ccWallaby disclaims its own chart: the figures are “only the average amount” and “you may need more or a smaller number.”[20]
Quart946 cc — arithmetic on the published gallon figure, not itself publishedPackFreshUSA200ccTheir own arithmetic for a nominal quart. Their shipped quart sets use 300cc instead, because their quart bags hold more than a quart.[15]
Quart946 cc — arithmetic on the published gallon figure, not itself publishedPackFreshUSA300ccAs actually supplied in their Mylar sets, on the stated grounds that their quart bags hold more than a quart.[15]
Quart946 cc — arithmetic on the published gallon figure, not itself publishedAGM O-Busters50cc / 100ccIndexed on void space: 50cc under 10% void, 100cc at 25% void or more. No intermediate band published.[18]
Quart946 cc — arithmetic on the published gallon figure, not itself publishedWallaby Goods300ccChart disclaimed by its publisher as average figures only.[20]
Quart946 cc — arithmetic on the published gallon figure, not itself publishedDiscount Mylar Bags (OxyFree)100–300ccNo food class stated; the range is published as a range.[23] [24]
Quart946 cc — arithmetic on the published gallon figure, not itself publishedDry & Dry300ccNo food class stated.[25]
Quart946 cc — arithmetic on the published gallon figure, not itself publishedUtah State University Extension50ccExtension fact sheet dated October 2011; the current extension site publishes no cc figures at all.[27]
Gallon3,785 cc — published [15]PackFreshUSA800ccConditioned on an EMPTY gallon container. Their own text halves it to 400cc once the container is filled with flour.[15]
Gallon3,785 cc — published [15]PackFreshUSA300ccColumn A of their three-tier scheme: beans and rice, about 35% air.[16]
Gallon3,785 cc — published [15]PackFreshUSA400ccColumn B: flour and powders, about 50% air.[16]
Gallon3,785 cc — published [15]PackFreshUSA500ccColumn C: freeze-dried, oats and pasta, about 75% air. The same page presents “a gallon should use 300cc” as a myth it rejects.[16]
Gallon3,785 cc — published [15]AGM O-Busters100cc / 300ccIndexed on void space: 100cc under 10% void, 300cc at 25% void or more. No intermediate band published.[18]
Gallon3,785 cc — published [15]Wallaby Goods400cc (400–500cc gusseted)Chart disclaimed by its publisher as average figures only.[20]
Gallon3,785 cc — published [15]Wallaby Goods300–400cc (3–4 × 100cc)Published as a count of 100cc packets for dense foods — which contradicts the same publisher’s own one-absorber-per-bag instruction.[19]
Gallon3,785 cc — published [15]Discount Mylar Bags (OxyFree)300ccNo food class stated. A companion page gives 500cc for 1–2 gallons.[23]
Gallon3,785 cc — published [15]Discount Mylar Bags300ccDense dry food below 10% moisture; the page also notes bag-to-bag OTR variation.[22]
Gallon3,785 cc — published [15]Discount Mylar Bags500ccPublished as “bulky / freeze-dried,” dry food below 10% moisture. The same page gives 500cc as the answer if you are unsure.[22]
Gallon3,785 cc — published [15]Dry & Dry500ccNo food class stated.[25]
Gallon3,785 cc — published [15]Utah State University Extension300ccFact sheet dated October 2011.[27]
Gallon3,785 cc — published [15]Harvest Right700ccThe only condition Harvest Right attaches is “for use in gallon-size Mylar bags.” No food class, no fill level. It is the highest gallon figure in the pack apart from PackFreshUSA’s empty-container 800cc, and the pack flags it as an outlier with a thin condition.[26]

Yield, as published

Three foods across the whole per-food table carry a fresh-to-dried figure, and all three are secondary-tier. Everything else in the table is a recorded absence rather than an omission.

FoodPublished asUsed hereHowSource
Milk — whole, pasteurizedWhole ≈20% (1 gal → 5 cups powder)20%Used exactly as published. No conversion applied.[1]
Milk — skim, pasteurizedSkim ≈16% (1 gal → 4 cups powder)16%Used exactly as published. No conversion applied.[1]
Strawberries~8–10 kg fresh : 1 kg dried, varies by spec10.0–12.5%Converted on this page from the published ratio: 1 ÷ 10 = 10.0% and 1 ÷ 8 = 12.5%. Arithmetic on the published figure only.[3]
The 27 foods with no published yield
  • Eggs — raw: ~8–9 eggs per cup powder; 32–36 eggs per quart [2] Suitability is contradicted between sources: suitable per manufacturers, advised against by Utah State University Extension, which states Salmonella survives freeze-drying and recommends pasteurized liquid egg or fully cooked scrambled egg instead.
  • Eggs — cooked / scrambled: Not published
  • Milk — raw: Not published
  • Cheese: Not published
  • Yogurt: Not published
  • Ice cream: Not published
  • Protein powder: Not published
  • Bananas: No source found
  • Blueberries: No source found
  • Apples: No source found
  • Avocado: No source found
  • Citrus — orange, lemon, lime: No source found No manufacturer or extension source addresses freeze-drying citrus at all. Only dehydration guidance exists.
  • Watermelon: No source found
  • Mushrooms: No source found
  • Potatoes: No source found. Load-density note only. A tray count is available for potatoes because a load density is published for them. A dried weight is not: no yield figure for potatoes exists at any tier.
  • Rice: No source found
  • Beans: No source found
  • Herbs: No source found
  • Bread: No source found
  • Meat — raw: No source found
  • Meat — cooked: No source found
  • Cooked meals — stew, casserole, pasta: No source found
  • Pet food from scraps: No source found
  • Gummy candy: R2 Table 1 publishes an expansion column for candy, not a yield column
  • Hard candy — Jolly Ranchers, Skittles: R2 Table 1 publishes an expansion column for candy, not a yield column Suitability is contradicted within Harvest Right’s own guidance: documented on its candy pages, flagged as problematic in its general guide.
  • Taffy: R2 Table 1 publishes an expansion column for candy, not a yield column
  • Marshmallow: R2 Table 1 publishes an expansion column for candy, not a yield column

Trays and batches, as published

Two per-food load densities exist and both are secondary-tier: about 3–4 cups of whole milk per tray [1] and 3 lbs of potatoes per tray [4]. For every other food the planner counts whole batches, and four publishers disagree about how much fits in one.

PublisherSmallMediumLargeX-LargeConditionSource
Harvest Right (current FAQ)6–10 lb10–15 lb18–27 lb40–50 lbFresh food per batch.[5]
Utah State University Extension (2019)4–7 lb7–10 lb12–16 lbNot publishedPublished 2019. Materially lower than the manufacturer figures.[8]
Blue AlpineNot published8–16 lb14–24 lbNot publishedPublished per batch.[11]
Prep4Life (The Cube)“12–16 Food Servings Per Batch” — no pound figureNot publishedNot publishedNot publishedServings only. The spec page is image-only and its numbers are not extractable.[12]

Loading depth, tray dimensions, and one contradiction

  • “Arrange food in a single layer on the trays, with about ¾ of the tray height as a good general guide.” — Harvest Right [7]
  • “Cut food so pieces are no thicker than the tray height.” — Harvest Right [6]
  • “Food should not be higher than the lip of the tray.” — University of Arizona Cooperative Extension [14]
  • “Spread the food in a single layer.” — University of Minnesota Extension [9]
  • Harvest Right, Large tray: 20.5 in L × 9 in W × 0.75 in H [13]
  • Stay Fresh tray: 8 in W × 20 in D × 0.75 in H [10]
  • Tray area by machine size: Small 434 sq in; Medium 675 sq in; Large 1,107 sq in; X-Large 2,251 sq in [5]. Tray count per machine is not published by anyone, which is why this tool counts batches rather than trays.
  • Whether pieces may touch is contradicted within one manufacturer’s own guidance. “Pieces can touch, so you don’t need to leave space between every piece.” [7] against “Place food in a single layer on each tray. Corn, beans, and peas can be slightly layered; other veggies should be in a single layer.” [6]. Both statements are Harvest Right’s. Recorded, not reconciled.

What we could not source

  • A fresh-to-dried yield figure for almost every food. No extension service publishes a yield figure for any food. Across R2’s whole per-food table three figures exist anywhere: whole milk ≈20%, skim ≈16%, and strawberries at roughly 8–10:1. All three are secondary-tier. Per-food searches for bananas, blueberries, apples, avocado, citrus, watermelon, mushrooms, potatoes, rice, beans, herbs, bread, meat, cooked meals and pet food returned nothing at any tier. This tool returns Not published for those foods rather than estimating. [3]
  • The bulk density of freeze-dried food. Nothing in either pack converts a dried weight into a volume, so a dried weight cannot become a number of bags. That is why bag count is an input here, not an output. [1]
  • Measured interior volumes for common mylar bag sizes. Nobody publishes them, and PackFreshUSA states its own quart bags hold more than a quart. The planner works from published container volumes and does not claim that any bag we sell equals one of them. [17]
  • A pounds-per-tray figure, in general. No manufacturer or extension source publishes a general load weight per tray. The only two figures are per-food and secondary tier: about 3–4 cups of whole milk per tray, and 3 lbs of potatoes per tray. Every other food is planned in whole batches here. [4]
  • A tray count for each machine size. Neither pack publishes how many trays a Small, Medium, Large or X-Large machine holds. Tray area per machine is published; tray count is not, and one cannot be divided out of the other without a tray dimension for every size. [5]
  • Agreement on how much fresh food fits in a batch. Harvest Right, Utah State University Extension and Blue Alpine publish materially different per-batch capacities for the same machine sizes, and Prep4Life publishes servings rather than pounds. All four are shown side by side. None is preferred, and no average is taken. [8]
  • A freeze-dried food class from most absorber publishers. Impak, Wallaby and O-Busters stop at pasta and less dense foods and publish no freeze-dried class at all. No manufacturer publishes a per-food freeze-dried cc rating, including the freeze-dryer OEMs, and none is constructed here. [21]
  • A mechanism for one absorber per bag. Several suppliers publish the practice. None publishes a reason for it. It is shown here as practice, not as physics. [17]

Packaging

The absorber counts above assume one bag sealed at a time. If you need the bags and absorbers themselves, the Starter Set — 50 Bags, 50 Absorbers, Sealerincludes the snack bags, matched absorbers and a sealer. Sold by Sublime Pantry.

Sources

  1. How to Freeze Dry Milk — Practical Self Reliance (secondary; accessed 2026-09-06)
  2. How to Freeze Dry Eggs (& Ways to Use Them) — Practical Self Reliance (secondary; accessed 2026-09-06)
  3. Freeze-Dried Strawberry Fresh-to-Dry Ratio for Buyers — FruitBuys (commercial OEM supplier) (secondary; accessed 2026-09-06)
  4. Freeze Drying Potatoes: A Complete Guide — Montana Homestead Harvest (secondary; accessed 2026-09-06)
  5. Harvest Right Home Freeze Dryers — FAQs — Harvest Right (primary; accessed 2026-09-06)
  6. What's the best way to prepare food for freeze drying? — Harvest Right (primary; accessed 2026-09-06)
  7. How to Freeze Dry Like a Pro: 25 Tips for Better Results — Harvest Right (primary; accessed 2026-09-06)
  8. Buying a Home Freeze-Dryer: What to Know Before You Go (April 2019) — Utah State University Extension (primary; accessed 2026-09-06)
  9. Preserving food at home: Freeze-drying — University of Minnesota Extension (primary; accessed 2026-09-06)
  10. Stay Fresh Freeze Dryer Owner's Manual, Model 4H11560US — Stay Fresh (primary; accessed 2026-09-06)
  11. Blue Alpine FAQs — Blue Alpine (primary; accessed 2026-09-06)
  12. The Cube (homepage) — Prep4Life (primary; accessed 2026-09-06)
  13. Harvest Right Large Freeze Dryer Trays, Set of 6 (retailer citing manufacturer tray dimensions) — Hydrobuilder (secondary; accessed 2026-09-06)
  14. Preparing and Storing Your Freeze Dried Products for Best Use (AZ2097B) — University of Arizona Cooperative Extension (primary; accessed 2026-09-06)
  15. Learn — PackFreshUSA (primary; accessed 2026-09-06)
  16. Oxygen Absorber – The Myth, The Legend — PackFreshUSA (primary; accessed 2026-09-06)
  17. Oxygen Absorbers Explained: Why Freeze-dried Foods Need Them — PackFreshUSA (primary; accessed 2026-09-06)
  18. Oxygen Absorbers – O-Busters — AGM Container Controls (primary; accessed 2026-09-06)
  19. Comprehensive Oxygen Absorber Size Chart for Long-Term Food Storage — Wallaby Goods (primary; accessed 2026-09-06)
  20. Oxygen Absorbers for Mylar Food Storage [300-500cc] — Wallaby Goods (primary; accessed 2026-09-06)
  21. How to Use Oxygen Absorbers with Mylar Bags — Wallaby Goods (primary; accessed 2026-09-06)
  22. Technical Reference Guide (Oxygen Absorbers) — Discount Mylar Bags (primary; accessed 2026-09-06)
  23. OxyFree Oxygen Absorbers – 300cc & 2000cc Packs — Discount Mylar Bags (OxyFree) (primary; accessed 2026-09-06)
  24. Oxyfree Slow-Acting Oxygen Absorbers (100cc, 300cc, 500cc, 2000cc) — Discount Mylar Bags (OxyFree) (primary; accessed 2026-09-06)
  25. FAQ's for Oxygen absorbers — Dry & Dry (primary; accessed 2026-09-06)
  26. 50-Pack Oxygen Absorbers — Harvest Right (primary; accessed 2026-09-06)
  27. Oxygen Absorbers (extension fact sheet, Oct 2011, C. Washburn) — Utah State University Extension (secondary; accessed 2026-09-06)

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