Real Stories: Freeze-Drying Through a Hurricane

When Hurricane Irma flooded their Jacksonville, Florida home with eight feet of water in September 2017, David and Karen Smith were already prepared — not by luck, but because Karen had spent the previous year building a freeze-dried food supply.

Rebuilding on Freeze-Dried Food

The Smiths spent eight months rebuilding their home after the flooding, relying on freeze-dried bone broth, kefir, soups, stews, hamburgers, shrimp, cheese, chicken, fruits, and vegetables the whole way through. Karen explained her original reason for starting: "I started out doing this because it allows you to control the ingredients you put in your food, and I am a big sales person, so I always try to stock up when I see things on sale."

Solving a Different Problem: Canning Rotation

Donna Hoaks, an electrician and preparedness instructor from Lafayette, Indiana, came to freeze-drying from a different angle. Her homestead includes nine fruit trees, 33 raised garden beds, a strawberry patch, and a small vineyard — plenty to preserve, plus bulk purchases on top of it. Canning had always been her method before, but it came with a persistent problem: "I always struggled with rotation. If it's not rotated within a certain time frame, you lose some of it… By freeze drying, you remove all that worry."

Hoaks reported hundreds of dollars in immediate cost savings after switching, along with a practical benefit canning never offered: "You know the food will taste good and maintain its nutritional value once it's rehydrated, and it provides a significant cost savings."

Two Different Reasons, One Solution

Between an emergency that tested a food supply under the worst conditions and a long-running rotation headache that canning never solved, these two stories show how differently a freeze dryer can pay off depending on what a household actually needs it for.

More Real Owner Stories

Real story: freeze-drying for busy weeknights has more from Donna Hoaks on how freeze-drying fits into her day-to-day cooking. You never know when an earthquake will happen shares another real account of a freeze dryer holding up during an actual disaster.

Frequently Asked Questions

How did freeze-dried food help during Hurricane Irma's flooding?
David and Karen Smith of Jacksonville, Florida relied on a year's worth of freeze-dried meals — bone broth, soups, meats, fruits, and vegetables — to get through eight months of rebuilding after their home flooded in September 2017.

How does freeze-drying solve the rotation problem that comes with canning?
Canned food needs to be used within a certain window or quality degrades, requiring ongoing rotation. Freeze-dried food avoids that issue, since it holds its quality and nutrition in storage without the same rotation timeline.

Can freeze-drying help preserve a large homestead harvest?
Yes — Donna Hoaks uses her freeze dryer to preserve produce from nine fruit trees, 33 raised garden beds, a strawberry patch, and a small vineyard, along with bulk purchases.