Science can be amazing. There are many exceptions, especially when “the science” is weaponized to drive a nefarious agenda as we’ve learned over and over again in recent years, but the truly beneficial scientific advancements have helped society greatly.

Freeze drying is a modern advancement that doesn’t get nearly enough credit. Many of our life-saving medicines today are made far more accessible due to freeze drying. In the realm of food, preservation through freeze drying is considered by many to be the best because it does not require chemical preservatives to make some foods shelf-stable for decades.

With more Americans embracing preparedness, the freeze dried food industry is exploding. Many confuse freeze drying with dehydrating, but the processes and results are extremely different. With dehydrating, most of the moisture is removed through a slow heating process. This not only fails to extract all of the liquid but also makes the food leathery. Beef jerky is an example of food that is dehydrated. While jerky can be scrumptious when done right, it loses nutrition and tenderness during the dehydration process and has a maximum shelf life of around two years.

Freeze drying beef is a slow process that cools the meat to negative 40 degrees. Then, the temperature is raised and lowered over a 30-hour process to extract all of the moisture while retaining shape, nutrition, and flavor. With all of the liquid removed, freeze dried beef stored in an oxygen-free environment can remain shelf-stable for up to 25 years.

“We cook our steaks sous vide for maximum retention of flavor and nutrition, then we freeze dry it to preserve it in its freshest state possible,” said Jason Nelson, co-founder of Prepper All-Naturals. “The standard ‘beef crumbles’ and ‘beef chunks’ currently sold on the prepper market is the lowest quality beef so we decided to reverse that trend and offer NY Strip, Ribeye, and Tenderloin instead.”

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Compared to dehydrating foods, freeze drying them is superior because it maintains the original state of the meats. The color changes during the moisture extraction process because myoglobin is removed. Most believe that red meat is “bloody” but the red liquid is actually myoglobin, a protein that holds oxygen in the muscles. When mixed with water, it has a similar color to blood.

Once the beef is freeze dried, it is essentially placed in a state that preserves its nutrition and flavor. Moisture, oxygen, and light can affect it which is why Prepper All-Naturals immediately puts their beef in mylar bags with oxygen absorbers to give it such a prolonged shelf-life.

“The food supply in America is under attack on multiple fronts,” said Nelson, a combat disabled U.S. Army veteran who served in the Middle East. “We launched this company to help Americans secure their families’ nutrition so they won’t become dependent on government if conditions continue to deteriorate.”

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