Which Saves the Most Money – Dehydrating, Freezing or Canning?

With the cost of food going way up, many are choosing to buy in bulk and store up food for the future.

But what's the cheapest way to preserve food? Should you dehydrate, freeze, or can your food; is one method much less expensive than the others?

Read on; you might be surprised to learn the answer!

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Over the years, I've gotten a lot of questions about saving money while eating healthy. And some of those questions have centered around food preservation.

For example, one reader told me that she wanted to purchase a dehydrator and/or a freezer, but her husband wasn't sure about the cost savings. Once you add in the expense of the appliance and the ongoing cost of operating it, it's hard to know what the end cost is.

Doing food preserving on your own certainly gives you control over the procedure and the quality of the food, and it is a great step towards a more “whole foods” oriented lifestyle, but we all want to know that we can save money while doing it as well, right?

Well, I did a little digging around and found a fabulous resource that outlined the costs of food preservation and I thought I'd share the information with you.

Food Preservation Cost Comparison

Of course, costs have changed since this post and the book I'm referencing were published, but the information and conclusion are still interesting.

Freezing:

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Freezing is also a great option for storing up food. And there are so many things you can freeze.

Check out these posts:

How to Freeze Tomatoes
How to Freeze Cucumbers
How to Freeze Avocados
How to Freeze Berries

Estimated cost – 16.2 cents/pound

Equipment Needed: Freezer @ $270 amortized over 20 years* = $13.50/year

Repairs: 2% of purchase price = $5.40/year

Packaging: $25.00

Electricity: To operate freezer at 5 cents/kilowatt hour = $35.28
To blanch 250 pounds of food (4 min/pound) = $1.99

Total to process 500 pounds of food: $81.17

Canning:

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Estimated cost – 5.5 cents/pound

Equipment Needed: Pressure canner @ $65 amortized over 20 years* =  $3.25
Water bath canner @ $10 amortized over 20 years = $0.50

Repairs: 2% of purchase price = $1.30

Packaging: 24 dz quart jars @ $4.39/dz amortized over 10 years = $10.53
24 dz lids replaced each year @ $.49/dz = $11.76

Electricity: To pressure can 140 quarts at 5 cents/kilowatt hour = $1.44
To water bath can 140 quarts =  $2.22

Total to process 560 pounds of food in 280 quarts: = $31.00

Dehydrating:

Dehydrating is one of my favorite ways to preserve food, and there's so much more you can do with a dehydrator too.

Before we get into the costs, here are some posts showing how we like to use our dehydrator:

Dehydrator Kale Chips
How to Soak and Dry Nuts
Homemade Sun-dried Tomatoes
How to Soak Grains

Estimated cost – 4.8 cents/pound

Equipment Needed: Electric Dehydrator @ $190 amortized over 20 years* = $9.50/year

Repairs: 2% of purchase price = $3.80

Packaging: $500 one-pound plastic bags = $2.50

Electricity: For drying food = $6.50
For blanching 250 pounds of food (4 minutes/pound)= $1.99

Total to process 500 pounds of food: $24.29

(*If the equipment is used for less than the full amortization period, the cost per pound of food increases significantly.  Also, if smaller amounts of food are processed, the average cost per pound will increase.)

The above information comes from page 5 of Preserve It Naturally (2010), a book about dehydration that you can purchase from Excalibur Dehydrator.

The data I use above are from the book, but the costs of energy, equipment, etc. have clearly changed and will vary according to your personal situation, i.e. your energy costs and how good you are at finding bargains on packaging, etc.   Still, I think this is an eye-opening comparison.

Individual situations aside, it's clear that dehydrating and canning are extremely cost-efficient ways to store food.  Of course, that doesn't mean that freezing isn't a great option either. 

If it costs 16.2 cents per pound to freeze something and you can secure the type of deal that I did at a local store about 4 months ago when we got grass-fed lamb for about 3.25 / pound, then paying an extra 16 cents per pound still makes the lamb a great deal. 

Also, there are just some things that lend themselves better to one form of preservation than to another.  For example, I don't want to can or dehydrate meat or chicken broth, but those items both freeze quite well.

So, I think I have now put my inquisitive mind to rest.  And I'm feeling pretty good about our second fridge, chest freezer, dehydrator, and even about the second chest freezer that we plan to buy later this week.  Bring on the sales; I have room to store the surplus! 

More Posts About Dehydrating

• Saving Money with a Dehydrator
• Easiest Sun Dried Tomatoes
• Boosting Nutrition with a Dehydrator
• Super Yummy Kale Chips
• Save Time and Space with a Dehydrator
• How and Why to Soak and Dehydrate Nuts and Seeds

Some Posts About Freezing

• The Easiest Way to Preserve Herbs
• Storing Prepared Beans

If you don't have a dehydrator yet, I wholeheartedly recommend the Excalibur Dehydrator, but a blogger friend of mine told me that she has this dehydrator and loves it. I am definitely going to try it out based on the reviews and the fact that it has stainless trays!

A Helpful Dehydrating Book

Here is a great book to get to learn more about dehydration, and it has tons of recipes in it.  I don't own it yet but plan to get it soon.

Another Option: Freeze Drying

Since initially writing this post, another option for food preservation has come onto the scene–Freeze Drying.

I hope to add the cost comparison here in the future, but it will for sure be the highest, with the trade-off being that the food retains an amazing amount of nutritional content, tastes like “the real thing” when eaten, and lasts a very long time.

This is the freeze dryer that we have. We need to branch out more with what we preserve but it's great to be able to freeze dry guacamole when avocados are on sale. Freezing avocados is an option, but freeze-drying is SO much better.

Did you expect dehydrating to be the cheapest way to preserve food?
Which food storage methods do you use?