How to freeze-dry chicken (for dog treats)?
Hi,
Freeze-dried chicken is so expensive to purchase. I’d like to learn how to dry my own chicken or beef, for my dog. She has pancreatitis and is not allowed to have high-fat treats, and the store-bought variety is getting very expensive (-8 for a small 5 ounce bag she goes through in 1-3 days). Can anyone tell me how to freeze-dry chicken?
2 Comments zu “How to freeze-dry chicken (for dog treats)?”
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Why don’t you slice it thinly and dry it out in the oven on the very lowest setting 170-200. You will be drying it out like jerky.Since it is for the dog go easy on the seasonings.
Freeze drying is not something normally done at home. It involves industrial equipment to first freeze the food to far below zero and then a vacuum is applied which causes the water in the frozen food to evaporate. The method normally involves a large pressure vessel.
I did find one article on a type of freeze drying, it won’t get the food as dry as what you buy in the store, and they only talk about doing this to fruit. I think the cell structure in meat is much more tighter than fruit, so this may not work. It might help to thinly slice the chicken first. Here is the article that explains it: http://www.thefarm.org/charities/i4at/surv/freeze.htm
Does it really have to be freeze dried meat? And this is just for treats, not her daily diet. There are tons of homemade dog biscuit recipes out there that are low fat, that you could try.