In general
Advantages:
- Great snacks
- Little to no chemical changes to food
- Little physical changes to food
- Nutritional value is almost completelymaintained – it is healthy
- Long-term storage — 20+ years
- Lightweight food
- No refrigeration required
Disadvantages:
- Water required for reconstitution (except for simple snacks)
- Slow process — average cycle is 24+ hours
- Some dislike the dry, styrofoam texture
- Not all foods can be freeze dried
- Airtight containers are required for long-term storage
- No space savings — the food’s cellular structure is mostly retained
- Sometimes, normal dehydration is better
- Production cost
At home
Advantages:
- Custom recipes
- Great food variety
- Allergy awareness
- Self reliance
- Knowledge & novelty
- Food quality
Could be good or bad:
- Learning curve
- Machinery
- Learning how different food types dry
- Packaging
Disadvantages:
- Cost (when comparing other food preservation methods)
- Machine
- Materials
- Time
- Power consumption
- Freeze drying is one of the most energy-intensive methods to preserve food [source]
- Machine maintenance
- Noise [source]
- Space / Footprint
- Commercial vendors can flash freeze products before placing it in the freeze dryer
- Flash freezing creates smaller ice crystals, which causes less damage to the cell structures
