Meal packaging

I truly don't know the advantages of FD over dehydrated. What are the biggest reasons to FD?
Also, is there any way to use the freeze drier for any other purpose? I can use my toaster oven as a dehydrator, air fryer... which helps justify the purchase.

The biggest advantage of FD is that it can preserve more of the original flavor and texture of many things better than dehydrating. Soft fruits and vegetables are a good example. However, most people would consider it too costly, especially if the equipment would be used only for backpacking.

For a while I was buying #10 cans of Mountain House meals then dividing them up into sizes I liked. Definitely a bit of fussing. I'd empty the whole can out and weigh the total. I figure out how many meals it will be. I put out that number of mason jars (usually wide mouth pint). Then I divide up the big chunks as evenly as possible followed by the veggies and dust. I weight them to make sure they are about even then vacuum seal them in the Mason jars. I move them to vacuum bags for the trail leaving enough room for the water and to fold the top down while "cooking"

Why all this this fuss? At least before the pandemic I got meals sized right for me at 1/2 to 1/3 of the prepackaged price.

We’ve had an All American Sun Oven for years and use it about eight months of the year. In the hot months it saves 10% off our entire energy bill for running the house, doesn’t use electricity and doesn’t heat up the house like an indoor oven which must be cooled off with the HVAC using more energy  It achieves 350° to 400° easily on a sunny day and even cooks on a day with high clouds as long as one can see a shadow. We roasted a leg of lamb last week, enough to feed us for three weeks and regularly roast whole chickens and what have you. It works well for dehydrating too using only solar energy. It can achieve lower temperature for that via several means. The solar oven is silent which I like but our Excalibur has to be used in the garage as I can’t stand the unrelenting, droning noise.

I don’t mind packaging in freezer bags but refuse to cook in plastic of any kind. Titanium works well for rehydrating and we have a multitude of those from 400 ml up to 6 liters. That bigger pot is what we use when roasting lamb and chicken.

If anyone knows of any freeze dried keto friendly meals I would be most interested in the details. Otherwise it will remain a do it yourself thing.

I could wax on all day long about freeze-drying and dehydration. I am sure I am one of the few with a Harvest Right machine here.
As for sealing, yes, the MRE style Wallaby bags are great. We have an Avid Armor sealer for our bags. Why go home when you can go big? Hehehehehe. I write a lot about it on TrailCooking, and sometimes when I have time, I shoot reels as well.

The investment into a freeze-dryer is steep. For us it wasn't about cost. It was rather I could freeze-dry whatever I wanted. There's many things you cannot buy commercially FD, even when buying from Thrive Life. Like I really love Swiss cheese FD. Buying it? Nope. Same with sliced black olives, artichoke hearts, pumpkin pie and so on. We also have a small farm and do dehydrate what we grow. I can FD red onions, sweet onions, the apples we grow, heirloom strawberries (that you cannot buy in stores).

So for us the numbers made sense.
As always, your mileage may vary.

Video is of using an Avid Armor sealer.