Soup is mostly water, which makes it a long cycle and a light bag. It is also one of the most rewarding meals to have dried: a few ounces of chunks and powder become a bowl of homemade soup in ten minutes.
Broth-based soups with small pieces of vegetables, beans, pasta or chicken work best. Cream soups are higher in fat and keep less long.
Prep and loading
- Make soup with pieces no larger than ½ inch.
- Chill and skim fat.
- Ladle ½ inch deep into lined trays and freeze them solid before loading. Liquid soup will spill.
- Weigh portions before drying and write the fresh weight on each bag.
How to tell it’s done
- The sheet is dry and crumbly; vegetable and meat pieces are hard.
Not sure? The weight check compares two weighings and the expected dry weight for soup.
Problems and fixes
Soup spilled into the chamber
It was not frozen solid. Always pre-freeze liquid trays.
Noodles turned mushy
Cook noodles separately al dente and add them dried.
Rehydrating and storing
Rehydrate: Boiling water to the original weight, cover 10 minutes. By weight, 100 g of dried soup takes back about 708 g of water to return to fresh weight; the rehydration calculator does any amount.
Store: Mylar with oxygen absorbers, one or two servings per bag.
Ways to use it
- Quick lunches
- Backpacking and hunting trips
- Sick-day meals
How much fits per batch
At a normal single layer, soup load at roughly 2.6 lb of fresh food per square foot of tray. That works out to:
| Machine | Fresh per batch | Dried per batch |
|---|---|---|
| Harvest Right Countertop 360 | 6.5 lb | 12.8 oz |
| Harvest Right Small | 7.8 lb | 15.5 oz |
| Harvest Right Medium | 12.2 lb | 1.51 lb |
| Harvest Right Large | 20.0 lb | 2.47 lb |
| Harvest Right X-Large | 40.6 lb | 5.03 lb |
Sources
- USDA FoodData Central: soup, vegetable beef, prepared with equal volume water (water content)
- Utah State University Extension: Can I Freeze-Dry That? (2026)
- Penn State Extension: Let’s Preserve: Freeze-Drying
- Iowa State University Extension AnswerLine: Preserving by home freeze drying
Water content rounded from USDA FoodData Central (soup, vegetable beef, prepared with equal volume water). Cycle times are typical ranges at default settings; thickness, load and your room change them. How we put these together.