A Freeze-Dried Thanksgiving, Shipped Overseas

What do you do when your grandsons can't make it home for Thanksgiving? If you're Yvonne H., you send Thanksgiving to them.

The Situation

Yvonne's twin grandsons, Ben and Jesse, were serving as missionaries in Uruguay and Panama — the first holiday season the family would spend apart. Yvonne, who already leaned on her freeze dryer to build her own well-balanced, high-quality emergency food supply (she'd never found freeze-dried meals on the market that met her nutritional standards), realized the same machine could solve a very different problem: getting an actual family Thanksgiving to two grandsons a continent away.

Building the Meal

Yvonne had already freeze-dried enough meals to know the machine handled meat better than she expected — "I was surprised by how the freeze dryer performs with meats. They reconstitute exceptionally well," with freeze-dried roast beef among her favorites. She couldn't source turkey that met her standards in time, so she substituted all-natural chicken breast with savory herbs instead. The rest of the spread was completely hers: her own yams, green beans, mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing, and her well-known chocolate silk pie — all freeze-dried.

Getting It There

Each grandson received two full portions — one for himself, one for his missionary companion — shrink-wrapped with instructions for reconstituting each dish. Because freeze-dried food loses almost all its weight along with its moisture, shipping an entire holiday meal internationally was actually affordable, and the food arrived with its flavor intact.

The Result

Despite being on two different continents, the whole family sat down to the same Thanksgiving dinner that year — just assembled a little differently than usual.

Sending Your Own Care Package

If you're thinking about doing something similar, tips for sending freeze-dried food covers the packaging and shipping details that made Yvonne's project work, and freeze-dried turkey dinner walks through a full holiday-meal freeze-dry if turkey is more your plan than chicken. Saving Thanksgiving dinner is also worth a look if you're more focused on preserving leftovers than shipping the whole meal.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can you ship a full freeze-dried Thanksgiving dinner overseas?
Yes — freeze-dried food loses nearly all its weight along with its moisture, which makes shipping a full meal internationally far more affordable than it sounds, as long as it's packaged well.

Does meat freeze-dry and reconstitute well?
Yes — meats like roast beef and chicken reconstitute exceptionally well after freeze-drying, which is why a full holiday meal built around freeze-dried meat can still taste like the real thing.

Can you substitute chicken for turkey in a freeze-dried Thanksgiving meal?
Yes — all-natural chicken breast with savory herbs works well as a substitute when turkey isn't available or doesn't meet your standards in time.

What should you include when shipping freeze-dried meals to someone far away?
Clear reconstitution instructions alongside the shrink-wrapped food itself — the recipient needs to know exactly how to bring each dish back to life.