Freeze Dried Dog Treats: What They Are and How Long They Last

Freeze dried dog treats are made by freezing meat solid and then pulling the water out under vacuum, which leaves a light, dry, crunchy piece that keeps the shape of the food it started as. Nothing is cooked along the way.

This page covers how that works in plain terms and how freeze-dried compares with dehydrated and air-dried. It also covers what single ingredient on a label means, how to feed the pieces, and how long a bag lasts once you have it. We make freeze-dried treats in Malvern, Pennsylvania, so some of the examples are ours, but the guide comes first.

What freeze dried dog treats are

The food goes into a freeze-dryer and gets frozen hard. Then the pressure drops and the ice turns straight into vapor without melting first. That is why a freeze-dried piece of liver still looks like a piece of liver. It has not shrunk or curled, because the water left while the food was still frozen in place.

What is left is dry, light and crisp. A fresh piece of meat is mostly water, so the dried piece weighs a fraction of what it did. That is the whole trick, and it is why the bag is light and the pieces break clean in your fingers.

Freeze-dried, dehydrated and air-dried

These are three different ways to take water out of food, and the pieces feel different in your hand.

• Freeze-dried: frozen, then dried under vacuum. Light, crisp, keeps its shape, and crumbles easily.
• Dehydrated: dried with warm air. The piece shrinks and usually ends up denser and chewier or tougher.
• Air-dried: dried slowly with moving air. It tends to be firm and tough to bite, closer to jerky.

None of these is a better choice in every case. If you want a piece that breaks small for training, freeze-dried is easy to work with. If you want something that lasts a while in a dog's mouth, a chewier dried piece does that better. Our own line has both freeze-dried and air-dried treats.

What single ingredient means

It means the ingredient list has one line on it, and that line is a plain named food. For our beef liver, the only ingredient is beef liver. For our cheddar bites it is cheddar cheese. You should be able to read the list in one breath.

It does not mean a complete diet. A single ingredient treat is a treat, and the label should say so. Read the whole bag, not just the front, since feeding lines and storage lines are printed on the back. If the list runs to a paragraph, that is a different kind of treat.

How to feed them

Break the pieces small. A freeze-dried piece snaps easily, so one piece can be several rewards, and a dog does not need a big one to know it was paid. A common rule of thumb keeps all treats to about 10 percent of what a dog eats in a day, and small pieces make that easy to stay under.

The bag says: feed as a treat, reward or topper, for intermittent or supplemental feeding only, with fresh drinking water available and supervision while feeding. That is the wording on our beef liver. The label lists 81.6 kcal per ounce, so a handful adds up faster than it looks.

The first time a dog gets any new treat, start with one small piece and wait a day. If your dog is on a special diet, ask your veterinarian before you start.

How long they last and how to store them

Moisture is the thing that ruins a freeze-dried piece. It goes soft first, and a soft piece is not what you bought. So storage comes down to keeping water out of the bag: reseal it after opening and keep it in a cool, dry place, away from the sink and the dishwasher.

For our freeze-dried raw beef liver, the best by date is one year from the production date, and it is printed on the bag. After opening, use it within 30 days, kept sealed in a cool, dry place. The label also says to wash your hands after handling. Check the date on the bag you actually have, since each batch is dated on its own bag.

No refrigeration is needed for the freeze-dried treats we make once they are dried, which is part of why they travel well.

Carrying them and using them

This is where freeze-dried earns its spot in a glovebox. The pieces are light and non-greasy, so the bag lives in a jacket pocket or a door bin and nothing leaks out of it. A treat pouch on a leash stays clean too.

Different treats break differently. Our Freeze-Dried Beef Liver Dog Treats are medium pieces that break easily, in 1.5, 3 and 6 ounce bags, and the only ingredient is beef liver. We list it for dogs of all sizes, adult and puppy. On our own scorecard it gets 3 of 5 for crunch and 5 of 5 for training value. Our freeze-dried pink salmon comes in medium pieces that break into small, quick-reward sizes. The freeze-dried minnows are whole fish, crunchy, and size and color vary from piece to piece.

You can see the dog treats together in freeze-dried treats for dogs. If you want help picking between them, our guide to the best freeze-dried dog treats goes through them by use.

Freeze-dried treat questions

How long do freeze dried treats last?

It depends on the treat and the batch, so read the date on the bag. For our freeze-dried raw beef liver the best by date is one year from production, and once the bag is open we say to use it within 30 days, resealed and kept cool and dry.

Do freeze-dried treats need refrigeration?

Not the ones we make, once they are dried. Reseal the bag after opening and store it in a cool, dry place. Keep water out of the bag, because moisture turns a crunchy piece soft.

Why do freeze-dried treats cost more?

The pieces are mostly the meat with the water removed, so a lot of fresh food goes into a small light bag. The freeze-dryer also runs a long batch for a small amount of food. We went through it in why freeze-dried treats cost more.

Are freeze-dried treats raw?

Freeze-drying does not cook the food. Our beef liver is freeze dried raw, and the label asks you to wash your hands after handling it and to supervise while feeding.

What is the difference between freeze-dried and dehydrated?

Freeze-dried food is frozen and then dried under vacuum, so it stays light and crisp and keeps its shape. Dehydrated food is dried with warm air, so it shrinks and is usually denser and chewier.

Can cats have freeze-dried treats?

Some are made for cats and some are only for dogs, so check the label for the animal. We list our freeze-dried pink salmon and our minnows for both dogs and cats. Our guide to freeze-dried cat treats covers the cat side.