I have toyed with the idea of a freeze dryer for the last couple of years. I just haven't been able to justify the cost with the small amount of vegetables and fruits that we currently produce. I would love to be able to store blueberries, strawberries, tomatoes, etc. for use in the winter. We currently freeze them.
Freezing is fine for a lot of stuff. Canning beans and tomatoes seems to give a better product in my opinion. As for cukes, pickling and relish is about the only two options, plus it gives me a chance to do some experimentation with different kinds of stuff.
We freeze blueberries, blackberries and zucchini, squash and sweet corn(off the cob). All of them do very well frozen.
We buy chicken breast on sale and pressure can it about 50lbs at a time. Same with beef and venison. Raw pack to 1/2 headspace in sterilized hot jars, 1tsp salt and process 90 minutes @ 13psi.
The chicken is the best for chicken salad and the beef and venison come out tender as can be. It's work but you know what you have.