Yeah, freeze drying is definitely out of my budget range.
That's why i'm looking into dehydrators instead.
Freezing is not really an option when I want to take it on a hiking/camping trip.
But I've seen people sometimes take a frozen steak for the first day and prepare it in the evening when it defrosted naturally in your backpack.
Not sure how safe that is, but a nice way to have something fancy on the first night, I suppose.