Vacuum Food Savers

[launderess]

In another thread one of our UK members queried what sort of contraption bag sealers (with or without vacuum) were and what they did.

Having supplied the answer got one thinking about the NIB Tila Foodsaver that has sat sitting on shelf since purchased at thrift a few years ago. Apparently one had as much use for the thing as previous owner. *LOL*

Well earlier this week local supermarket had a good sale in the meat section. Times being what they are and one always on the look out for a good deal snapped up several roasts, steaks, packets of ground beef, pork chops, etc....

when got home and looked at freezer there simply was no room at the inn for the entire haul. Then it came to me; remove things from original plastic/Styrofoam packaging and use the vacuum sealer to create less bulky packaging.

An hour or so later all was done and managed to fit into freezer. It was a bit like Lucy and the meat plan episode but can now say am well stocked for the duration. *LOL* We aren't a huge red meat eating household but if need a roast for Sunday dinner now have three! *LOL*

Here is how a vacuum sealer works:

 

[mattl]

I just bagged up a good deal of chicken and a few steaks,  For some reason around here chicken is cheap, legs for $.49 lb, leg quarters for $.89.  Thought about dragging out the sealer, but opted for zip lock bags, it was just easier.  Odds are the meat will be used within 4-6 months, so it should be fine.

 

The down side I see to the vac sealers is the bag.  It seems a bit of a bother to cut the bags, seal one end, fill then seal the other.  Plus , the bag material is not cheap.  depending on what I'm storing I may make the bag bigger than is needed so I can reuse it again.

 

Now what I need to pick up is one of the jar sealers and use canning jars for storing flour and such.  Next time I put an order in on Amazon I might add it.

Amazon.com

 

[launderess]

Sealing Both Ends Of Bags

Seems like a bit of work, but once you get into things not much of a bother. Does mean one can customize size of bag to what is being stored.

My Tila VAC1050 came with tons of accessories for vacuum sealing everything from jars to whatever. Haven't really gone into depth with the thing, and again it seems neither did the previous owner as the jars and extras were still wrapped inside the box. Oh and the thing came with several rolls of spare bags so am good for a while on that score. You can find spare bags cheaply on fleaPay by the way.

Good chicken has become harder to find in Manhattan for the past year or so and don't know why. The "yellow" stuff (Perdue, Tyson, etc..) is plentiful but cannot stand that bland and mostly water filled stuff. Tried Kosher and it seemed too salty. Now am stuck going to Whole Foods or Trader Joes for their organic or whatever poultry.

Yes, one down side of vacuum sealing is you cannot reuse the bags. Well you can but unlike Ziploc type that one washes and reuses never bother for vac sealed. In theory you can defrost, takeout or whatever one wants from a vacuum sealed bag, reseal and put away, but that is just too much work. I just seal things in portions likely to be used at one time.

 

[paulg]

I like my food sealer... A lot...

We buy food in bulk and freeze it, especially during the winter. We have a CROSLEY freezer, just so you know. These food-sealers make quick work of getting perishables into the freezer.
I bought mine on sale at Sears. In my opinion the cost of the bags and the effort in using the bag sealer pales in comparison to the speed and efficiency of getting food to the freezer.
I have lots of old freezer books. What one had to do in the past to freeze food is daunting compared to relative ease of using the sealer.

 

[perc-o-prince]

I love mine, but it's seen a lot of use over the years and needs to be replaced. Doesn't seem to be sealing as well as it should- it's gotten so I double-seal both ends to be sure. Wish I could find a nice thrifty NIB one like you did, Launderess!

Chuck

 

[maytagmike]

I love my sealer

I got a foodsaver sealer for a retirement gift last year. I love it, freeze lots of chicken and pork chops when they are on sale.

 

[petek]

I found a Foodsaver last year at one of the local thrifts and it looked like it had never been used. All that was missing was the tube and whatever part you would do jars with. It looks like yours in the pic above but is black.  We had a smaller different make for years and used to bagn freeze a lot.. This one works much much better. The bags are a bit pricey but you can re-use them after washing albeit they're a bit smaller then.  As well they make pre cut bags in different sizes. 

 

[countryguy]

I use my foodsaver all the time, not only for freezing meats but for keeping cheese fresh. I buy big blocks of cheddar, and use the food saver to keep them in the fridge...they will last for several weeks. I also have a few of the foodsaver cannisters. I keep brown sugar in one. It never goes hard.

 

[perc-o-prince]

Just bought a NIB one with extras on eBay; same model as the one it's replacing. $48 incl shipping. Not a thrift store buy, but about 1/2 of what they go for in the stores!

Chuck

Pardon Our Interruption...

 

[launderess]

Methinks

Many a person got these "foodsavers" as gifts or even purchased themselves and just never warmed up to the things. Hence so many NIB or barely used units laying about spare.

Perc-o-prince; nice purchase you made there....

IIRC mine only was $30 which thought was high but then again it came with all the extras. Am going to look into vacuum sealing flour and such. As warmer weather arrives my baking declines but hate throwing out flour and such. Freezing isn't always a great option as sometimes the stuff picks up off odors. Nothing like making a pound cake that has a whiff of frozen mixed veggies. *LOL*

 

[bajaespuma]

Love this little appliance!

I'm so glad somebody started this thread! I've been promoting the Vacuum Sealer to my friends for a while now and I can't believe how useful it is. I found mine at a thrift store many years ago and I figured, for 15 dollars, it was worth a try to see if I liked it and wished to upgrade to a newer one. Truth told, I'm still using the one from the thrift store 4 years later! It came with a couple of those acrylic vacuum canisters in a range of sizes so I use them for nuts, mexican dried chilies, Asian specialty flours and whole organic grains that the pantry moths always find. I've found a wide range of bags at the local big box stores and being a penurious bastard, I've learned how to carve up the large bags to construct smaller and smaller sizes to pack individual brownies, leftover medications destined for a day of need in the future, and all sorts of food some destined for the freezer, some destined for unnaturally long storage in the refrigerator!!! My latest discovery is keeping fresh Chinese Waterchestnuts which I can find only in markets in NY's East Flushing Chinatown, a place I go to maybe 3 or 4 times a years. They are sold loose like potatoes and, because they are harvested from beneath the ground, they tend to mold and rot very quickly when brought home and placed in the refrigerator. By placing them in a vacu-seal bag, carefully in one layer, and then sucking all the air out, I've kept them for more than 2 months in the crisper. When I opened the bag the other day to use about half of what I put away, they were all in perfect condition!The bag are also champs at keeping fresh cheeses that can't be frozen, for unnaturally long lives in the fridge. Somebody gave me a wheel of a triple-creme St. Albert for Christmas that I cut up into 4 wedges, packed in vac-bags and I'm still on the second piece, months later.

 

Like most of you, I've used the bags to freeze meats like chicken pieces and cuts of red meat without any freezer burn. A lot of chefs around here used to use these bags for "sous vide" production. They load the bags with things like soups and stews and then reconstitute them by throwing the plastic bags directly into pots of boiling water. Try it it works! A lot of restaurants caught the unwanted attention of local sanitation inspectors, however, and stopped doing it because the retail brand doesn't carry the required NSF certification. F**-em, I say, I've done it at home and will continue to do it. I've taken to making my own "Bird's Eye" style vegetable medleys from scratch and packing them up in dinner portion-sized bags. They come out of the freezer and go into pots of boiling water and are ready to eat in less than 10 minutes.

 

Using the bags and the canisters takes some practice and it helps to have somebody who uses the machine a lot to instruct and coach you on the use. You have to keep the inside channel clean so the suction can happen but you have to be aware when raw meat juices get pulled into it. You don't want those cross-contaminating your food. Anti-bacterial kitchen sprays help there. Sometimes people don't leave enough free space at the end of the bag to achieve a seal; you can't be too stingy with that expensive plastic. I've also found, at least on my machine, that when I use the plastic tube to evacuate one of the canisters, I have to stick the end of the tube in my mouth and suck on it like a drinking straw to get the suction going or it doesn't work. Not very sanitary, I will admit, but since it's not for the public, I don't care.

 

[joeekaitis]

When I make 4 pounds of meatball mix . . .

. . . I save the remaining 3 pounds in 3 FoodSaver bags by packing it firmly into the bottom near the seal, rolling it like a sausage and freezing them for an hour BEFORE vacuum sealing. This keeps raw meat juices from being sucked into the vacuum channel. An hour is just enough time to allow the breadcrumbs to absorb much of the juice and firm up the texture before freezer burn starts.

When it's time to make meatballs, thaw the sealed bag overnight in the fridge or, if you have at least 2 hours to spare before making dinner, on a cast aluminum 2-burner griddle (flat side up) in a COLD oven. It comes out just a tad firm but still easy to pinch and roll into meatballs.
[this post was last edited: 3/7/2016-18:14]

 

[launderess]

Meat juices

Or anything else overly moist.

Owner's manual/directions for my unit suggest placing folded paper towel inside bag above the food and where it won't interfere with sealing. Didn't read the entire thing but assume the paper towel will absorb the water/juices before reaching the vacuum chamber. The suggestion above about pre-freezing meats or other "juicy" things before vacuum sealing is given as well.

Heard many guys who are seriously into BBQ do their rubs on meat then vacuum seal and either freeze or refrigerate. Something about vacuum sealing makes the rub marinate the meat really well. Which would have thought of it before putting away the lot last week.

 

[countryguy]

I have a marinator for my foodsaver. Just place the meat and marinade in the container (about the size of an 8x8 baking pan), put on the lid and suck the air out. The vacuum forces the marinade into the meat.

Being 1 person I do not eat a lot of bacon so I usually put it in a food saver bag, place a piece of paper towel between the bacon and the edge that will be sealed. The paper towel absorbs the bacon juices so that it doesn't interfere with the seal.

Gary