Great kitchen gadget - vac sealer!

I recently processed a whole deer - first time, and it was great fun. My two boys got involved.

I was tipped off that a vacuum sealer would be a good thing to have, and it has turned out really well. I used it for all the meat, but also the stock. Since then I've frozen a whole bunch of pre-prepared meals, huge batches of stewed apple and blackberries.

Write a nice clear label onto the bag, then freeze it.

I thought it would be a device that lives in the cupboard, and comes out rarely. It has ended up being used multiple times per week and lives out on the side. I haven't tried sous-vide cooking with it, but it is on the list.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B08884RLNN?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details

While I have a similar one, the plastics bother me. When I do use it maybe once a year, I make a bag somewhat larger than needed.  That assures that I get multiple uses out of each bag….even for a similar sized item.  I have found that food keeps much longer in my freezer when I use it.

I weighed up the plastics issue, but decided that preserving gluts of food was probably a greater good in this case.

We get substantial amounts of rhubarb, berries, apples etc... from the garden through the year. In our case we waste some each year, because we can't store it long term. I'd never have been able to cope with 24kg of venison in one go, without something like this.

I'm really looking forward to using it to a take the pressure off in term time. I have a few frozen meals from the holiday, that I can crack out for a low effort but supper yummy meal for the family.

I am very plastic averse but vacuum sealing meat is the most consistent storage option that I have used. I deep freeze a quarter cow, quarter pig, and whatever I might get in a hunting/fishing season.

I have tried butcher paper, containers, and a few others but the longest storing GOOD quality meat has come from the vacuum bags. The only 'saving' grace if you want to call it is that most bags can be cleaned and recycled.

I plan on trying canning with some meat, but I have to do a lot of learning before I would feel comfortable doing it.

Timothy Norton wrote:I am very plastic averse but vacuum sealing meat is the most consistent storage option that I have used. I deep freeze a quarter cow, quarter pig, and whatever I might get in a hunting/fishing season.

I have tried butcher paper, containers, and a few others but the longest storing GOOD quality meat has come from the vacuum bags. The only 'saving' grace if you want to call it is that most bags can be cleaned and recycled.

I plan on trying canning with some meat, but I have to do a lot of learning before I would feel comfortable doing it.

Timothy or anyone who wants to chime in, what brand/model do you use?

My basic foodsaver is just not cutting it anymore. Mainly the seal on moist foods is hit or miss.

Josh Hoffman wrote:Mainly the seal on moist foods is hit or miss.

Josh I have an Innovations vacuum sealer that is more than adequate for home use.

If I’m vac sealing anything wet like soups, I freeze it in a small container that will fit within the width of the roll before transferring to a vac seal bag and sealing it. If it’s too big to fit into a container (like a leg of lamb) that I’ve marinated, I’ll put into in a ziplock bag, and fold the bag around so that the liquid freezes around the leg then vac pac.

Anything that’s just wet, I fold a strip of paper towel and place it across the top of the vac seal bag just below where it will sit on the sealing strip so that any liquid get drawn into the paper towel.

Megan Palmer wrote:Anything that’s just wet, I fold a strip of paper towel and place it across the top of the vac seal bag just below where it will sit on the sealing strip so that any liquid get drawn into the paper towel.

The paper towel trick sounds like it's worth trying.  Thanks!

Timothy Norton wrote:I am very plastic averse but vacuum sealing meat is the most consistent storage option that I have used. I deep freeze a quarter cow, quarter pig, and whatever I might get in a hunting/fishing season.

I have tried butcher paper, containers, and a few others but the longest storing GOOD quality meat has come from the vacuum bags. The only 'saving' grace if you want to call it is that most bags can be cleaned and recycled.

I plan on trying canning with some meat, but I have to do a lot of learning before I would feel comfortable doing it.

I remember my maternal grandmother freezing fish in water in paper milk cartons to prevent freezer burn.  The cartons packed pretty densely in the freezer.  But, she didn't have a vacuum sealer.

I just picked up a used Food Saver brand vacuum sealer from the thrift/re-sale store for nearly give-away prices - less than 1/4 of the retail price of a roll of "official" vacuum sealer plastic at Walmart!  I can't believe the stuff I find at thrift stores - not every day, or even every week, but fairly often.  This one makes hot at the sealer and the vacuum pump runs, so I'll give it a shot.  It's been a while since I used one, but I think we'll end up with my dad's old chest freezer, so managing frozen meats and berries will require a bit more intent than has been needed for just keeping track of stuff in the kitchen fridge freezers.  I think a vacuum sealer will be helpful in this regard, especially with meats.  I used vacuum sealers a bunch (Seal-a-Meal brand, as best I recall) when I was in Boy Scouts.  We'd break down bulk dry goods and pre-make mixes - single serving Tang (yikes!), hot chocolate or lemonade packs, and things like pancake mix, bannock or cobbler or soup - to create our own just-add-water meals for longer trips into the back country.  This was a bunch cheaper than fancy freeze dried meals from Backpacker's Pantry or Richmor, though we did occasionally buy those, too.  As I recall, we used un-official sheet plastic for things like single serving beverages, but I don't remember just what it was.  It was easier to tear open than the official vacuum sealer roll plastic I just picked up from Walmart, though.  It was more like the crinkly cellophane shrink wrap which is on some store bought breads.

Regarding canning meat, I've never done it, but the warnings of botulism taint seem to figure fairly prominently in any serious advice on the subject.  I have my mother's old copy of "Putting Food By" (a book of home preserving techniques and recipes) from when I was a kid, and the newest advice from the USDA on canning meat has changed somewhat since that copy of the book was printed.  I don't remember the specifics, but there were differences when I looked into it a couple of years ago - and decided that the dire warnings were enough to dissuade me.  However, it also seems like the USDA also doesn't recommend sealing jams and jellies with wax anymore, but that's what my mother always did (and saved the used wax to melt in a double boiler, strain and re-use - she was the epitome of frugality).  We now always can our jams and jellies in a water bath canner (a lot of ours gets sold, or given away as Christmas presents), but my mother fed a family of 6 all manner of wax sealed jams and jellies for years, and we never got sick.  She was also pretty scrupulous in the kitchen, though (cleanliness next to Godliness, etc.), and I would suspect that a lot of the risk of home canned meats could be mitigated by due care in other steps of the processing.  Whatever the case, if I ever decided to venture into canning meats, I'd seek the most modern advice available, even though I am usually a "look to the past" kind of guy.  Apocryphal or not, the stories of an entire family being snuffed out by tainted home canned meat is sufficiently cautionary that I don't have any interest in cutting corners on this one.

I have had the Foodsaver successfully keep frozen meat for 5 years.  I always keep enough extra wrapping on hand to put up a pig on short notice.

Megan Palmer wrote:Anything that’s just wet, I fold a strip of paper towel and place it across the top of the vac seal bag just below where it will sit on the sealing strip so that any liquid get drawn into the paper towel.

That sounds like a great tip that will keep this current food saver in action!