A vacuum sealer is a machine that sucks all the air out of a storage bag before sealing it in order to minimize or entirely eliminate air to protect your food from the negative effects of oxygen in frozen foods.
This way, you keep freezer burn at bay and allow the food to stay fresh for longer.
In this article:
How to Use a Vacuum Sealer to Your Advantage
It will be great if you repackage the groceries you bought from the store into suitable serving sizes that you can use in a single meal.
If you have a garden where you grow your own produce, vacuum sealing the produce will help extend its lifespan even longer than the normal freezer storage times and you can enjoy the fruit of your labor for longer. To help you do that, you will need a food saver vacuum sealer.
The food saver not only helps extend the life of your products but it can also help you organize the freezer.
Pack And Freeze Food The Right Way
Spread the contents evenly inside the bag before you vacuum seal it rather than have all the food go to one corner of the bag and freezing into a big lump.
When the food is evenly spread in the bag before freezing, it becomes easier to stack the bags on top of each other and also easier to choose thaw when you need to use those contents. This is a way of maximizing on freezer space.
Do not forget to label the contents of each bag and the freezing date, this way it is easier to pick out the one you need for the next meal.
The bags can also be stood on end, saving you much space to store much more food than before. On the other hand, unevenly packed bags that are in all shapes and sizes are hard to stack together and end up taking too much space in the freezer.
Save On Grocery
Buying food in bulk is a good way to save some money in grocery shopping. It is also a good way to ensure that you get the delicious harvest-time produce, therefore, maintaining a supply of what you need when it is in or out of season.
However, ensuring that the food remains fresh and in good condition might become a challenge if you do not have a proper plan on how to store it. Your food saver vacuum sealer and the freezer will come in handy to help extend your groceries lifespan by keeping air out.
How Else Can I Benefit From A Vacuum Sealer?
1. Store Soups And Broths For Longer
Use the “flash-freeze” method to solidify the soup or broth. You can either use a regular freezer bag or container to freeze the soup or broth (dehydrate bone broth) into disks or blocks. Put the solidified blocks in a food-saver bag and seal them with the vacuum sealer. You can safely store your soups and broths this way for months.
2. Resealing Snacks
Did you or your children open a bag of chips but couldn’t finish them? Are you worried that the chips will absorb air and lose their crunchiness if left open for long?
Worry not! With a vacuum sealer, you can seal the bag of chips again. The chips might be crushed during the process but at least the air will be sucked out leaving them fresh and crunchy much longer.
3. Picnic Or Potluck?
Are you planning for a picnic or a potluck and you do not want to bring large bowls or containers? Do you have to bring soup or any liquid and want to avoid spills on your way?
You don’t need to hassle! Use your food saver vacuum sealer to pack any snacks such as honey sticks or liquids (frozen into cubes) you might require.
Say goodbye to forgetting and losing your containers in potluck gatherings by adopting this safe way of carrying food.
4. On-The-Go Meals
We often find ourselves busy most of the time, running this or that errand and you may realize that you have no time to make a meal from scratch in between your busy schedule.
Preparing meals in advance and storing them away cooked and ready-to-go might prove a more efficient way to ensure you have food when you need to eat. Bring your own lunch from home and avoid spending so much money on restaurants or cafeteria food.
It will be wise to put the food on a waxed paper plate before vacuum sealing and freezing it so that it is easier to microwave the food later.
You can have readily frozen sandwiches for you and especially for your children so that you do not need to stop your chores every time you or your child need a snack.
5. Juices
Whenever your favorite fruit is in season, buy in bulk and make fresh juice for later. You can choose to vacuum seal the fruits in whole or blend them and keep the juice for when you crave your favorite fruit.
The best way would, of course, be to freeze the juice in a silicone mold or an ice cube tray. Place the cubes in a food saver bag and vacuum seal it. When you are ready to drink, just move the bag to the refrigerator to defrost slowly back into liquid state.
Some recipes call for lime or lemon juice, buy them when they are in season and freeze some citrus juice. You only need to reach out and grab the amount your recipe demands for. If you only need a few spoons, just pick one or two cubes.
6. Banana Bread
Bananas are a delicious healthy option for a snack. Buying them before they are fully ripe is a good way to go. But what do you do when a whole bunch of bananas ripens at the same time?
Mostly, they start taking a downward road in terms of freshness and edibility. Do not toss them yet! Just put them in food saver bags and vacuum seal them for later use. The bread calls for overly ripe bananas and these will be great.
7. No Limitations
There are many other things you can vacuum seal and save yourself from a lot of messy situations. Take for example shampoo or body lotions.
If you are traveling out of town and want to bring your preferred shampoo or body lotion, you might find yourself in a bit of a situation if say, your luggage is mishandled and the products explode all over your clothes causing an unbelievable gooey mess.
To avoid this, pack your toiletries in a food saver bags and seal them shut. Other things you can seal include photos, knitting yarn, seeds, special fabrics and/or a survival kit.
8. Sous Vide
Take your meals to the next level and learn the Sous Vide cooking method.
Conclusion
Buying food items in bulk is a great thing as we discussed earlier but, before you buy the whole store, make sure you have enough space to store and preserve your items.
It will help a great deal if you have a big freezer or two but you still need proper organization if you are going to stack your food in a space-saving manner.
The foodsaver vacuum sealer helps a great deal when it comes to organizing the freezer and as we have seen, there is indeed more than one use for this wonderful machine.
