I hope you enjoy your new kitchen gadget, @Kate Ellery . Vacuum sealers are very useful; I mainly use mine for vacuum sealing bags of stuff for the freezer (like when there's a good sale on meat.)
We freeze our dried fruits apples and apricots but I can see myself packing some of our dried fruits in smaller lots in the vacuum sealed bags for ultimate freshness , at the moment we pack about 1.5 kg of dried apricots into 3 large zip lock bag…..but I suspect my hubby has dwindled that down to maybe 1. 1/2 bags by now ….I will have to check
I freeze individual servings of prepared meals. The best part is everything is easy to defrost, because airtight bags are also watertight. I put the frozen bag in a big bowl of water (raw meats and prepared meals), and they defrost in no time. In fact, I've taken frozen meat out of the freezer and vacuum-bagged it solely to defrost this way. I might create a Vacuum Sealer thread for us to share our experiences and to get this conversation out of the Online Purchases thread.
I attempted to buy plastic bags for my ordered ( yet to be received food vacuum machine ) however the seller could not post then to me from ( Victoria posted as location of items ) which is approx 900 Km from where I live . He claimed my address was invalid non existent Address according to his computer when he tried to send my purchase Well I checked my details on eBay ..,yep it’s all correct My Name …. Tick My address …. tick My Towns name tick My post code .. tick Australia……… ..Tick My phone no……Tick But apparently they can’t or don’t deliver to my postcode Ive mentioned before where I live there are several towns scattered around the area, but overall the area has about 16.000 residents ……it seemed very odd to me ….. anyway i was wondering at the time if it was a scam but my money was refunded
I’ve already used the bags that came with my new toy , here’s how my dried apricots turned out after vacuum / sealed @John Brunner @Beth Gallagher I’ve put them back in the freezer , but also made a little bag up and dated it see how long it will last stored in the cupboard
I also tried the jar sealer that worked well with my machine haven’t tried the little pump that came with jar sealer but the machine is great
A few of us have vacuum seal machines, and use them extensively. There seems to be enough interest to warrant a dedicated thread. The preceding posts are moved from elsewhere, so may appear to be a little disjointed. I've been using food sealer machines since the 1970s, starting with the Dazey Seal-a-Meal. There was no vacuum pump in these machines. You squeezed the air out as best you could then sealed them shut. They were OK for short-term storage, but the food got freezer burn pretty quickly. When I was going to night classes, I would make a week's worth of meals and freeze them so I could have a decent meal each evening. Even if I wanted to, I could not afford to eat out every night (or even once a week.) There are lots of accessories and legacy canister types available on EBay I'll upload pics of later.
I have gone thru three vacuum sealers. I had all the attachments including canning jar ones, both standard and wide mouth. I gave away my final one a couple years ago as I found that double wrapping meat with cellophane and then a double wrap with quality butchers freezer paper, does just a good of job and maybe better on meat like roast, because sucking out the air, in vacuum sealing, also sucks out some of the juices. The secret in meats is to get a tight cellophane primary wrap. I used the canning jar attachment mainly for local shredded cheese I bought in bulk to save money. I found that just putting the cheese in the jar worked as well and the very small amount of ice, compared to vacuum sealing, didn't cause any issues. It keeps just as long. I also needed my counter space for more Cuisinart appliances that I never use. They make a better statement than the vacuum sealer
There are machines that stop the vacuum when they sense the moisture being drawn out, but I always figured that they don't pull a hard enough vacuum, so I stick with the regular ones. I freeze just about everything before I vacuum seal it so it does not suck out the juices. I also freeze soft foods before vacuum sealing (like the batch of home fries I made last night) so they don't get crushed and compacted. The main thing I like about vacuum bags is that I can put the frozen bag in a large bowl of water, and the food (whether raw or already cooked) defrosts in no time flat. I've actually vacuum sealed stuff for the sole purpose of defrosting it that way.
I do the same, taking the cellophane wrapped meat out of the butcher paper and put it in a zip lock bag for the quick water bath defrost. Generally I take things out of the freezer, a couple days ahead of time, and then put them in a dish in the refrigerator and let them thaw.
I don't think that far ahead. And most of my frozen stuff is single-serving. I don't freeze roasts or whole chickens. The fast water-bath defrost enables (for better or for worse) my lack of having to plan meals...I can cook whatever I feel like with an hour's notice.
I tried an experiment with a leftover avocado half to see how well the vacuum bags would preserve it. I left the pit in and sealed it up. It was still green after 12 days, so I opened it up. The texture was a little "off," so I did not taste it. But if you want to keep an avocado half fresh and edible for a day or two, this will do the job. Next I'm gonna put one in a vacuum canister and see how long it lasts.