Vacuum sealer--anyone use one?

[brntorng]

I'm considering a vacuum sealer for the kitchen and was wondering if anyone uses one regularly and, if so, what for? What's it work good for and what not so good for?

 

[NickDanger]

It's great for sealing fish and game or extra large portions of stuff like cheese, etc from Costco and the Hatch Chiles in the fall, but the best thing I ever did with mine was to freeze a tupperware and then seal the iceberg I removed from the tupperware. I then let it melt and I have refreezed several of these like 50-100 times and I freeze them so that they exactly fit my ice chest. It's much colder than those blue P'sOS and it's just as long lasting and just as dry.

For camping, etc. You can freeze pasta or potatoes and dunk them in dirty boiling water and them open them up sanitary.

For marinating, you can get a vacuum canister and cut your marinating time by a day. From a day to an hour, if that.

If you have silver, it will keep it from tarnishing.

You probably just need to stay up really late one night and surf the paid programming channels to see what all it will do. I'm pretty sure you could figure out a way to correct erectile dysfunction with one if your partner doesn't mind a little rough, plastic fringe.

Oh, and you can put your weed in there.

 

[JohnnyBlaze]

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[NCAAFBALLROX]

I like doing a brisket or ribs with a marinade & then putting it in the sealer & freezing for a week (a rub works well too, but something about the idea of a liquid works best in my head).
It REALLY infuses that stuff deep in there.

 

[12thStudStan]

I use mine mostly for saving fish & game, roasted chiles and leftover cue, but as mentioned they are very versatile. I brought an ice chest full of frozen bags of cue on a trip to Montana this past summer and left whatever we didn't polish at fish camp with my Uncle. He doesn't cook and loved the boil in bag part. On the way back to Texas I loaded up on Hatch chiles and sealed them up when we got back home.

Get a decent one. A cheap vacuum sealer is like bad girlfriend - slow, lacking sufficient suction, prone to accidental leakage and doesn't preserve well.

 

[brntorng]

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[NickDanger]

Foodsaver is fine. You will want one with an instant seal feature. It's the old razor blades and razor deal. They'll give you the razor to sell the blades. The bags are where they get you. They aren't incredibly expensive, but they aren't exactly free, either.

 

[NCAAFBALLROX]

If you're in the Austin area, Cabela's in Buda has an insane selection of units & the bags.

Might even find yourself buying a meat grinder as well... a great way to make sausage without getting all the nitrates & stabilizers they use.

 

[ImissWallyPryor]

I have a Foodsaver. It's great for freezing your fresh catch (or kill -- after aging, of course). The fish keeps for an incredibly long time. Of course, the fresher the fish, the better it tastes, but you can't always eat all your fish the day you catch it.

I made the mistake of freezing chopped brisket in a tupperware type container, thinking I would eat it the next weekend. About a month later, I reheated it... ugh! ALWAYS USE YOUR FOODSAVER TO FREEZE LEFTOVER BRISKET! The same goes for leftover chili, stew, grilled chicken, etc.

As mentioned above, just drop the whole package in boiling water. You won't be disappointed.

And, I second the recommendation of using bags whenever possible. The continuous roll is sometimes necessary, but it's not as convenient, especially if you are freezing individual servings.

 

[cbs]

The two biggest uses for ours are bulk items from Costco and leftovers. If I'm smoking or grilling, I'll usually make a bunch extra and then freeze it in individual serving sizes that we can reheat later. It's almost as good as right off the grill. It also works suprisingly well on soups, etc.

 

[baboso]

How do they work for freezing beef? Being the only red meat carnivore in the household, I am intrigued at the concept of buying steaks at Costco and vacuum sealing 3 of the 4 for later consumption. I'm usually not a big fan of frozen, thawed, and then grilled steaks, but if the vacuum sealer is a viable option, I'm all over it.

 

[12thStudStan]

They work very good on freezing excess raw beef. I tend to buy large, cut steaks & cubes and vacuum what I don't use for later.

 

[NickDanger]

If you are going to seal some steaks, make sure they are really cold before you start the vacuum. Otherwide, you suck out juices and that interferes with getting an airtight seal (messes up the sealer heat bar). If you don't get out virtually all of the air, the meat will freezer burn in the air pockets.

A friend of mine says he wraps the steaks in Saran Wrap before sealing them in order to address the issue.

 

[hullabelew]

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[Lat22]

I bought one last summer and it completely jinxed my fishing.

 

[NickDanger]

Man, I hadn't thought about that being the reason for my meat fishing jinx. Every time I go fishing it's always "you should have been here yesterday". The last trip I turned down, my former boat partners caught the record black drum (8lb tippet) down past the land cut.

My main complaint about the pre-made bags is the expense. I've never had a homemade seal on a homemade bag from a roll go bad. The seal made when sealing has gone bad or failed, but not the one used to make the dry bag.

 

[ImissWallyPryor]

The pre-made bags can be re-used if you wash them. They will be sliightly smaller each time you cut the end off the bag. To wash, I spray it with anitbacterial cleanser and then rinse. Takes about 15 seconds. This works better if the bag was first used to store something non-greasy, so cleaning it after smoked brisket will take longer. I still use the roll from time to time, expecially if it's something long like a large fish fillet.

Of course, if you are saving money by buying bulk steaks at Costco, spending a few extra cents on the pre-made bags is no big deal (even if you don't re-use them). You'll still come out ahead, and the Foodsaver will soon pay for itself.

I like the idea of placing a paper towel between the steak and the seal to keep the juices from screwing up the seal.

 

[BNB]

I've never thought about the steak thing, but I have had mine for a couple of years and I give brisket as presents. It goes over well, and they know I spent 12 hours cooking it.

 

[ImissWallyPryor]

I have one more comment on this subject. The rolls can be purchased in larger packages and they can be cut to the exsct size. They end up costing sbout half as much as the quart or gallon bags if you don't wash and reuse them.