Food Saver (Vacuum Seal)

[Anonymous]

I picked up one of these vacuum-seal devices last summer and love it. It's really changed the way we eat onboard. While I love cooking aboard, sometimes we just want to eat and play. Since we hop between our land-bound home and our floating home it really works well for us.

If, for instance, I'm cooking up a spaghetti sauce, or cooking a ham, I'll make an extra large portion, thenseal and freeze the rest. Same with hamburgers or steaks, I'll buy a larger portion, then freeze them raw. After a while I build up quite a lauder, and when we head down to the boat I can easily have a weeks worth of meals prepared (we tend to stay out for a week at a time).

To prepare them, just pop them unopened into a boiling pot of water (for pre-cooked items) for ten or fifteen minutes, cut the bag open and pour it out. No mess, no cleanup, and the benefit of a healthy home-cooked meal. I've never had a problem with freezer-burn.

We also use it on non-food items we want to keep dry. The machines are a bit expensive (ours was around $100 US) but it's easily paid for itself in just waste reduction alone (and probably many times over in meals we ate aboard instead of just eating ashore to avoid the hassle of cooking).

[sailorjim]

We also have a vacume sealer and you are right, it is the best thing since sliced bread. We had an older seal a meal but the vacume is much better. We also seal hamburger paties, spagetti sauce with meatballs and sausage, steak (raw) and veggies.I live aboard and this makes it great. The lack of real clean up is one benefit we had not anticipated but it is great.

We have also 'sealed' a roast beef dinner, potato's, rudabeger, turkey dinners, corned beef and just about anything else. I do RI clam chowder (chowda) as well. We eat well and it is fun, easy and saves a ton of $$$

Jim

[jim]

How do you seal sauces and soups?
We just bought a vacuum sealer and when we tried to seal something liquid it sucks it into the machine.

if anythings gonna happen, its gonna happen out there!
Capt Ron




jim

[delmarrey]

Jim,
Try hanging the bag over an edge of a counter top and make sure there is plenty of extra space in the bag.

DelmarRay..........................._/)

[Anonymous]

Freeze it first.

For instance, pour the sauce into the bag and then fold up the top. I use those 'bag clips' so I can squeeze a fair amount of the air out of the top, and it help 'shape' the bag at the same time.

Then put it into the freezer.

Once it's frozen, use the sealer. Works great and very little air is left in the bag.