Trish buys stuff in bulk. We waste, maybe not waste, but throw out food that's been in the back of the fridge too long. 8 pack of chops, we cook all when we could get away with four. It's just the two of us!
Amazon has then for $20 to $200. If you use one and have recommendations or warnings, I'd love to hear them.
Thanks, Dan
The wife buys meat at Costco - larger packs - she splits them and freezes the meat.
We usually burn thru it in 6 weeks or less - the key is not freezing it expecting it to be good way down the road. You should be able to burn through 8 chops in 6 weeks?
I tried. I’m finding even though it’s cheaper per pound to get bigger “family packs” i end up losing stuff in the bottom of the freezer. Working my way to the bottom of the freezer so i can get rid of it. Found some cool whip that expired in 2015. Lots of stuff getting tossed.
My sister and BIL use one for meat, seems to work well and I have never heard a complaint about it. I will ask the the make and model today.
I have a Food Saver I bought at wally world.
I love my foodsaver and use it all the time. I burned through two of the cheaper models, so I asked Santa for the top of the line ($200 model) three years ago and it still works great.
For meat, I buy what's on sale and family packs. Split them into meal size portions for the two of us and pack them. If it is a steak or pork chop, I will flash freeze it on a plastic cutting board for 1 hour before vacuum sealing it so that it doesn't lose it's shape. This helps to not get burnt edges when cooking it. Chicken can go right on the grill from frozen, no need to thaw.
I freeze soup, jambalaya, chili, beef tips with gravy, any meal that makes so much that we might get sick of it before we finish it I pretty much freeze half of it straight away and save for later. You can write the date on the bags with a sharpie. You can even make small boil-in-bag portions of spinach or broccoli.
I keep a magnetic white erase board on the fridge and anything that goes in the freezer is listed there so we don't forget it.
I use my foodsaver for so much more than that though. I break down big bags of chips into single servings so we don't plow through the whole bag in one sitting. You can reseal most mylar type bags that chips come in with it as well. I make little mustard packets to take with lunch sandwiches, and honey packets so I can have toast with honey for breakfast at work. I prepack almonds and sunflower seeds for granola type snacks. I make homemade jerky and seal them in snack size portions. If you cut a tiny notch in the margin of the bag you can open them without scissors. I use the mason jar adapters to vacuum seal grits, sugar, and other items in the cabinets that we don't use quickly to keep the moisture out. I have sealed first aid and emergency kits for camping.Hell, I have even grease-packed wheel bearings with the foodsaver bags, works fantastic for that. Buy the bags on the roll, the precut ones are a waste.
We have a food saver that the wife got a while ago. We go through a lot of food anyway so the family pack is just called "dinner" 'round these parts, but when things go on sale E36 M3 gets real. We'll buy in bulk and then break it up into small increments -- one or two chicken breasts or pork chops, for example. It uses more vacuum bag, but we can scale meals easier and it'll defrost faster.
For extra bonus points, however, we use the Food Saver for non-frozen things all the time, too. We'll make beef jerky or dried fruits and seal it up in snack-sized bags for camping, hiking, and/or soccer games. We've sealed up parts to board games and I've even put liquor bottles in them just to be sure nothing leaks. In theory, they also make rigid containers that you can use the vacuum to evacuate the air from so leftovers will keep longer, but we've never tried that.
I had a food saver and loved it until part of the heat bar died. I'm not sure if it was a basic or a high end one.
I really can't add more than mojo said.
I got mine for $130ish at Sam's Club.
They make expandable bags, but not everywhere sells them. The price is nuts on Amazon too, I've bought them for 9.99 only to look again the next day and they're 29.99. Anyway, the expandable rolls do just that, expand. Makes storing pork butt, brisket, and even clothes easier because you don't need to fight with s tiny opening.
I use it when I fly as well so I can fit more in my carry on, or to store winter clothes.
The mason jar attachment is awesome. I've got jars of corn meal, flour, other things that maybe don't get used all at once.
And it does work for marinating cuts of meat and veggies, even without their fancy special "marinade containers". Just put your meat and marinade I a tray before you put it in the bag.
If you use the mason jar adapters, be sure to slightly offset the lid on the jar so you can pry them open with your thumbs. I've had to use a bottle opener on lids to get them off and it bends them to the point that they are not reusable afterwards.
Patrick said:Found some cool whip that expired in 2015. Lots of stuff getting tossed.
Shee-ooot! That there Cool-Whip is just gettin' aged to perfection. That stuff is like Twinkies. It will last forever.
Me? I'd check it. If the packaging was good and the top surface didn't look dehydrated, I'd eat it in a heartbeat. Not that I'm particularly fond of artificial whipped toppings. But from a safety standpoint? No worries.
It takes discipline and organization. If you don't have those, you have a chest freezer full of freezer burnt stuff to throw out every five years. I just buy as I need, because I lack the two characteristics listed above. I figure a 25percent saving by buying big is kinda ruined by garbaging 50 percent of the product.
We don't have one, but any meat that goes in the freezer is for stews, soups, or something else where it isn't the main attraction (eggs with brats, pasta with chicken). We were mostly vegan for about a year until my child in my wife's belly started demanding meat, so I've been finding stuff in the freezer that I'd forgotten about.
As it is, I'm looking at a second freezer just because ours is filled with frozen fruits and veggies for smoothies.
We have a Foodsaver we bought about ten years ago. It seemed expensive at the time, but is still working. The only issue we have is that the top and bottom foam seals don't any more, at least when they are dry. I just wipe them down with a damp paper towel before I start packaging stuff.
There are five of us most of the time, so we buy large quantities of meat, etc at Costco and break it down. Have a upright freezer in my bride's attached garage that is currently experiencing Organizational Failure, but usually I can put my hands on what we need fairly easily.
914Driver said:Trish buys stuff in bulk.
Seems like the simplest answer would be to not buy in bulk.
Yes!
We bought a food saver....something at Costco a ways back. We primarily use it to portion out meat and occasionally veg. We sometimes preseason the meat too (wet marinade). I buy all my meat in bulk (I don't argue when work has chicken breast at 50c a pound, or the time I was gifted a case of chipotle's chicken) and break it down into individual portions. I find that vacuum sealing it preserves the meat better and it can go a lot longer. Eventually I'm going to buy a sous vide machine, which means I'll be able to vac pack food, thaw it, and drop it in the food cooker without it ever leaving the bag. Plus, sous vide all the things! We got a food saver fm5480 and a whole was of bag rolls for like 130$ do recommend.
In reply to Mndsm :
You should definitely get a sous vide and sous vide everything! I was gifted the Anova wifi/Bluetooth model for Xmas this year and I cook everything I can with it. I'm told it's the benchmark for sous vide units. Wait til it goes on sale for ~$110 or so like it does a few times a year. Or don't wait and just get it. You'll love it.
Pro tip: you don't have to thaw whatever you intend to sous vide. Just add an hour onto the cook time. Got a couple frozen pork chops? Normal minimum cook time is 1 hour for meat from the fridge/room temp. Set it to 137°, let the bath reach your set temp, drop them in and let it go for 2 hours. Remove from bag and dry thoroughly then sear those tasty meats to perfection on your cast iron!
Thanks folks, good info! got homework to do obviously.
We bought this one last year on Amazon when it was on sale for $49. I use it all the time. We have tow teenage boys so buy in bulk is a necessity. As is having something you can pull out after work and make in a hurry.
So, I went to a thrift store next to the automotive paint store today. They had a smaller plastic storage box, no top, and in it was a Black and Decker vacuum sealer, almost a full roll of the large "make a bag" stuff and a Foodsaver mason jar adapter. Six bucks. For all of it, including the plastic box. I figgered the roll of bag stuff was worth more than that.
Have one, I like it, great for sous vide stuff too :)
Food saver. Label it right before you put the food in, what it is and the date.
They are awesome,
I bought one of the $30 ones off Amazon to give it a try, it got the job done. I cure and smoke my own bacon and usually do it 30lbs at a time (dont judge me) :) So the vac packing helps with storage.
This christmas I was gifted an actual food saver. The $30 one got the job done but the real deal FoodSaver is definitely better in all ways.
I'm on my third one over about 18 years. Sometimes the seal on the bags won't hold up, but otherwise they're great for long term storage.
I've eaten fish that was in the freezer for 3 years and was still fine.
EastCoastMojo said:Hell, I have even grease-packed wheel bearings with the foodsaver bags, works fantastic for that.
That is brilliant!!!!! I am surprised there is not a tool out there that does that. Of all things to do on a car packing bearings is one of my least favorite.
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