Kitchen

[justashopper]

Hi😄

is that what it is called? A thing that vacuums the air out to prolong storage. 

I would love if you'd share your advice!

big thanks in adv!

[grandma2pkmh]

@justashopper   I rely on my FoodSaver every week. Any time there is a BOGO on meats (chicken, pork chops, ground beef etc) I purchase them and use the food saver to re-package them for individual servings and freeze them. Saves time and money.

[Pezzie]

@justashopper   The item that you are referring to is called a vacuum sealer.  I have used one for what seems like forever.  The sealer bags are reuseable, but can be costly, unless you buy them on sale.

I don't like to vacuum seal fresh meat because I find that the meat gets squeezed the life out of them, and I also don't care to have meat juices running into the sealer bags.  Yes, I can wash them to reuse but I don't care for that.  Instead, what I do, is wrap the meat (fresh) in Saran Wrap or equivalent, in appropriate portions to fit your household and freeze it that way.  Once that's frozen then I vacuum seal the meat.  

The pros - meat stays in shape, there is no meat juice contaminating the vacuum seal bag.  If several packages are sealed in one bag, it's easy to remove just a package as they won't be all frozen together.  

Finally, write what the package contains and date it.

[goldensrbest]

I find the foodsaver vacuum sealer the best for freezing meats,chicken,pork.

[JeanLouiseFinch]

I purchased an off brand from Amazon a little over a year and a half ago.  It does the job,  I get the bagging material at Costco. 

[Sooner]

We wouldn't be without a food saver, but we also love our Zwilling Handheld Vacuum Sealer for quick, small batch, easy storage!

It is small enough to fit in a drawer, works great, and is a quick way to save better than a zip bag but maybe not as long term as the big Food Saver.  

We got ours from that Amazing place for less than $70.

[justashopper]

Thanks @goldensrbest @Pezzie @grandma2pkmh 

appreciate the advice!

Love about freezing first then sealing. Genius! I will remember that.

I am looking to save avocados 🥑, fresh fruit, bread, portions of sauces, too etc....

 Maybe a canister type is good? I think something that can do both would be nice. 

Do you have a brand you like? 

[justashopper]

Good thinking @JeanLouiseFinch I have a price club  membership too. Thanks!

[justashopper]

Hi @Sooner 

I have wondered about those. Thank you for also including the brand.

[loriqvc]

@justashopper - I love my FoodSaver (it's the "GameSaver" version, which I believe has the broadest range of features from this brand) and have had it for many years. Even though I don't use it all the time, when I need it, I'm very happy to have it. Just this week, I portioned and froze a batch of Heartland Fresh chicken breasts and some soft pretzel nuggets from The Pretzel Co. that I bought here at QVC. And tonight for dinner, I'll actually be opening a package of frozen Authentic Gourmet mini croissants that I bought a couple of years ago and "Food Saved" for later. 

Although I primarily use my big Food Saver for long-term storage, I also have a smaller handheld version that works with specialized bags for shorter-term refrigerator storage; it gets used frequently for cheese slices, deli meat, and baked goods.

If you get a FoodSaver, there's no need to spend extra to get the same brand of bags, though they do often go on sale both locally and online for good prices at times. For the past five or six years, I've been buying the OutOfAir brand bags on Amazon—they are very high quality and come in a variety of sizes (I most often use the quart size).

One final note: I have found that the bags always seal and retain freshness better than any of the container options that are offered, whether from FoodSaver or another brand I tried (don't recall the name).

Good luck!

ETA: I just searched the QVC website and found that they have a FoodSaver model with some great features, including an accessory port if you want to try using the containers and the bags: https://www.qvc.com/foodsaver-vacuum-sealer-machine-system.product.K91586.html?sc=SRCH

(There is also a really big FoodSaver set that includes containers, bags, and even a handheld sealer; some of the button commands seem odd, but I just don't know what they do, so perhaps this big deluxe version would interest you:
https://www.qvc.com/foodsaver-2-in-1-vacuum-sealer-handheld-sealer-%26-bags.product.K93652.html?sc=S...)