Use a Vacuum Sealer to Organize Your Freezer and Save Food for Longer

Hi, everyone.  This is Lara Hammock from the Marble Jar Channel and in today's video, I'll share how I use my vacuum sealer to organize frozen goods, thaw things quickly, and make food last longer.  I'll also show you how you can seal food in generic ziplock bags so you don't have to break the bank.

I'm completely in love with my vacuum sealer.  I put off getting one for a long time, mostly because I'm cheap and didn't want to spend money on the expensive custom bags that you are supposed to use with the sealer.  But eventually, the reasons for getting one got more compelling AND I figured out how to vacuum seal somewhat successfully with cheaper Ziplock bags, so now I'm a total convert.  Real quickly, here were my reasons:

• Quick thaw - I'd like to tell you that I'm the kind of person who always takes meat out of the freezer several days in advance so that it is all ready to go on the night of the meal.  But I would be lying.  Sometimes I plan ahead well, but sometimes I don't.  And on those days, I want a solution that doesn't involve microwave thawing, which almost always results in a portion of the meat being cooked in the process.  If you freeze meat in the original packaging or in a huge lump, there really isn't any other option other than letting it thaw naturally or microwaving it forever.  HOWEVER, if the meat is vacuum packed as flat as possible, it only takes about 20 minutes per inch of thickness to thaw in running water.  This is a definite plus for our hectic lifestyle.  I also got myself a large collapsible bowl for quick thawing that fits most of my meat and stores easily under my sink. 
• Compact Storage - In addition to wanting to be able to thaw things quickly, vacuum sealing portions as flat as possible has also made it easier to fit more things into my freezer.  I like to store thing standing up whenever possible, particularly for my bottom freezer which is just like a big drawer.  Piling things on top of each other is a good way to lose track of what is in there.  Plus, freezing things in uniform portions helps store more meat in a small place. And finally,
• Long Lasting - Vacuum sealing wards against freezer burn.  Meat and other foods stay good longer when they are vacuum packed with all of the air removed.  In addition, I now vacuum seal small cooked portions of meat, leftover veggies, and other random sundries that might go bad in the refrigerator, but that I can thaw and use right away from the freezer.

I don't really have a strong feeling about which Vacuum Sealer you choose.  There are a bunch on the market.  I picked the FoodSaver FM2100.  It had all of the features I needed, plus it was small, so it stores perfectly in an easy to access drawer in my kitchen.  I know myself -- if it takes too much hassle to get to something, I'll never use it.  

Okay -- I'm just going to quickly go over the functions here.  The locking mechanism on the side has 3 modes: Open which allows you to freely open the top, Store which I don't use, and Operate, which you use when you are sealing and I also use for storage.  The storage mode is supposed to lock down the top, but when I choose that mode it kept flying open and catching my fingers, so I just use Operate mode for storage as well to make sure the top stays closed.  

Since I have yet to use the accessory port, this machine has really just 2 functions: sealing alone and vacuum and sealing.  Sealing alone is this red button.  It is just going to make a nice seal on whatever plastic you clamp inside the machine.  I'll show you how it works:

So, you can see that there was no vacuum sound, it just used heat to create this seal.  There are two reasons to do this: one is so you can create a bag.  FoodSaver has two different options for bags.  You can buy them pre-made, meaning you just have to put the food in and seal the top, OR you can buy a roll which you put into the machine, you cut the plastic to the right length using this cutter here, and then you seal the bottom using the Sealing Only function to create a bag to put food in.  I prefer this to the ready made bags since I feel like there is a little less waste since you can customize the size of the bag to the food you are about to store.  The other reason to use the sealing alone function is if you are sealing a bag of chips or something similar.  You don't want to suck air out of the bag since it would crush all of the chips, but the chips stay good longer than if you just use a chip clip.  Here's me sealing a chip bag:

Okay -- now that you have your bag, you can use the second function, which is Vacuum and Seal.  For this function, you have a choice as to whether you are sealing dry food or moist food.  I guess the machine acts a little differently if you are sealing something with a bunch of sauce in it -- maybe it exerts a little less pressure when vacuuming.  So, you lift the top, put the top of the bag in this trough here, turn this to Operate, pick moist or dry, and hit the Vac/Seal button.  First it vacuums out all of the air that it can, then it automatically seals.  Sometimes it doesn't ever seem to finish vacuuming, so I help it out by manually hitting the Seal button, but normally it does this process on its own.  And viola!  You have a nice sealed package that is ready for the freezer.  Because I know it's important in thawing, I will attempt to make the package as thin as possible by squishing the food down and then i will freeze it flat on a cookie sheet.  Once it's frozen, I can store it standing up with everything else.  

The last thing I want to tell you is that you can seal all kinds of things including generic ziplock storage bags.  I was happy to hear that since I'm kind of cheap and would prefer not to have to buy the expensive FoodSaver bags.  I will say that it takes a little more doing, so you'll have to figure out whether it is worth it for you.  The FoodSaver bags and rolls have a texture on one side.  The vacuum sealer uses this texture to move the air out.  If there is no texture, it doesn't seem to be able to channel the air out of the bag.  So, you can attempt to create some texture for your standard ziplock bag by cutting off the top zipper part, cutting off the ends to give you 2 strips, then putting those strips inside the bag all the way down to where the food is and ensuring that they protrude a bit from the bag.  Now when you go to vacuum seal the bag, it will have some texture and a channel to use for removing the air.  I will say that it is not a fool proof process.  Sometimes I have to encourage the air to leave by helping a bit with my hands, sometimes I have to redo it, so make sure you have enough room at the top of the bag for a couple of tries!  But it was exciting for me to know that I didn't have to buy the expensive bags.  Another option, which is also a good one, is to order non-name brand bags from Amazon.  The generic ones are about half the cost.  Either way, it doesn't have to be a super expensive proposition.

I also have a video on using AnyList to keep track of what I have in my freezer so that I can be efficient about using the food in there before it goes to waste.  Let me know what you think!  Comments are always appreciated and thanks for watching!