Food Saver....I love it!

[kitchenelf]

LOL - I found out about bread the hard way too -

OK, I still cannot get a mason jar to extract the air and form a seal. Any tips?

 

[lindatooo]

I've had mine forever and I love it! The freezing thing is what I do for juicy things. I rewash the bags and re-use them several times. I even use them for brining - just make the bag extra long and use the instant seal. I've done huge pork butts that way and it works wonderfully!

I know even with the cost of the bags I've saved hundreds and hundreds of dollars. Cheese stays fresh almost forever.

You can use it to seal non food items as well - silver doesn't tarnish. No risk of leakages from containers when you travel.

I prepackage most of the dry ingredients for cookies and freeze them - instant cookies!

Love the canisters as well and the marinator really kicks marinating up a notch!

Have fun!

 

[callie]

The freezing trick is the way to go before vacuuming. I freeze (or partially freeze) the trout hubby catches. Then vacuum pack them in serving sizes. "Fresh" trout in the winter - YUM!!

 

[Chief Longwind Of The North]

I just heard of a new application, or at least new to me, for a food saver. I know a guy who makes his own fruit juices, out of whatever fruits he feels like using. Sometimes he adds sweetener, and sometimes he doesn't, depending on the fruit. Then he uses the heating element of his food saver to make 1 inch wide packets. He then cuts and freezes them to make treats for himself and his kids. The beauty of this is that you can make the packets any size you want. If you want a portable fruit drink that's cold at lunchtime, make the packet 4 inches wide and put it in your desk at work.

This sounds like a great application to me.

Seeeeeeya; Goodweed of the North

 

[GB]

Goodweed, along the same lines I have heard of people making their own cold packs. You can make them the size you want just as you would for the fruit treats you mentions. All you do is combine water and rubbing alcohol in a 1:1 ratio. This is a fun thing for kids to help with too. You can add food coloring to make them different colors.

Kitchenelf make sure the rim of the mason jar is completely clean. there can not be any food or liquid on it at all. Also make sure you leave enough headroom, at least an inch, otherwise there will not be enough air to suck out to create the suction.

 

[Dove]

Siszz,
I am on a Food Saver web site..when I get another e-mail I willtry to send it to your PM.
If you go to the food Saver web page you can join the group. Lots and lots of good info on it.
Dove

 

[Dove]

<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FoodSaver/

Join for lots of good info. The "files" are full of ideas.

 

[Raven]

LOL - I found out about bread the hard way too -

OK, I still cannot get a mason jar to extract the air and form a seal. Any tips?

LOL! I found out the hard way that you have to freeze freshly blanched Broccoli before you seal it

What I do when my jar attachment won't seal is I stick it to the countertop and hit the button. It re-seats the seal and usually works again after that.

That seal pops out of it's socket from time to time

Mine is the Tilla Foodsaver Vac 550.

We've had ours for probably 5 years now and it's the one thing in the kitchen I litterally use everyday. Love it!

When we first got it I went through everything they did in the infomercial (the kids LOVED the Marshmallow trick )

~ Raven ~

 

[GB]

A note on broccoli...if you try to seal fresh broccoli (or other similar veggies) in a bag then it won't work. Broccoli gives off gas which will expands the bag over time.

 

[impish1]

FoodSaver

I got a Tila for Christmas last season and can't live without it! It does mention in the manual that meats, chicken, and items with liquid should be frozen (or partial) before vacum sealed. I made this mistake when they had chicken legs on sale and all the juice was running into the tray. Make the bag a few inches long too to give exta room incase there is some liquid left.

 

[Gossie]

Just bought a FoodSaver v475 at Home Depot, just under $70. Haven't used it yet, but will today. I'm going to do FISH (cod, to be specific). I'm going to put each piece of fish in a seperate bag, with lemon, tiny bit of olive oil, garlic powder, and oregano.

Should I freeze the fish on a baking sheet first, then put the fish and *other* ingredients in a bag .. OR .. put the fish and *other ingredients on a baking sheet and freeze, then bag?

 

[kitchenelf]

mmmmmmmm - I have one concern. Freezing the lemon actually in the bag with the fish. Will that particular spot take up too much of the flavor and will it actually cook the fish i.e., ceviche before it gets completely frozen? I guess I'm more concerned with the intense flavor in that one area. Otherwise I'd say you can just place everything in the bag, lay on a cookie sheet, freeze, remove from cookie sheet and stack up in your freezer.

Don't forget to salt and pepper the fish too.

 

[GB]

I guess my question would be why do you need to freeze the other ingredients with the fish. I would just freeze the fish and bag it, then when you are ready to cook just pull the fish out of the freezer and defrost it and combine with the other things at that point.

 

[kitchenelf]

GB, I've never done it but can't you slip those frozen bags of fish in boiling water to cook them? My thoughts on the seasoning ahead of time are since cod lacks in flavor the salt, pepper, other seasonings may perk up the taste a bit.

...another thought GB - Should the filets be cooked first and then bagged and frozen....then re-heat in the boiling water?

 

[GB]

Actually you are right that they can be cooked in the bags that way. I would be worried about the lemon like you are though.

It would probablt work either way, cooking first then reheating in the bag, or cooking directly in the bag. I supposed I would Not bother cooking it first as it would be a waste of time since you need to reheat it anyway.

 

[Gossie]

Was a way of getting rid of the lemons. There was a sale on lemons, and I won't be able to use them fast enough.

Cod doesn't take that long to cook, so I thought I could make so I could cook it all together. My dad likes cod, but will only eat ONE piece at a time, I have FIVE pieces. Story of my life.

Any ideas what I can do with the lemons? Can they be freezer packed in some way?

 

[thumpershere2]

I love my foodsaver too and have tried many differnt ways to freeze and bag.I like to freeze what ever in a regular zip lock bag then tranfer it to my foodsaver bag. I also do the cookie sheet method. I froze 15 homemade egg rolls and they turned out great after being froze for 2 months. I put them on a cookie sheet until froze and then into foodsaver bag. I freeze my banana breads and then bag them also.I have bought several different fresh veggies on sale and then chop them up and freeze.Can save alot of money doing this.

 

[Gretchen]

I have had the one with all the bells and whistles but it never performed particularly well. Went back to the vacuum and seal. If you are sealing marinated meats, the vacuum will exaggerate the marinating. It is a method for quick marinating to pull the vacuum on it.

 

[licia]

I'm still tryiing mine out. I've only used it for solid things, mostly to seal the pecans I'm putting in the freezer.

 

[impish1]

vacum seal

I would put all the ingredients together and freeze - than vacum seal. This way you are less likey to lose any liquids or spices. The instrutions also mention to freeze chicken first before you seal as the juce is sucked out and can get messy.