Putting Food into your Vacuum Sealer Bag Question

[fzxdoc]

For smaller portions, I cuff the bag over a tall narrow liquid storage container like this one.

For homemade broths, I use Freezer Ziploc Gallon bags. When full I lay it on the counter with the sealing edge raised and carefully press out the air. I place it on a cookie sheet to freeze flat. I can stack 4 or 5 bags this way. I put a piece of paper towel between the bags so they don't stick to each other. When frozen, I store them upright in a freezer drawer. I use this method when freezing broths in 4 or 6 cup portions, for use when smaller amounts of broth are needed in a recipe.


What's nice about freezing them thin (about 1/2 inch high) and flat is that I can always break off a small amount and put the rest back in the freezer if I only need a cup or two of broth.




For large batches of soup or stews, I freeze them in a few large (11-12 cup) Pyrex glass storage containers like this one:



When frozen solid, I turn it upside down and run a bit of warm water on it, just enough to loosen the frozen block of soup/stew from the sides. Then I slide that frozen block into my Heavy Duty GameSaver bag and vacuum it snugly with my FoodSaver vacuum machine. That way there's no freezer burn and the frozen block takes up less room in the freezer than the glass storage container.

Kathryn

[Murdy]

I love the cuff strategy. I've always just tried to be careful, keep one hand clean(ish) if possible, and wipe with a paper towel if necessary.

[NapMaster]

I love the cuff strategy.

GW called that "strategery". I prefer his pronunciation and I agree, "the cuff" is the way to go. I probably don't need to explanify further.

[Mr. Bones]

Nah, one th few posts here I could right out read, Brother lol

[Potkettleblack]

Archimedes principle is not just for sous vide.

Put stew/thick soup in ziplock gallon bag. seal 90% of the way. Immerse bag in a larger container of water, pushing the seal line down to the waterline, or as close as you can get without making a mess. seal, with all the air squeeze out by water pressure. lay flat on a cookie sheet and freeze, like fxzdoc.

This doesn't work too well for things that are not denser than water.

[jfmorris]

I do the cuff thing for most stuff, and tend to just go to a zip lock freezer bag for really soupy stuff. I've used the Foodsaver for chuck or brisket that had some "gravy" in there, and I just hit the seal button to stop the vacuum and start sealing as soon as it has a pretty good vacuum, but before the liquid starts sucking out of the bag.

I learned that I could hit the seal button and stop the vacuum when trying to preserve some macroons from my daughter's wedding. First batch got squished down to nothing. Next batch I stopped it and they were sealed perfectly without being squeezed down to nothing.

[NapMaster]

First batch were for back packing. Wish I would have had a vacuum sealer when I back packed a good bit.

[Tom Morton]

I usually cut the bottom out of a 12oz Dixie cup for the small/medium sizes of bags. Instant funnel. For bigger bags the larger plastic soda cups found at the convenience store work great.

[Bighorn Dave]

I don't worry about it. I simply grab a paper towel and wipe the opening dry or on occasion will cuff the opening. No seal failures yet. I use a vacuum sealer (VP215) at least once a week and usually more often so it's not what I would call a random use appliance. But if you want to try something those pop corn scoops used at theaters look like they might work at least for the medium to larger sized bags