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Sealing soups, fresh meats and fish with marinades in vac sealer?

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    Sealing soups, fresh meats and fish with marinades in vac sealer?

    I know that's more in the chamber vac's wheel house but they are just too big. Without freezing first, any luck sealing wet food in a unit like the Vacmaster Pro 380? Hate to buy that unit then ruin it.

    #2
    The VacMaster 350 the 380 have marinate modes for liquids, but you really can't seal wet stuff like soups.

    What I do is the pour my soups in 6 cup Pyrex glass containers with plastic lids, freeze them, then pop them out of the glass container and seal them. Works great.

    Click image for larger version

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    HTH,
    Kathryn

    Comment


    • Donw
      Donw commented
      Editing a comment
      Brilliant, just brilliant!

    • fzxdoc
      fzxdoc commented
      Editing a comment
      Thanks, Donw . An added benefit is that the frozen sealed soup takes up much less room in the freezer than the Pyrex containers do.

      Kathryn

    #3
    Hmmm...I hadn't thought of that. We really have to find out if our old vac sealer still works. We're talking about getting a standalone freezer again, so that may become more important.

    Comment


      #4
      I love my standalone freezer, Dan Deter . I hate cramming stuff into those drawers or skinny freezers in side by side fridges. I also have a standalone full refrigerator (no freezer compartment) to supplement the side-by-side in the kitchen. The refrigerator only and freezer only appliances are in the pantry. It's a convenient setup for someone who loves to cook in bulk.

      Kathryn

      Comment


      • Dan Deter
        Dan Deter commented
        Editing a comment
        We had one which died, luckily with not much in it, and weren't in a position to replace it right then. And then we got used to not having it and just using the one in the kitchen side-by-side and the top freezer on the garage fridge. Now we're thinking about wanting to have more in there for the next social distancing time... 'course I guess I'll also need to finally get that generator if we have much in the freezer during hurricane season.

      • ComfortablyNumb
        ComfortablyNumb commented
        Editing a comment
        I couldn't find a stand alone refrigerator when I was looking for one for the strawberries. So I got a freezer and an external thermostat, which turned it into a refrigerator. The bonus was, when strawberry season was over, I could use it as a freezer.

      #5
      I like fzxdoc idea and should do the liquid stuff I freeze that way, but I haven’t gone that route. I haven’t frozen soup at this point, but I have worked with thicker type stews and such.

      For this, I put everything in the bag and with the assistance of another person, I allow the contents of the bag to hang over the edge of the counter top and start the vacuume process using the liquid and gentle options on my unit. Once I start to see any moisture/liquid start to travel up, I will use the manual seal button. This gets the majority of the air outwith gravity and the unit and then I spread the contents out in the bag so it lays flat and freeze.

      but, like I said, Kathryn’s way is much better I just haven’t tried that yet. I even have those same Pyrex bowls that I could use.
      Last edited by barelfly; March 19, 2020, 10:26 AM.

      Comment


        #6
        I vac seal warm soup and other unfrozen watery stuff quite often.

        Fill the bag as usual, taking care to keep the mouth of the bag as dry as possible where it will be sealed. Lay the filled bag flat on the work surface in front of the vac sealer while keeping the open mouth of the bag above the liquid level. . Remove as much air as possible taking care that the "burps" leaving the bag are only air, not liquid.

        With practice, I can get all of the air out and push a thin film of liquid into the unfilled upper part of the bag. I want the film of liquid to rise close to where the bag will be heat sealed.

        Put the open mouth of the bag into the vac sealer as normal and clamp the lid closed over the bag. If necessary, push any remaining small bubbles into the empty part of the bag and cautiously bump the manual vacuum button to remove this air. Seal.

        Comment


        • aucivil
          aucivil commented
          Editing a comment
          This was the method I was considering. I assume that there will still be some air remaining in the bag. How much of an effect does this air have on the storage life? Freezer burn?

        • IowaGirl
          IowaGirl commented
          Editing a comment
          If the food is pretty watery -- soup for example -- freezer burn isn't a problem. I can burp nearly all of the air out of the bag. The result is pretty much like real vac sealing.

          For things like juicy meat, you can't pull as hard of a vacuum on the meat as you can when it's frozen, so yes freezer burn could develop as time passes. I try to move food through the freezer fairly regularly, so it's not been a big issue for me. But the "freeze first then vac seal" method would be the ideal method.

        • IowaGirl
          IowaGirl commented
          Editing a comment
          I have more obvious problems with freezer burn any time a bag gets a tear and the seal fails. No matter what is in the bag, freezer burn develops. Food in bags with failed seals gets eaten first if possible.

        #7
        I do something similar, IowaGirl , when I store homemade broths flat in my freezer. However I use Ziploc gallon bags. It's pretty easy to lay each bag on the counter and burp the bubbles out, stack the bags on a cookie sheet and place them flat in the freezer to harden up. Then I stack them vertically in one of the pull-out drawers in the freezer in my side-by-side fridge. That drawer accommodates those gallon bags perfectly.

        Kathryn

        Comment


        • Dewesq55
          Dewesq55 commented
          Editing a comment
          I use pint freezer bags and put ½ cup in each using a 4 oz ladle. Then store them standing up in a plastic container in the top freezer of the basement fridge.

        • Oak Smoke
          Oak Smoke commented
          Editing a comment
          Another benefit of fzxdoc method is with that much surface area they thaw quickly.

        • fzxdoc
          fzxdoc commented
          Editing a comment
          I do that too, Dewesq55 , but with 1 cup portions because sometimes you only need a small amount. I put 4 cups in the gallon Ziplocs, and as Oak Smoke says, it's easy to smack them against the countertop, take out a few chunks, weigh them to estimate how many cups, seal the Ziploc back up, re-label with the residual amount info, and tuck back into the freezer. Works for me. When I make a big batch of broth, I use both sizes of bags for flexibility in portion size.

          Kathryn
          Last edited by fzxdoc; March 20, 2020, 06:15 AM.

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