Since there are only two of you, a vacuum sealer will be well worth the price. Not only can you freeze portioned meat, but you can make a large pot of spaghetti sauce, or soup, or just about anything and vacuum seal meal sized portions.A vacuum bag of frozen spaghetti sauce in a pot of boiling water on a night when you are tired can be a life -er - meal saver.
Started Low-N-Slow BBQ in 2012. Obviously, it's taken hold (in chronological order:
1.) A pair of Weber Smokey Mountain 22.5's
2.) #LilTex, a 22" Expensive Offset Smoker (looks like a Yoder Witicha)
3.) #WhoDat1, a HUGE Gravity Fed Insulated Cabinet Smoker (cooking chamber 3'x2'x6')
4.) A Full Size Commercial Dryer/converted to Vertical Smoker.
5.) Jambo Backyard stickburner (my FAVORITE Pit so far)
6.) GrillMeister, a huge 24"x48" Adjustable, Charcoal Grill from Pitmaker.com
7.) 22" Weber Kettle with Slow-N-Sear
8.) Vault insulated reverse-flow cabinet smoker from Pitmaker
9.) BarbecueFiretruck...under development
10.) 26 foot BBQ Vending Trailer equipped with HUGE Myron Mixon 72xc smoker is HERE, Oct 2016!
11.) Opened www.PaulsRibShackBarbecue.com Food Trailer officially in March 2017
12.) Austin Smoke Works 500 Gallon Propane Tank Offset Smoker, named "Lucille" as travel pit for PaulsRibShack, Oct 2018.
12.) Opening Brick & Mortar location at 4800 Nelson Rd, Spring 2019. Had a pair of 1,000 Gallon Austin Smoke Works pits, both in RibShackRed for our new place!
Fabulous Backlit Thermapens, several Maverick Remote Thermometers (don't use any remotes anymore), Thermoworks Smoke, Other Thermoworks toys, Vacuum sealer, lots and lots of equipment...
I'm loving using BBQ to make friends and build connections.
I have #theRibList where I keep a list of new and old friends and whenever I'm cooking, I make 1 to 20 extra and share the joy.
I use mine a lot, but as a fisherman I think that is expected. I also buy bulk cuts of meat, like family packs of steaks and vacuum seal those. You can find plenty of uses. I'd recommend spending more than the low cost option.
Since the kid moved out there is just the two of us left when cooking. I still like to take advantage of bulk buying (Costco etc.) and I'm 100% into SV cooking.
My rule of thumb is:
Ziplock-water displacement method for fresh meats/fish that will be cooked in a day or two.
Vacuum sealer (Foodsaver) for meats that will be frozen before cooking or leftovers. Reheating via SV is brilliant.
I predict that once you finally buy one you'll be asking yourself why you waited so long. I mostly end up using ziplocs when I SV something, but the extended freezer life of vacuum sealed foods alone is enough to justify the sealer.
Nobody has talked about longer fridge life. Supposedly Beef and Poultry are safe in your fridge for 2 days traditionally. With vacuum it is safe for 2 weeks.
I just assumed folks would use the fridge more with vacuum, but it sounds like everyone prefers the freezer.
Anova (no frills/wifi) SV with vacuum saver. Works wonders. Use it a ton. Including when I went hiking, I portioned out my clothes for each day so they wouldn't get wet and saved a ton of space.
Important: Squish or mold the bags flat before vacuum sealing and they will freeze and thaw quickly. Pulled pork just as good as fresh is 3-5 microwave minutes away (poke a hole on the bag before heating).
Also portion and freeze bulk meats and they go straight into the SV machine.
You may have solved my reheating problem at work. Are SV bags safe for reheating in the microwave? Now that would be some lunch - pulled pork and a bun...
There is only two of us for a lot of my cooks and I'm the main carnivore. I'd be lost without my food saver. IMHO my food saver is a product that does pay for itself due to less wasted food.
Comment