Seal Your Meal and Save $$

I never would have foreseen the need for a vacuum sealer in a million years. First of all, I don’t have much storage space in my kitchen and I dislike excess clutter, so I don’t keep many gadgets around (except for the small ones that fit into a drawer). My thoughts changed when some friends of ours brought back salmon and walleye that they had caught on a fishing trip in Canada. The fish was neatly vacuum sealed in these bags ~ I actually put them in the freezer and forgot about them, until the friends asked us how we liked the fish . . . six months later! I felt really bad about our non-consumption of their catch but I was sure those fish would look like blocks of ice after that long. The question reminded me that they were somewhere in the back of the freezer and I should probably defrost them for the next night’s dinner, so at least I could tell my friends with a clear conscience that we ate the fish. I was thoroughly amazed to find that they weren’t covered in freezer burn and they tasted as if they’d just been caught ~ no kidding. It was all because of the fact that they had been vacuum sealed prior to freezing, which kept the air out and prevented freezer burn. I am notorious for tossing something in the freezer, only to forget about it until it’s way past its prime. I’ve wasted more food than I care to admit by doing this. That’s a lot of money down the drain, for one thing.

The Christmas following the above mentioned incident, I added a food sealer to my wish list. I’ve had the basic, bottom of the line model you see in the picture for about two years now, and I wonder how I ever lived without it! You can probably pick one like it up for less than $50 at Kohl's or Tar-jhay. The days of wasting perfectly good food are long gone. Yes, the bags are made of plastic but they can be used several times, depending on what you put in them. Food that is sealed takes up far less room in the freezer, which is great if you are short on space, like we are. I save money by buying in bulk and then dividing things like meat into 2-3 servings and freezing them that way. You can seal just about anything and everything ~ I love to seal and freeze ripened fruit to be used to make smoothies and adult beverages at a later time. I’ve bought expensive cheese for use in recipes and sealed the unused portion for later ~ it keeps much longer that way. There is no end to the things you can do with your mighty vacuum sealer!