Vacuum Food Sealer - Critique My Idea

[DiverChick71]

I don't ever anticipate being out of wine.

[The Boat Galley]

Vacuum sealers are great, and I highly recommend one. I don't know the power draw -- ours worked fine with a 2500 watt inverter. I'd suggest checking the specs on the one you're thinking of getting to make sure it'll work on your inverter.

The only piece of advice is to watch out for sucking liquid out of the bag and into the sealer -- even things like fish fillets and meat have liquid and if you get overzealous in sucking the air out, you'll get "food liquid" into the machinery, where it will grow lovely black crud that stinks and I'm sure is full of bacteria.

And you're wondering how I learned this? I'll just add that it's a pain to take them apart to clean them!

[bobsadler]

vacuum pack meat before freezing and i will be perfect months later

[sctpc]

Originally Posted by svBeBe

Absolutely you want a vacuum sealer! We started out with the Foodsaver model then sold at Sam's Club and Costco. Unfortunately, our boat is 220-240v and I forgot to plug it into the step-down transformer one day and instantly burned it up. Since there is no on/off switch and the unit is automatically powered as soon as it is plugged in, it was instantly fried. The only replacement I could find was a 240v model in New Zealand -- same Foodsaver brand and supposedly the top-of-the-line model,

Judy
S/V BeBe

Costco in Australia sells 240v ones Fantastic suck to any level as soon as your happy click the seal and its done.

[cyclepro]

I see that most of the previous posters are in the U.S. - how do you re-supply your rolls of plastic when you are out there cruising, say in the S. Pacific?

Are these rolls readily available anywhere in the world or do you stock up with as many as your can store on your boat?

JZ

[sctpc]

Originally Posted by cyclepro

I see that most of the previous posters are in the U.S. - how do you re-supply your rolls of plastic when you are out there cruising, say in the S. Pacific?

Are these rolls readily available anywhere in the world or do you stock up with as many as your can store on your boat?

JZ

you dont always need to use rolls you can reseal most packaging chips, frozen food bags even the cereal bags. im not from the US but you can get them anywhere in auz.

[savoir]

Amazon sell the rolls in 8" and 11" sizes. All you need is an airport.

[Entlie]

Freeze carefully for better storage in your boat freezer. I lay the sealed packet out on the counter before freezing, press it flat, and freeze it initially in a basket with sides if need be to get a nice flat squarish item that will fit better and stack in our boat freezer.
Having done this enough times, I now use only the Foodsaver bags on a roll, and experience will tell you exactly how much to cut for your item so there's no waste.
I use the the Foodsaver mostly for steaks, chops, chicken, etc. and freeze Irish stew, chicken curry, red chili, green chili, shrimp creole and my copy of Olive Garden's Zuppa Toscano in square freezer containers to serve two people. This serves us a considerable amount of time after we leave our home dock.
So I don't use your husband's "boil in a bag" method, but I do use salt water to cook pasta, mostly, if the water is very clean.
This works for us on our boat. There are other good ways to do things.

Entlie
Sailing Catamaran Sunspot Baby

[barnakiel]

Why not simply cook fresh food on passages?

I think we had maybe 5 days in 5 years of sailing that we could not cook what we wanted.

b.

[DiverChick71]

Just imagine that on long passages the fresh foods will be gone after about a week....and whilst I realize that canned food will sometimes be necessary, I'm not a fan. And I really hate processed foods. Having familiar, ready to heat meals will be a convenience as well as a comfort.

[Auspicious]

Originally Posted by DiverChick71

Just imagine that on long passages the fresh foods will be gone after about a week....and whilst I realize that canned food will sometimes be necessary, I'm not a fan. And I really hate processed foods. Having familiar, ready to heat meals will be a convenience as well as a comfort.

I agree with your conclusion but not with your premise. UK to Azores, Azores to Bermuda, Newport or Norfolk to BVI are more than a week but not many other common passages are. Gunkholing among deserted islands may put you away from fresh veg but there are few places you are really more than a couple of days easy hops from groceries.

Lettuce and tomatoes go bad in a few days if not eaten. Cabbage and celery last a long time as do potatoes, carrots, and onions. Apples and oranges last pretty long. Peppers of all sorts freeze nicely, as do corn and broccoli. Dried mushrooms last a long time. Some canned goods (like mandarin oranges) are better than their fresh counterparts.

You are unlikely to have a fresh kiwi fruit salad nine days out but you can eat well of fresh food over long periods.

[DiverChick71]

No fresh kiwi salad? Maybe cruising isn't for me! :-) seriously tho...I spent 2 years in Costa Rica and was amazed that on the coast, far from any major populated area, good fresh foods were hard to find. Aside from mangoes, fresh fruits were trucked in once a week and not very good. Away from the coast, the fruits and veggies were sooooo yummy and abundant.

I spent 10 days on a liveaboard dive trip to Cocos island off Costa Rica and was amazed by day 10 we still had lettuce salad for lunch. And it was still good! I'm guessing it will be a learning curve. I still let things go bad in my house fridge. Gotta do better.

[JanetGroene]

Don't rule out the value of cooking fresh foods, such as boiled eggs, in boilable bags. Cuts down on dish washing. In ancient days people made boiled puddings in cheesecloth and you can mimic the commercial product called Success Rice by holding a boilable bag with an ice pick and cooking rice in it. Lower into boiling water. When it's done, lift out and it's self-draining.

[osirissail]

There is an item nicknamed "Green bags" that you get in Co-op or Health Food stores. They are treated plastic baggies that are green in color. After washing and treating your fresh veggies with a Clorox bath, dry them and put them into a "green bag". I have found that lettuce and other fresh veggies last 3x to 4x times longer. I had lettuce last over a month.
- - Key to the process is washing/soaking fruits and veggies in the Clorox bath to kill all the little buggies and stuff living on the outer surface of the fruit/veggies.

[mbturner]

Here is an idea for you. I cook stuff all the time at my house in vacuum sealed bags. The process is call Sous Vide. You could also use this to "precook" your meals, freeze them, and then reheat underway. The process can seem a little bit involved, but it yields a wonderfully cooked item as the food is slowly cooked. You could then defrost the item and warm it inside of the oven. But be careful. Once you remove the items from the cooking water you MUST freeze it right away. Just google Sous Vide and plenty of things will pop up that tell you how to do it and give you recipe ideas.