LJ Brain Trust: Vacuum sealer?

[cjsmith]

If I did get more freezer space, and maybe even if I can't, I wonder whether I should have a vacuum sealer.

I am short on counter space, but I can work that out.

I probably don't want one if it doesn't save money in the long run. I can squeeze a lot of air out of Ziploc bags and store them in odd-shaped spots in the freezer, so this will hinge on how much waste I'm likely to have, from freezer burn or the like, after the squeezy treatment. Ziploc cost + freezer burn cost - vacuum sealer bag cost - amortized cost of the unit: if it's not a positive number in under a decade I'm not going there. But it's OK if it takes a while to go positive, because I also hate waste.

I also don't want it if it's inconvenient to use. (It's very telling that I don't have "good" knives. They're more work than bad ones.)

I do want it if it will significantly save money, food, and/or freezer and fridge space. For example, if the bags are sturdy enough that I can pour from the skillet right into the bag, then I don't need so much Tupperware-style stuff. That would be a serious win in terms of space.

[LJ-CUT TEXT="Poll time!"]

[Poll #1217861]

Comments

[nosrednayduj]

Do you have space in your garage? We used to have a freezer in the garage, which wasn't hugely inconvenient. Heck, stick it out in the backyard -- you don't have any weather out there ;-)

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Garage would be perfect, although space there is tight. The garage holds two cars and also serves as our entire basement. There's one spot in a corner where a water heater used to be, and we could put a freezer there as long as we never needed to open its door. The question is whether that space is large enough for a chest freezer, and if a chest freezer goes there, will that freezer be large enough to make a difference.

Our back yard is under water. :-) We'd love to get rid of the pool, particularly as house value goes *up* if there's any yard that isn't pool, but that's $15K we don't particularly feel like spending.