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

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Ooo, good point, sawdust bars. And the more batches of different stuff I have in the chest freezer, the more variety I have to eat during times it's awkward to cook much.

If you vacuum-seal a chunk of meat, a pound of ground beef say, and pop it in a chest freezer, how long does that last?

[elflet.livejournal.com]

Up to a year, in general. I've seen some freezer burn in meat that's been vacuum sealed, but only in the frost-free freezer (per the defrosting cycle) and this is easily fixed by putting the meat under somethign else that buffers the temperature swings.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Excellent info! Thank you. (We're getting a manual-defrost.)

Just out of curiosity, if you put meat in a Ziploc and did the squeezy bit by hand, and tossed it in the chest freezer, how long do you think it would last? I'm guessing what would get it would be freezer burn...

[elflet.livejournal.com]

Yes, that's the freezer-burn case. :(

[elflet.livejournal.com]

Given the history of tri-tip we get in ziplocks (with the air squeezed out by hand), MTFB* is around 6 weeks.

* Mean Time to Freezer Burn

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Ahhhh. OK. 6 weeks versus a year. So if I get a chest freezer and routinely eat everything in it every six weeks, I don't much need a vacuum sealer, but if stuff doesn't fully turn over that fast, I'll want one. That's a great rule of thumb.