# Tips for using vacuum food sealer **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 12, 2015, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tips-for-using-vacuum-food-sealer/724980 "2015-07-12T22:21:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Southern\_Yankee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/southern_yankee/32/2800_2.png) [@Southern\_Yankee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Southern_Yankee)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2015, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tips-for-using-vacuum-food-sealer/724980/1 "2015-07-12T22:21:17Z")
I recently bought a FoodSaver vacuum sealer and I am loving it. I have 3 growing boys and a stand up freezer in my garage, so I buy things in bulk whenever possible. I use this thing almost every day, whether it’s resealing potato chip bags or my coffee bean pouches. I definitely see much better life in my frozen meats. I have not experimented much with marinating meats or doing anything too fancy. If you have one and have some tips to get even more use out if it, please share! Would it be bad to salt a steak before vacuum sealing it and freezing it? Would it do any good? ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2015, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tips-for-using-vacuum-food-sealer/724980/2 "2015-07-13T01:04:52Z")
If you are going to seal shrimp, freeze them first in a regular freezer bag, keeping them as single layer as possible. Then vacuum seal, or you’ll end up with a large frozen glob. Soft foods will smash flat, so freeze them first, then seal. Make sure whatever you’re sealing has been dried as much as possible. Moisture will get sucked into the closing end of the bag and can prevent a good seal. ---
**Author:** ![GaryM](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garym/32/241_2.png) [@GaryM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GaryM)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2015, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tips-for-using-vacuum-food-sealer/724980/3 "2015-07-13T02:00:17Z")
Good advice from ChefGuy. I’ll offer that I take stuff such as chili, stew, soup and other semi liquid Foods and freeze in plastic sandwich sized plastic tubs. After its frozen I unmold and vacuum seal in bags. I use my food saver to seal items that are going good into my sous vide water cooker. For non food use I’ve sealed sharp oiled chainsaw chains in bags for storage. Going on a float trip? Seal clean underwear and socks so you’ll have dry stuff for the trip home. ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2015, 10:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tips-for-using-vacuum-food-sealer/724980/4 "2015-07-13T10:35:51Z")
I’ll wrap things like chicken pieces or individual pork chops in plastic wrap first, then put 2 or 3 in a sealing bag. That way, if I just want 1, I take it out, then reseal the bag. It minimizes the number of individual items in the freezer and saves on bags. I also date everything I seal so that I use the older items first. And it works great with big blocks of cheese. I’ll cut the block into 2 ounce chunks and make mini-bags to seal them. That way, if we want cheese-n-crackers for a snack or I need a small hunk to grate in a recipe, I don’t have to fuss with the big block. I no longer end up throwing away cheese that has dried up or gotten moldy because it wasn’t rewrapped properly. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2015, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tips-for-using-vacuum-food-sealer/724980/5 "2015-07-13T13:41:43Z")
If you’re going to vacuum seal something with bones or other sharp edges, pad them with plastic wrap ahead of time, so that they don’t poke through the vacuum sealing bag as it shrinks around the food. We tend to buy in bulk for stuff like ground beef, bacon, chicken breasts, etc… and then repackage in more appropriate portion sizes- 1 lb seems to be common in recipes. That way, we can save money, and only thaw out enough for whatever we’re planning to cook. Finally, go look on Amazon- you can get humongous rolls of vacuum-sealer bag for cheap- [I got 100’ for about $20.](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00I1OM7TO?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s00) As far as I can tell, they’re fine for what I do with my food saver. ---
**Author:** ![Southern\_Yankee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/southern_yankee/32/2800_2.png) [@Southern\_Yankee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Southern_Yankee)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2015, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tips-for-using-vacuum-food-sealer/724980/6 "2015-07-13T16:04:53Z")
Great stuff! Thanks everyone. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_T](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Gary\_T](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_T)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2015, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tips-for-using-vacuum-food-sealer/724980/7 "2015-07-13T16:40:57Z")
If you’d care to help with suggestions on choosing a sealer to purchase, please visit [this thread.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=762187)