Vacuum VS. freezer ziplock
calm1
13 years ago
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calm1
13 years agodigdirt2
13 years agoRelated Discussions
New freezer bag technique.
Comments (4)Yes, these are a new product. The bags are still zipper type and the pump is a small hand held device. There is a hole on the bags with a little plastic valve in them that helps to hold the vacuum once you pull out the air and remove the pump. I think the setup is either Glad or Ziplock. There have been recent TV commericals on them. I would expect that the bags are not as heavy (thick) as the Food Saver types, and may be a bit more expensive than a plain zipper type plastic bags, due to the added hole/valve combination. I have even suggested that Food Saver offer a premade bag with an attached zipper on it, and a fully opened opposite end, where you put in the food and pull out the air and then seal. To open, the zipper is how it would be done, and once you remove some of the item inside, you could reseal it, but not to the same original vacuum however....See MoreDry, vacuum, freeze, rehydrate?
Comments (10)calm1: Yes, you can freeze whole peppers. I slice the top off, remove seeds/membrane and freeze. When ready to use, remove from freezer and stuff while still frozen (bonus! they don't split if you pack the stuffing in!). Bake as usual. By the time you get them stuffed and into the oven, the pepper is beginning to thaw and no time adjustment is needed. medcave: Yeah, I know I don't have to pre-freeze on a cookie sheet, but I seem to have better luck with them not freezing into chunks that way! :+) I keep peppers and onions chopped for winter use as well. My local farm has an "End of Season" sale every year about the first weekend in November. I always hit that and pick up their HUGE peppers at 6 or 8 for $1.00! I can't grow 'em for that!!! They are so big that I can't wrap both my hands around them (I am an average sized female). Onions are half price that day too as well as everything else. FUN day! It's a Friday/Saturday thing, but ya gotta be there before they open on Friday for good selection! Deanna...See MoreVacuum sealer - would you recommend one?
Comments (53)When I place my 25 pound bag of sugarless angelfood cake mix in FS containers, I used 2 gallon zipper bags to hold about 10 pounds in each canister, and I leave the bags partially open. I used the big 1.5 gallon huge size canisters. I do make sure that the rubber seals are very clean and have no bits of stuff or foreign materials in the seal areas. The domed canisters are easy to pull a decent vacuum on. I use a seperate vacuum pump however as it gives me a much stronger vacuum that can hold a cover on for many months. Thats how my cake mix is stored, and is still under vacuum, as is the grated cheese in the fridge. If there is even a single nick on the plastic edge where the seal is made to the rubber ring, it will usually leak. I have moistened the lip with a little water and placed the lid on and its pumped down quite well. Another way to get that seal to hold better is to use a very light coating of non stick spray, applied on a paper towel. Its applied VERY THIN and would be lighly applied to the plastic rim of the canister. This will help to ensure a good seal, but the best I get is when I use my external vacuum pump. For the big bucket shaped containers with flat and concave lids with the knob, I have has to fix a few small cracks that show up around the knob. I use crazy glue to pull the glue into the cracks under vacuum and its hardened off with an activator that turns it solid in one second. The cracks that form are because I use a very powerful vacuum pump. Right now, I have a batch of vinegar salt brine waiting for the next wave of pepperoncini peppers to get canned, and its under vacuum. Basically, a stronger vacuum pump may be needed. It also may be that the pump you have inside the FS is either dirty or worn out so its not pulling a vacuum very well. The pumps in the FS are quite small, and most have a built in sensor that shuts them off once they reach a specific pressure which is obviously lower than 30 inches of mercury (read on a vacuum gauge). The square or rectangular containers will crack down the sides every time. I went through 3 of them and found that even though they are thick plastic, its not designe dwell enough to hold a good vacuum. All my square ones cracked in the corners....See MoreFreezer column vs Freezer Drawers
Comments (18)Re cookie sheets, it's the particular size and shape. One of the pros of my column freezer is that it takes the baking sheets that come with my oven. Some baking sheets won't fit anything. You can always find (or alter!) sheets to actually fit in the cooler. With an upright, clearing a single shelf for the baking sheet is easy. I have a pair of shelves that are only about 5-6" apart anyway, and I try to plan to have space, so I can just move a few things around. With drawers, you'd have to give over a whole drawer, at which point taking the sheet in and out might be an issue and you might want to put some kind of vertical lift handles on your sheet. If you put it on top of other stored frozen things, you have to make sure they're level enough, and insulate them somehow (maybe just putting in a layer of newspapers in a bag (previously chilled in fridge) ahead of time (or kept in the freezer for the purpose), so the room temperature sheet won't warm up what's it's stacked on. It can be done. Or maybe you have several quarter sheets and use a stacker in a corner. Or maybe you just don't worry about freezing meatballs and the like or put them in a container rather than a vacuum sealed bag. You can make anything work. Just offering up a potential con, not a deal breaker. :)...See Morecalm1
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