I agree with cilantro, I hope your freezer isn't self-defrosting, as the defrost cycles on and off and your food defrosts a little, then refreezes, over and over, and it impairs the quality of your frozen items.

I raise beef and chicken and the meat always gets vacuum packed, either by the meat packer or by me. As for fruits and vegetables, if I think I'll be using them within 6 months or so, I'll put them in ziplock bags, if I want longer storage I vacuum pack them. Soup gets put into ziplock bags and frozen flat, so they can be easily stacked. I also freeze in canning/freezing jars, things like AnnT's green enchilada sauce and home pressed apple cider get frozen in jars and then kept in wire baskets in the freezer.

Also as mentioned by ci_lantro, I keep gallon jugs of water frozen in any empty space, as it helps keep things frozen in the event of a power outage, and they are useful to put into coolers, as well as reducing power usage.

Congratulations on the new freezer, it'll be full before you know it!

Annie

Thanks for the replies. It is a manual defrost so I have that going for me. I read about the water jugs to fill the empty space so I’ve been saving them. It’s good to hear other people say it works well too. Looks like I’ll have to start looking into a vacuum sealer. I’ll see what amazon has. Thanks again.

Head over to the Food Saver web site, they are running a sale on the sealers and the bags. There is not one item in my freezer that has not been vac packed. Meats and other items keep much longer. Any my favorite things the ready made meals that have been packed and just need to be re-heated for a fast and tasty dinner. Just plan these leftovers when cooking and you are set for busy nights.

Freeze items that are liquid in a container, pop out of the container and seal it up in the Foodsaver. Meats should also be pre-frozen before sealing as the"juices" are now contained.

Enjoy your new freezer!

Pre freezing meats is not something I have heard of before. You freeze it in a zip lock or container first and then put in a vacuum bag? Or else the vacuum squeezes all the juices out?

I've had good luck wrapping unfrozen meat in the plastic from the supermarket meat wrapper and then putting it in a vac bag with some folded paper towelling in the top, close to where you're going to seal, vacuuming and sealing. Doesn't work 100% of the time but does work most of the time. I do pre-freeze things like green beans, sliced rhubarb, etc., package frozen and vac & seal. Otherwise, there is too much moisture clinging to the food from processing to be able to get the bag to seal.

I had a love/ hate relationship with my Foodsaver for years. At least half, if not more of the pkgs that I sealed up using genuine Foodsaver bag would lose their vacuum after just a short time in the freezer. I ran out of the quart sized bags and tried some generic bags and that solved the problem. The bags that I got are the 4 mil ones from vacandpac.com.

http://www.vacandpac.com/store/pc/home.asp

This is a good starter Foodsaver. I bought an earlier model before that had the hose already attached, and so when the tip broke, it was not repairable. The one I have now (in the link) works much better and does not waste as much of the bag when I reseal it. My first one would grab 3/4" minimum of bag to reseal, but the new one only takes about 1/4", and so I can reuse bags many times, only losing about 1/4" of length each time I open and reseal. I never liked the zipper Foodsaver bags - perhaps I should try ones from vacandpac, but right now I have enough rolls to last me a while.

I wrap meat (generally fish or chicken) in butcher paper before putting it in a vacuum bag. I double bag most of what I freeze, and this way I do not have to prefreeze. I use Ziplock bags for the inner bag and squeeze almost all of the air out before vacuum sealing in another bag.

That is a good basic model that Lars posted. Similar to what I have. It really is the only way to keep food fresh. Once you pass the learning curve, lots of tricks to make it work efficiently. I always double seal. Takes a few more seconds a bag but so worth it. Some foods can poke a hole like the bone of a bone-in pork chop or shrimp tails. Wrapping in paper or parchment can help.

Some things are fine in regular freezer zip locks. Whole cherry tomatoes I have in a dozen Qrt zips and I can take out what I need. Roasted garden tomatoes, sliced and roasted with garlic, onions, a few hot peppers, etc....tomatillos...depending on harvest I just flat pack in regular quart zips. Then freeze together in a gallon zip.

Probably will not have a clue what I'm talking about until you have one, but a good trick is to cut off the bottom slice of food saver bag once double sealed, then use it in a zip-lock. A zip-lock does not have the 'air ridges' so the strip placed into the much cheaper zip-lock will help draw out the air to seal.

Cut off the zipper part. You can see the waffle strip inside with the pistachios. Bottom to the top. It will seal with the strip. Works great for small bags of berries, a cup or two of fresh corn off the cob, etc.

For wet ingredients like soups and roasted tomatoes, I fold the saver bags lip over so no juice get on the top of the bag and into a soup bowl for easy filling. I freeze liquids before sealing on a tray together, seal the next day. (dish cloth stand-in) You can see the double seal and always an unused inch to take a strip for later.

The strip needs to go all the way down and to the top for success. Then seal as usual.

I think I need to see a video of that! Do you put the Ziploc bag in the Foodsaver machine?

Lars, here's a video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJU8Z9gmDw0

I had to go looking because I wasn't understanding what sleevendog was trying to convey.

Neat trick, that.

Well, not so fast. 2 of the 4 did not hold a seal but I have half a dozen bags of pecans I sealed same way last Sept that are still fine in the freezer.

I recall going through all the 'save money' tricks a couple yrs ago. Assumed it was common knowledge since those food saver bags are stupid expensive. I still use them from Costco for meats. But like she said in the video it is painful to put 5 cents of food in a 50 cent bag. I have a case of 1,000 3x7 smooth bags I use for spice blends. About 2 cents each. Thicker than freezer zip-locks. Do the freezer zip-locks feel thinner all the sudden or it is me. My box is a new purchase.

I found this video and similar. video

I like the Glad zipper bags better than Zip-Locs but my (Glad) stock is several years old so I don't know how the new ones compare to the old. I don't like how Zip-Locs always tear at the seam above the seal. And I love the cool blue color of the Glad freezer bags---which has not one thing to do with performance. The Glad bags are not as widely stocked as Zip-Loc brand so you have to kinda' hunt for them.

Forgot to mention that I vac seal only beef and pork. Don't bother with chicken because I have a high turnover with chicken. I buy a lot of those bargain 10# bags of leg quarters because I like dark meat chkn far better than white meat. Separate the leg from the thigh, trim excess skin & fat (which goes into the stock pot or pressure cooker to make broth). I stuff the individual pieces into fold-over top sandwich bags...the bag 'sticks' to the chicken eliminating a lot of the air pockets...then the individual portions are bagged in a gallon size freezer zipper bag. This system works well with chicken breasts, too. I always keep some boneless, skinless breasts for a few recipes where I prefer the white meat and the ease of using boneless pieces.

Vacuum Sealing is the way to go. For years we used a Foodsaver with fairly good results. 3 years ago we upgraded to a Vacmaster VP215 Chamber Vacuum. It has really expanded and improved our use of the our 3 freezers. A vacuum chamber works differently than a Foodsaver in that it removes all air from a chamber and then seals. This process means it does not try to pull the contents to the opening of the bag. This makes sealing soups, broths and stews very simple.

I am about to put my Foodsaver up for sale. It is just not worth the hassle and expense in my opinion. I guess we eat our frozen food too fast to justify it. Plus I notice zero difference is the taste/quality of meat that has been put in a ziploc bag versus a food saver bag.

I like my Food Saver. That said, I use it for certain things. My husband is a deer hunter. I have several deer a year and they have to last. The shoulders, shanks, roasts, and neck are put in Food Saver bags. They will last for several years, if needed in the freezer. The ground, steaks, and cube steaks are wrapped in freezer paper. They also last, because it is easy to remove the air. Air is your enemy. If I cook a turkey, ham, boston butts, ect, they are divided after the first meal into 1 pound or 1 1/2 pound Food Saver packages.

Anything else I buy, (chicken thighs, boneless chicken breast, boneless pork chops), are put two to a Glad Fold lock top sandwich bag and put in a quart Ziplock freezer bag. This is for my convenience, not to save money. Just enough to have on hand until they go on sale again. Soups, casseroles, ect. are frozen in whatever is the right size. They are usually used in a month.

If you have something you want to last for a long time, use the Food Saver. Next use Freezer Bags. For short storage, freeze in the container you wish to cook in.

"----It is just not worth the hassle and expense in my opinion.---"

Vacuum freezer bagging is to minimize freezer burn. But why spend money?

Here is my method. Sorry for the poor video quality:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l88n3QEFVj8

By the way, if you read the comments following the video about health concerns. Just keep in mind that when chemicals are frozen, there will be very little reactions.

dcarch

looney, we did the same thing. I LOVE our vacuum chamber. The bags are so cheap that I never feel guilty about using it. We have three freezers and raise our own meat and it's been a game changer for us in many ways. It's not feasible for everyone, but for us it sure was.