[kaseymarie83]

Hi Beautiful ladies of 3FC! I am hoping to get some help on a subject that I'm rather new and dumb feeling about.

My mom bought me a vacuum sealer for my birthday with the idea of saving money and portion control to make meals ahead in perfect portions. I just got it this weekend with the portion sized bags. I took a package of chicken breasts and split them up into one breast per package and filled it with a yukon gold potato red bell pepper, carrots and onion with Fat free Italian dressing, garlic powder and black pepper. I think I can just grab it and throw it in a pot of boiling water or thaw it out and put it in a baking dish to roast for 25 minutes. I'll let you know how it goes!

My question is if any of you wonderful women have a vacuum sealer? My husband is deployed so it's just me in the house now and I'm wondering if I can vacuum seal things that I don't eat a lot of frequently like bread? Also, how long does vacuum sealing bread and other products last so I could seal up some of his favorites and send them to him? He's an infantry pilot and only gets to a main base for real food about once every 3 weeks. I would like to send him some things so he can put them in his pack and have them on missions. Any advice would be great and helpful on this awesome present!

I hope you are all having a great day!

[Suzanne 3FC]

I have one!

First tip: Don't vacuum seal bread I bought a Food Saver about 15 years. One of the first things I tried to do was a croissant and it immediately turned into a coaster But you can seal hard items such as crackers and cookies. I've read that they will stay good for about 6 weeks, but I don't have personal experience.

If you mix meat and veggies, make sure they are portioned to cook in the same amount of time. Otherwise you might have raw meat and mushy veggies. I personally would freeze the veggie packets separately from the chicken if it were me.

It's great for buying bulk blocks of cheese (etc) and sealing more reasonable sizes. I use mine for freezing things that I don't want to get freezer burned.

You can seal things to send to your husband, but you would need to stick to shelf stable items such as trail mix or hard cookies. It's a great idea!

[kaseymarie83]

Thanks Suzanne! I'll give that a shot!

[WannaBeLoserAgain]

We use vacuum bag sealer for meat to be put in the freezer for awhile. Remember you have to order new bags and they can be expensive.

[CyndiM]

You can also buy canisters and use them to vacuum seal used jars (PB, salsa, etc). I use mine for dried fruits and veggies and bulk grains. It's a good way to keep flours and grains fresh and moth free.