Sucking it up, er, out!

Vacuum Sealer

I love my vacuum sealer, and not just because TheHusband got it for me as a gift. (Yes, it was on the pre-approved list of "appliances" I would be thrilled to get. He learned his lesson the hard way.)

Before I continue, I need to confess that I haven't actually used my vacuum sealer in awhile. BUT it has nothing to do with the vacuum sealer itself. It has to do with me being lazy unmotivated not having enough spoons.

Let me give you a list of the reasons why I love my vacuum sealer:

1. It allows me to buy in bulk, which is cheaper. You see, it's just TheHusband and me, so we tend not to go through things as quickly as, say, my family did when I was growing up (7 kids descending on the dinner table can look suspiciously like a swarm of locusts, and leave just about as much destruction in their wake). But we like to save money just as much as the next person/family, so we have a membership at one of the "popular" warehouse stores. We can buy a bunch of food stuffs, bring them home and vacuum seal them in the smaller portions that we use.

2. It allows me to buy in bulk, which means fewer trips to the grocery store! Enough said.

3. It allows me to buy "in season". Yeah, you can buy frozen fruits and veggies (and I do) but nothing compares to the taste, quality, nutritional content, or price of produce purchased in season. Speaking of which, the strawberry season is almost upon us.

4. It allows me to extend the life of leftovers. Yup, there are times when the ATC house has leftovers. Instead of throwing them in the fridge, we can vacuum seal them and throw them in the freezer. This means I can take them to work at a later date ('cuz who really wants to eat spaghetti three days in a row?) OR TheHusband can have something other than sandwiches for lunch on the days he is home.

5. It reduces the chance of freezer burn, which extends the amount of time you can have something in your freezer. I can't claim that I've never had something that was vacuum sealed get freezer burned, but I can say that I think it's only happened once, maybe twice, in the many years that I've been using mine.

Now I'm not going to recommend a specific brand or style to you. because I've only got experience with the vacuum sealer I have (which looks a lot like the one in the picture above). Although, I can tell you that those little handheld Ziploc ones can be handy. However, I will recommend that if you don't already have a vacuum sealer you should seriously look into getting one.