FOOD SAVER

It is just my wife and I, so when we bought food the excess often spoiled before we had the same meal again.   We sometimes froze our excess and usually we ended up throwing it away with freezer-burn.

 A few years ago, I bought a new Food Saver through e-bay for under forty-dollars.   That purchase has turned out to be one of our best buys.  Now we buy food when it is on sale and vacuum pack it, and it last for months.   Things that come in quantity we divide up to portion sizes; sliced bacon, we will divide into four strip units, vacuum pack and freeze them; then when we want bacon and eggs, we just take the vacuum-packed bacon out an hour before we cook, and it is as fresh as when we bought it.

Salmon, pork chops, chuck roast and hot dogs ready for the freezer

 fresh blue berries, quick frozen and then vacuum packed

We even vacuum pack individual sandwich makings, like ham and cheese.   When we want to make a sandwich, we can open the pack, place the makings between two pieces of bread – with of course mayonnaise – and we are good to go. 

  Swiss cheese and Kentucky ham ready for a sandwich 

We buy the rolls of bag material and cut it to size.  A fifty-foot vacuum sealer roll cost around nine-dollars, so there is a small expense; but what we save in wasted food, and the quality of the frozen food, is well worth it.

There are many vacuum food savers, with a lot of different bells and whistles, that are priced upwards to three-hundred-dollars, but this inexpensive one works just fine for a small family.  

the Ol’Buzzard     

TIPS ON SAVING FOOD FOR TWO.

Since there are just the two of us, not counting our cats, it has often been the case that food we have stored in the refrigerator has gone over before we had the chance to use it. 

Supermarkets often pack foods in quantities too large for two people to consume.   Anything that is sold by the pound you should be able to downsize.    Grapes are offered in large bags and most people feel they must buy the whole bag; we take a produce bag and select only enough grapes from the large store bag that we feel we will consume in a couple of days.   I have no problem opening a store sealed package and selecting what we need, and it seems the stores have no problem with this.

Some things like broccoli, cauliflower and celery can’t practically be separated, but you can extend the refrigerator life by slicing off a thin layer of the stalk and covering the newly exposed area with a wet paper towel before returning it to the frig. 

 

I have found I can extend the life of mixed greens, which are usually wet when I buy them, by placing a dry paper towel at the bottom of a storage container – putting in the greens – and placing a dry paper towel on top before sealing the container.  I replace the towels if they are damp each time I use the greens.

The vacuum food saver we purchased last year has allowed us to buy meats in larger quantities without worrying about freezer burn.   We also use the vacuum sealer to store blueberries, strawberries and any fruit that can be frozen before packaging.    We even buy frozen fruits and store them in portion size bags for fruit desserts and smoothies.  

Can anyone add to these ideas?

the Ol’Buzzard

OL’BUZZARD’S RAMBLINGS

We got a snow last night.  Not much.  Just enough that I can see deer tracks in the driveway this morning. 

I haven’t watched the news on TV since Trump was elected – and I find I don’t miss the aggravation.    I do read the major paper in the state, The Portland Press Herald, and the local on-line newspaper.   I occasionally scan the news app on Windows 10.  At my age, I don’t want to download the bad karma that twenty-four-hour that TV news rants produce. 

My wife and I are now in our winter comfort mode.  My fire wood in in, all maintenance projects completed, the freezer is full, no major obligations in the near future; so it is time to kick back and enjoy the Maine winter and each other.

I recently bought a vacuum food sealer and it has changed the way we shop.   Prior, we would shop for no more than a week.   When we bought meat too far in advance it was always freezer burned by the time we were ready to use it.  

A nice piece of salmon vacuum sealed and ready for the freezer

 

Now every time we go shopping we buy two or three pieces of meat over and above our need, and vacuum seal them.  As it happens, we have stocked our freezer ahead for a couple of months without putting out a large lump-sum of money – and more importantly the meat seems fresh when we are ready to use it. 

We paid less than $50 for the Vacuum sealer and we buy 100 foot rolls of bags for around $25 on e-bay.

We have all our holiday shopping for each other done.  We celebrate the first five days of winter, exchanging a gift each day beginning on the winter solstice.

I love the fall – but for me, the winter is my favorite time of year. 

A Wednesday Morning Ramble
the Ol'Buzzard