Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat
Eating and Drinking => Kitchen Natter => Topic started by: jambop on November 05, 2020, 13:07
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We live out of town and my wife does a big shop every couple of weeks for fresh meat and veg. For a while we have just frozen the meat wrapped in cling film and used it up. Of course this leads to the odd packet being missed and not eaten before we have started on the next batch and freezer burn can be a problem. I have taken the plunge and bought a vacuum sealer so that if things do get a bit out of order there should be no worries as this storage method greatly extends the life of the product and eliminates freezer burn. I also see on youtube that some people are using their machines to store fresh veg without the need for blanching although there are some vegs that must be blanched. I am now looking forward to freezing beans when there are a bagful ready and not having to wait until there are a lot of beans to make the faf of blanching worth the while. It is also very handy for saving left overs and cold meat and pate in the fridge using the ziplok bags with the handy vac valve on them.
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I've always used plastic bags in the freezer, rather than cling film, never had freezer-burn with them. I've found things at the bottom that are 2 years old, before now, and they've been fine to eat.
Zip lock bags are nice for things that you use a little at a time, though.
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I’ve used a vac. machine for years, but I do blanch veg so that it keeps longer in the freezer. I must admit to having fruit (raspberries, black and red currants and gooseberries) in the freezer in vac bags that have been in there for some years: it still makes great crumbles and jams.
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I've always used plastic bags in the freezer, rather than cling film, never had freezer-burn with them. I've found things at the bottom that are 2 years old, before now, and they've been fine to eat.
Zip lock bags are nice for things that you use a little at a time, though.
We usually wrap with cling film and put things into a plastic ziplock bag but that will not keep things for more than 6 months in a domestic deep freeze. Yes you can eat the stuff safely but the actual flavour of the food has gone by then. To keep longer you need a freezer that goes down lower than -20C which is a standard domestic average at best then you have problems with frosting. The worst possible type is the deep freeze that is "frost free" these constantly go through cycles to remove frost... enzymes run riot in them. I know I was a research scientist we would not have one in the lab . Better to defrost on a schedule and remove everything into another freezer while you defrost. Removing air is the secret to avoiding oxidation and protecting the flavour. Each to their own but food from a domestic freezer two years old... no thanks :lol:
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Yes, I vac bag everything.
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plastic ziplock bag but that will not keep things for more than 6 months in a domestic deep freeze.
It seems to work very well for me, in my chest freezer, though, without any freezer burn or loss of taste ;)
Each to their own, and as it hasn't worked for you, then good luck with the vacuum bags :)
I thoroughly agree about the 'frost-free' fridge freezers, though - absolute rubbish. Once the virus is under control, I'll be getting rid of mine ::)
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Can you reuse vac sealed bags?
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I do, as long as they’re clean. I don’t reuse them if they’ve had raw meat in them