♕WyldeChef

If you barbecue or smoke meats you should really consider buying a vacuum sealer. The modern vacuum sealer can help you save money by allowing you to fill up your smoker every time you decide to build a fire. Lets face it it takes about as much fuel to smoke 10lb of meat as it does to smoke 35 lb. Especially if your running an efficient system.

I have experimented with most types of smoked meats including chicken, pork butt, brisket, ribs and sausage and it is my opinion that they are all  (with the exception of ribs) perfect candidates for freezing in vacuum sealed bags. The cooking process evaporates the water content leaving the fats and tissues to insulate the meat from damage from ice crystals. All of the meats with the exception of the ribs came out as visually pleasing and tasty as the day I took them out of the smoker.

Believe me when I say I was amazed at the quality that remained with a brisket I thawed some 6 weeks after serving fresh at a dinner party. Every slice was perfection, no grey meat, perfect coloring and the taste and texture were outstanding. If I hadn’t taken it from the freezer myself I would not have known. And I can smell frozen food a mile away.

Storage aside you can do a wonderful trick with vacuum seal bags and marinade. Just place the meat to be marinaded and the marinade in a large bag and vacuum seal the vacuum pulls the air from the surface of the meat to be replaced by the marinade. It may be a little messy but it cuts marinade time in half. Some units come with seal able jars. These would work well for marinading.

There are currently a couple of vacuum sealing systems on the market. The original, consisting of either pre-cut or rolls of seal-able bag material that you fill and then seal using the vacuum/heat sealing unit and a newer variety based on a zipper bag system where the bags each come with a one way seal

Vacuum sealing can save you a ton of money allowing you to buy in quantity when meats and cheeses go on sale. Tripling your frozen foods shelf life and at least doubling the length of other types of storage. You can hardly go wrong with this amazingly handy tool. You can find a good selection of Vacuum Sealer’s here.