Hubby is the undisputed king of foodsavering. Nothing comes in this house and goes into one of the freezers without his foodsavering it – well, maybe not frozen vegetables or ice cream, but pretty much everything else!
We recently made a trip to the local slaughterhouse and brought back quite a bit of meat.
So hubby hauled out the old foodsaver:
As well as the bags I bought him as a gift!
And then he chose what meat he wanted to work with.
Since these were simple steaks, it was pretty straightforward. He just place one of each into a bag, and foodsavered:
He uses one steak underneath the other to raise the steak he is currently working on to the correct height. It makes it easier to use your hands to press the button and hold the flap to the foodsaver.
The steak is labeled with date and type and now ready for the freezer.
Some items hubby foodsavers regularly are:
Flour:
And beans and peas:
As well as lard and butter:
The flour, lard and butter we keep in the freezer, the beans and peas in the stockpile. Since I hate the thought of bugs, I definitely am onboard with this habit of hubby’s!
Are you a foodsaver devotee like my hubby? What unique ideas do you have for foodsavering?
{ 17 comments… read them below or add one }
Nice!! I hadn’t thought of food sealing the flours. I keep them in the fridge always, but this is a very good tip. Thank you!
I forgot to add that I purchased my food saver a few month’s back when you and Precious from “frugalmakescents.blogspot.com” posted about an amazing deal. I believe we paid just a smidgen under $30.00 for a very nice food saver, and we used our Amazon GC’s earned thru swagbucks, so the entire purchase was free!!!
I gotta tell you though, it’s been one of the best investments we EVER MADE!!!!!
I don’t have a foodsaver but I’m thinking that it looks like a good idea. I’ve had my fair share of meats that have gotten freezerburn…especially chicken..ugh?? I usually wrap in plastic wrap and put it in a ziploc bag for freezing.
I always separate my meats when I go to BJ’s I put them in one quart freezer bag then I get as much air out of it. Then I will use a gallon freezer bag
I’ve been using a FoodSaver since they first came out on infomercials in the 80s.. My sister bought a set and had one sent to my mom for either her use or mine.. I fell in love with it & had it till I moved 13 years ago because I forgot it on my laundry room shelf.
My brother moved into my house, so its probably right where I left it. 
I bought another about 6 years ago after doing without for way too long.
I love love love it..and I also have a couple of the small drawer size hand-held bag sealers and bottle sealers. I also have wine corks that you can pull the air out of a bottle of wine & it’ll last much longer than a day or two. They are all wonderful.. and you couldnt get me to part with them. I like them better than the VitaMix. I use it more too.
We’ve also used the FoodSaver to vaccume pack our boyscouts clothes, matches, maps, and anything else he needed to keep dry in cold wet weather when he was camping.
I used to use my old one to vaccume beans and rice in jars, along with cerials and grains, but I havent used that attachment with the one I have now. Haha.. Im actually not even sure it has one.. surely it does.
It came with canisters but I dont use them. I should though.
I have an assortment of FS refrigerator containers too but I dont use them either.. (rolling my eyes at myself!)
It all lives downstairs in my basement but it does come up when I buy a bunch of meat to put in the freezer.
The one thing I kept the longest in the freezer was a whole trout my neighbor brought me.. I grilled one & Foodsavered the other.. It was in my freezer in perfect condition for about 3-4 years.. It still looked perfectly fresh but I decided that was just a little too long for my blood. I tossed it but I should have eaten it. There was nothing wrong with it.. I just wasnt wild about this type of trout.
BTW.. that is my very MOST favorite piece of meat in the whole world you’ve savering there… Yum!! ♥
And it cracks me up.. all us FoodSavers say foodsavering.. its definitely a verb.. LOL
Okay, I just bought a FoodSaver a couple of months ago. I love it for meat and veggies for the freezer. I am in need of bags though. What is a good price for bags? Does hubby like the roll or do you have the presized bags? Thank you Ann!
Im not Anns hubby but I like both. The bags are convienent if they fit but there are times I need longer or wider.
You can get deals at Tilia.com (foodsavers home) sometimes. Sign up for their emails. I’ve gotten $60 sets for $12 when they’re cycling product.
You have to strike while the deals hot though, since some of the bloggers post Tilia deals.
You can also get bags & roll material at Kohls decently if you’ve got Cash bucks &/or coupons.
I’ve also gotten great deals on Ebay but as with everything there, you have to be careful.. buyer beware!
Okay y’all got me. Cashing in my 3500 swagbucks and getting me a foodsaver. Amazon the best route?
Thanks! Kinda getting excited.
food saver has the best prices when they have a sale. Check the website often.
I also love my Foodsaver! I’ve had mine for about 10 yrs. I buy my rolls/bags at Costco when they put them on coupon. I also have the rechargable hand held one. I actually use the Ziploc bags with that one since they go on sale on occasion & there’s usually a coupon for Ziploc. Only downside is only Fred Meyer locally carries the Ziploc bags… I also fs all of our cheese once it has been opened and chips, crackers and nuts.
Thought I would let you all know, Costco has a really nice set of bags & rolls on sale right now with the coupon for $36.99 which is AWESOME! You can also order them online if youre a member. There is a limit of 3.
I went to Foodsaver.com, Macy’s, & Kohls to do a price comparison.
The box includes 4-11″x16′ rolls, 1- 8″x20″ roll, & 30 8″x11′ quart bags.
Its $36.99 online or in the store with the coupon
At Foodsaver.com each of the rolls were $10 so ($50) and the quarts were aprox $15. so $65 for all above. Thats half price at Costco.
At Macy’s They had a set of 3 11×16 rolls & 2 8×20 for $59.99
At Kohls, they had the same set Macy’s had for $54.99 and a 44 qt bag set for $24.99.. well over the Foodsaver.com price.
Unless you can get something like a 50% off coupon, I’d say Costco has the best deal around.
There are usually some decent deals at Ebay too but watch the shipping and watch the thickness of the material if it isnt official Food Saver bags or rolls.
Recently, digging around in one of our freezers, I pulled out a package of pork chops for dinner. It had been in that freezer well over a year. They looked fine, so I fixed them for dinner. They were as good as if I’d gotten them fresh that day! I know FoodSaver does not recommend keeping things that long, but nice to know, the chances are you will not have to throw something out if it gets lost in your freezer –
I live alone…..I bought my food saver many years ago and have since updated with a much newer model……I can go to Cosco and buy large quantities of meats, etc. and seal them in bags for future use…..Saves me a lot of money….I am now retired and the savings is real welcome.
My sister gave us her FS when they got a new one. My brother-in-law travels a lot, so when he’s home he fires up the grill and loads it up with lots of meats. He portions out all her servings (sis is a diabetic), then seals them & into the freezer! She has plenty of lunch and dinner selections while he’s gone. We’ve been grilling all our meat and then using the FS and freezing them. Busy days, bbq chicken, fat hamburgers, teriyaki chicken tenders, marinated, grilled steaks…all at your finger tips! Hope this gives other people some ideas of ways to use their FS to make life easier, as well as cheaper!
I had forgotten about fs’ing flour…used to do it, then forgot…now that I’ve been reminded, I’ll use my coupons before they expire and fs the extra. I have room in the freezer for them. I use both of the hand held models almost every day for lunchmeats/cheeses/small portions of leftovers. I have the Life magazine from JFK’s assassination – yes I was alive then…that I fs’d in the 70′s. It’s a multifunctional tool!
http://live.foodsaver.com/May25
Did anyone see this? I still havent since we changed computer lines and its not working well.. driving me up the wall..
Anyways, thought I’d share this for anyone who doensnt have one and has questions. HTH.