...and get benefits!
Do you often cook with fresh food and/or do you have a garden? Then it is worth investing in a vacuum sealer. With this, a wide variety of foods can be sealed airtight in a bag. They stay fresh, have a longer shelf life and lose their flavour more slowly. Even tea and coffee can be safely stored. However, there are a few points to consider when buying and using a vacuum sealer.
The hand vacuum sealer is ideal for occasional use in private households. It fits in every drawer and is basically nothing more than a vacuum pump. You connect this to a special bag with a valve and pull the air out. However, since this is not sealed airtight, the contents can only be kept for a few days. This system is particularly interesting for temporarily vacuuming meat for an upcoming barbecue party. The marinade can be absorbed more quickly and does not give off any odours to the rest of the contents of your fridge.
Don't want to resort to bags with a valve and want to keep food fresh longer? Then the classic bar vacuum sealer is the more interesting solution. It is a flat and therefore quite compact device. The film bag is placed in the vacuum sealer at the open end. Now the device sucks the air out. The bag is then hermetically sealed with a heating element.
Models that draw a double weld seam are recommended. This allows you to store sauces and moist food even more safely. The bar vacuum sealer keeps food fresh for a long time, but also requires a special film or vacuum bag. If you wish, you can purchase the bar vacuum sealer in a set with a sous-vide cooker. Fish, meat and vegetables can be cooked in a water bath to retain vitamins. The chamber vacuum sealer is a very powerful version. Here you put the film bag and its contents into a vacuum chamber. This vacuum sealer is too big for normal households. It shows its advantage in the gastronomy sector.
Vacuuming is about preventing oxygen and bacteria from penetrating. Natural aromas and vitamins are retained for longer. You can store the filled bags in the fridge or freezer to save space. Here, the lack of oxygen eliminates any risk of freezer burn. As mentioned, vacuum marinating is another main function of these devices. Meat vacuum sealing is a common practice these days, not just among barbecue enthusiasts.
The device does not necessarily have to be used in the kitchen. Of course you can pack and shrink-wrap any items in an airtight way. This makes sense for jewellery, valuable coins and documents, among other things.
