“vacuum-sealing food ensures a way to finally invest in the things you do not feel you have enough time for!”
Vacuum-sealing food is a long-term investment minus the risk. What? Think about this, achieving life goals begins with the basics. Vacuum sealers will feel like an investment until you realize the benefits flow back immediately. Maybe you are looking to vacuum seal food to speed up your meat manufacturing business, or you simply want to invest less time, money, and effort into the basics in life such as meal prep and grocery shopping because the fresh vegetables went bad… again. Either way, vacuum-sealing food ensures a way to finally invest in the things you do not feel you have enough time for!
The Purpose of Vacuum Sealers
You were likely told as a kid to remove as much air as possible from the bread bag before you apply the twisty tie and put the bread away. You learned later that Mom was right because aerobic bacteria need oxygen to grow.
Well, this is exactly the goal of a vacuum sealer – it will remove air from the packaging, then heat seals it to create an airtight seal to prevent air from reentering. Why is it important to achieve this? When considering food storage strategies such as containers or freezers, each strives to prevent oxidation – the same reason that iron rusts. It will spoil food due to bacterial growth, causing moisture loss, deterioration, mold, decreased taste, impaired texture and color, etc.
What better way to prevent food spoilage than to simply remove the air with vacuum sealers?
Benefits of Vacuum Sealing Food
Keep in mind that each benefit piggy-backs off the other. So when considering vacuum sealing, each benefit will apply no matter what you vacuum seal!
1. Increases Shelf Life for Safe Food Preservation
Does it ever seem like food goes bad faster than you can put it in your fridge, freezer, or even pantry? The food becomes moldy, deteriorated, stale… we could exhaust the options, but who wants that when we could talk about extending the shelf life by vacuum sealing? Whether for home use or commercial use, vacuum sealers push food storage problems to the back of your mind to become the least of your worries. Simply purchase the food and vacuum seal it in bags, mason jars, or canisters to store away safely!
2. Vacuum Sealing Reduces Waste
You know those leftovers that end up getting forgotten in the back of your fridge? If you vacuum seal the leftovers, they will last for weeks instead of days in your fridge while maintaining the same freshness and taste! The less food is wasted, the less money is going to waste.
The same applies to dry food. No more stale or rancid pantry items after you open a bag of chips or flour!
3. Vacuum Sealing Saves Time
Ways to save time are almost limitless. Here are a few examples:
1. Vacuum sealing allows you to buy food in bulk and safely preserve it. This means less grocery shopping for food that went bad too quickly.
2. Prepare food proportioned evenly for future meals for just you or your whole family.
3. Marination and brining are expedited for high-quality meals. No more 24 hour marination for mediocre results.
4. Vacuum Sealing Saves Money
As Benjamin Franklin states, “time is money”. Applying vacuum sealing approaches this saying from a different angle. Instead of simply sliding up the linear line by spending more time to make more money, vacuum sealing will steepen that linear line because you will spend less time and money! How?
1. Purchase food in bulk when those great deals come around and store away for later (you spend less time and save money)!
2. Less food is wasted meaning you use what you purchase (saving time and money)!
3. A chamber sealer allows you to utilize less expensive chamber pouch bags as opposed to using Foodsaver models only compatible with the more expensive, embossed vacuum seal bags (read why here).
NOTE: With the purchase of our VacSeries machines, you are also paying for our personable service to keep your chamber vacuum sealers out of the dumpster and on your counter for tens of years!
5. Vacuum Sealed Food Maintains Moisture
Moisture is the foundation of food quality. If moisture escapes, the taste, color, and texture are all altered. Vacuum seal your food to minimize contact with the air surrounding the product which means the moisture has nowhere to go! The food will maintain optimal freshness and nutritional value for a much longer shelf life!
6. Vacuum Sealing Prevents Freezer Burn
You expect so much from your freezer when it comes to food storage… until it causes freezer burn. Sometimes during normal container or freezer bag storage, the moisture in food tries to escape to compensate for the dry freezer air. On its path to escape, food particles are destroyed and ice crystals form on the surface. Vacuum packaging the food eliminates air from the equation so the moisture will remain within the product preventing freezer burn.
7. Saves Storage Space
Instead of using containers where the food may not even fill the whole space, package the food in vacuum bags and remove the air. This leaves only the dimensions of the food product. Instead of stacking five half-full containers on top of each other, the vacuum bags will form to the shape of the food to most effectively use the storage!
8. Store Food Safely While Marinating
Add marinade or any other desired seasonings into the vacuum bag. The vacuum will drive that marinade into the meat for a quick, flavorful meal or to have a pre-prepped meal for later!
9. Vacuum Seal Pre-prepped Meals
Busy people (everyone): Do you feel like you are always on the go? Vacuum-sealing food creates the opportunity to be able to grab and go whether it’s a steak you’ve had in the freezer that you can sous vide cook or leftovers from last week.
Families: You can prep freezer meals on the weekends or months ahead of time and simply throw them in a crock pot to cook throughout the day.
Single-person household: Instead of purchasing food sold separately in smaller packs, you can now purchase that food in bulk and vacuum seal it in evenly portioned vacuum bags according to how much you eat. As we all know, this is way cheaper too!
Hosting: You are hosting a dinner but also have a meeting the night before. No need to make the meal the day of or the night before. You can prep a flavorful meal for your guests weeks ahead of time that will warm up with no differences (it’ll be our little secret).
Read about the 3 cooking methods using chamber pouches including sous vide cooking – our personal favorite!
10. Vacuum Sealing is Easy!
We do realize that the first try may be confusing. But we can guarantee that after a couple of tries, you will feel like a pro and it only takes minutes! Additionally, we can help you find which machine and supplies will fit your unique vacuum packaging needs to make it easy from the start!
Do all Vacuum Sealers Provide the Same Level of Benefits?
The simple answer is, no, not all vacuum sealers are the same. Two main categories exist within the vacuum packaging industry – external vacuum sealers and chamber vacuum sealers.
External Vacuum Sealer
These vacuum sealers are smaller and more convenient to transfer but they do not remove as much air with a vacuum draw of around 80%. While this is helpful, the extent to which these benefits are provided will not be as effective. Additionally, vacuum sealing liquids is a challenge and may cause problems. Although these vacuum sealers do hold a removable drip tray, liquid can still hinder a successful seal or get pulled into the pump causing damage over time.
Chamber Vacuum Sealer
A vacuum chamber sealer is more effective in removing air, yet this depends on the pump. Commercial chamber sealers host a dry piston pump that will pull around 90% of the air. On the other hand, our VacSeries line is constructed with an oil pump that pulls up to 99.8% of the air! Chamber vacuum sealers also seal liquids due to the internal vacuum application.
Questions?
Feel free to contact us with any questions you may have. As stated, the machine is worth more with good service! With our 52 years of experience, JVR Industries has confidence in providing long-lasting and effective equipment, supplies for every use, and personable service. We look forward to hearing from you! Click here to watch this video on who JVR Industries is!