Vacuum Sealing vs Premium Plastic Wrap

[jnw]

I find Premium Plastic Wrap (we get the Great Value brand from Walmart), works just as good as a vacuum sealer preserving meats in the freezer, and is many times cheaper. Not good for sous vide but we never sous vide.

Idea is to wrap them tightly with the cling wrap to get all the air out.  Then you put multiple wrapped portions into a gallon freezer bag.  These keeps all frost off the meat and lasts for a very long time in the freezer.

Order of magnitudes cheaper.

I am sure most all of you already know this but figured I'd share.

[SailingOnASmallSailboat]

I use freezer ziploc bags that I essentially vacuum seal (insert a straw into the corner of the seal area, mostly close it, then suck all the remaining air out through the straw then quickly close the seal the rest of the way). Put wrapped meat into another bag that I do the same thing with.

The bonus with this is that I wash the bags and reuse them over and over. Much less plastic going into the garbage.

[uniwelder]

I want to add two points---

1) Vacuum bags are expensive, but you can reuse them for a limited number of times.  To take the meat out, cut closely along one end, flip bag inside out, wash/dry, flip back.  The bag is now ready for vacuum sealing again, just an inch shorter than it used to be.

2) We've been using Mason jars more often now for freezing solids--- berries, meat chunks, etc.  There's enough air space between pieces that the jars don't crack.  The glass and lid are totally impermeable to moisture loss besides the initial frosting due to the air inside the jar.  Zero plastic waste.

[Morning Glory]

I like freezer paper. I double wrap if it's something that's going to be stored a long time.

[sonofsven]

I find Premium Plastic Wrap (we get the Great Value brand from Walmart), works just as good as a vacuum sealer preserving meats in the freezer, and is many times cheaper. Not good for sous vide but we never sous vide.

Idea is to wrap them tightly with the cling wrap to get all the air out.  Then you put multiple wrapped portions into a gallon freezer bag.  These keeps all frost off the meat and lasts for a very long time in the freezer.

Order of magnitudes cheaper.

I am sure most all of you already know this but figured I'd share.

Define "very long time". I'm eating some salmon fillets from June 2021 right now that I vac sealed and there's no freezer burn. Still not as good as fresh. But no damage.
I spend a lot of time and effort salmon fishing and so I want a method that works.
I clear my freezer methodically though, ymmv. I find stuff in my mom's huge freezer pushing ten years!

[jnw]

I find Premium Plastic Wrap (we get the Great Value brand from Walmart), works just as good as a vacuum sealer preserving meats in the freezer, and is many times cheaper. Not good for sous vide but we never sous vide.

Idea is to wrap them tightly with the cling wrap to get all the air out.  Then you put multiple wrapped portions into a gallon freezer bag.  These keeps all frost off the meat and lasts for a very long time in the freezer.

Order of magnitudes cheaper.

I am sure most all of you already know this but figured I'd share.

Define "very long time". I'm eating some salmon fillets from June 2021 right now that I vac sealed and there's no freezer burn. Still not as good as fresh. But no damage.
I spend a lot of time and effort salmon fishing and so I want a method that works.
I clear my freezer methodically though, ymmv. I find stuff in my mom's huge freezer pushing ten years!

I've eaten fish a few years old from my freezer wrapped in plastic wrap. Was perfect.

I think it's awesome you are catching your own fish.  That sure saves a lot of money :)

Most of the stuff in the freezer, to be honest, we go through within 1 year.   The plastic wrap definitely works well for us for everything.  We fill a chest freezer with meat we buy in bulk by the case, to save money.  Take it out of cryovac , portion it up and wrap in saran wrap.  Those portions are usually eated within a few months most times.

[RyanAtTanagra]

PTF.  I buy a lot of chicken when it goes on sale and freeze.  I've been debating on if I should get a vacuum sealer.  I hate plastic, though.  I've been wrapping individual pieces in aluminum foil then putting those in gallon freezer bags that I can reuse.  But not sure how good that is for long-term storage, nor if foil is any better environmentally than plastic wrap.

[Cranky]

I had a vacuum sealer that I got on some giant deal, and it did a nice job but it was a lot of trouble unless I was sealing a ton of stuff. I did like that you could reuse the bags. I didn’t bring it when we moved this year and i still can’t decide if that was the right choice!

When we’ve bought bulk meat, it came sealed, though.

[ChickenStash]

I use normal plastic wrap to freeze anything that I know I'll use in the near future (weeks). I switch to vac bags for things like bulk/sale items that I don't have an immediate plan to use. I also sous vide cook occasionally and found the vac bags easier to deal with than using freezer bags (although, they do usually work).

To keep costs down, I have a very basic Seal-A-Meal unit I caught on sale and use off-brand vac bags that come in large rolls. Commercial/restaurant style, maybe. Just cut to size, seal one end, insert food, vac-seal other end.

[Fishindude]

I butcher and package a lot of meat   Started using a vacuum sealer probably 15 years ago and would never go back to wrapping.
Vac sealed bags preserve the meat in top condition much longer.

The vac bags can also be purchased pretty darned cheap if you buy large quantities over the internet.  They are very expensive at your local stores when you are buying the small rolls or the (20) bags to the box quantities.

[big_owl]

I use a vacuum sealer for all our meat including Miyazaki wagyu.  The bags come on a roll and you just cut off how much you need.  I have meat easily 5-7yrs old that tastes great when cooked so I'm fine with spending a few extra dollars on the sealer rolls to have that luxury. 

[WSUCoug1994]

Similarly - we have never found plastic wrap/freezer bags to work for any reasonable amount of time.  We have found the price of the bags we use to be worth the price of not having meat get ruined.  We also will often make the bags a little bigger than we actually need when making them off of the roll so we can easily reuse them.  I would have to double check but pretty sure we get our rolls from Costco.

We are still working on a good strategy for harvesting our garden and freezing the veggies.  Haven't quite figured that out yet....

[sonofsven]

Similarly - we have never found plastic wrap/freezer bags to work for any reasonable amount of time.  We have found the price of the bags we use to be worth the price of not having meat get ruined.  We also will often make the bags a little bigger than we actually need when making them off of the roll so we can easily reuse them.  I would have to double check but pretty sure we get our rolls from Costco.

We are still working on a good strategy for harvesting our garden and freezing the veggies.  Haven't quite figured that out yet....

I don't normally freeze veggies, but I freeze lots of berries by laying them out on a tray in the freezer, then vac sealing. Maybe that would work with veggies?

[Ron Scott]

I have some LPs from the ‘60s but no frozen burgers from that time. All but the cheapest plastic wraps do a pretty good job at preserving foods in the freezer, for a couple months if necessary. I mostly use Costco’s wrap.

Related, I watched a short documentary about the chef from Nobu—upscale Sushi—who said he always froze his fresh fish for days before thawing and serving because it made it more tender.

[Fishindude]

I don't normally freeze veggies, but I freeze lots of berries by laying them out on a tray in the freezer, then vac sealing. Maybe that would work with veggies?

We freeze lots of veggies.   Green beans get thrown into a pot of boiling water for five minutes, then immediately cooled, dump out on a towel to get most of the water off, then vac seal.   Corn, lima beans, peas, etc. can be done very similarly.
Cherry tomatoes get frozen like you do berries.  They are great later in vegetable soup, spaghetti, chili or stews.

[WSUCoug1994]

I don't normally freeze veggies, but I freeze lots of berries by laying them out on a tray in the freezer, then vac sealing. Maybe that would work with veggies?

We freeze lots of veggies.   Green beans get thrown into a pot of boiling water for five minutes, then immediately cooled, dump out on a towel to get most of the water off, then vac seal.   Corn, lima beans, peas, etc. can be done very similarly.
Cherry tomatoes get frozen like you do berries.  They are great later in vegetable soup, spaghetti, chili or stews.

We were flashing the veggies but I don't think we let them dry enough as they almost immediately had freezer burn.  We "sauce" our tomatoes but we love broccoli and cauliflower and I was hesitant to crush them in the vacuum sealer.  Corn and Peas worked pretty well but overall we need to let everything dry more I think.  Thanks for the insights.

[Fishindude]

we love broccoli and cauliflower and I was hesitant to crush them in the vacuum sealer. 

Just hit the "seal" button before they smash down too much.

[WSUCoug1994]

we love broccoli and cauliflower and I was hesitant to crush them in the vacuum sealer. 

Just hit the "seal" button before they smash down too much.

I was thinking about that this morning but then I was curious if leaving too much air in there would compromise the veggies - I guess we just try and get as much air out without compromising the veggies - likely better than the plastic wrap/ziplock combination.

[Raeon]

I use freezer ziploc bags that I essentially vacuum seal (insert a straw into the corner of the seal area, mostly close it, then suck all the remaining air out through the straw then quickly close the seal the rest of the way). Put wrapped meat into another bag that I do the same thing with.

The bonus with this is that I wash the bags and reuse them over and over. Much less plastic going into the garbage.

There's an even more effective method than the straw method if you don't mind using a little water.
https://youtu.be/fO_lcL7Ibgo
Essentially, you close all but the corner of the zipper. Dunk all BUT that corner underwater. The air gets displaced. Then, while the bag is still underwater finish closing the ziploc. Pat bag dry and freeze. More effective than straw and no risk of accidentally sucking in raw chicken juices.