Vacuum sealing, freezer space, and saving - a revelation - Page 2

[Irishmommy]

If I'm freezing something that I might want to open and reseal, I try and make the bag longer, so that I can open carefully and refreeze the same bag. I also reuse bags that can still fit stuff, unless they contained meat.

[JudiAU]

Weve had the best luck with the actual foodsaver bags, but yes, you have to factor in the cost when you calculate your "savings." The biggest difference in quality we see is meat and prepared foods like stew, because it packs flate. The bags are reusable of course.

[RosieL]

FoodSaver Continuous Roll Bag Material, 11 Inch by 18 Feet (2 Rolls) $36.49 - http://www.amazon.com/FoodSaver-Continuous-Roll-Material-Rolls/dp/B00004Y2RU 

Ziploc Freezer Bag, Gallon Value Pack, 30-Count 10.75x10.75 $4.59- http://www.amazon.com/Ziploc-Freezer-Gallon-Value-30-Count/dp/B003UEGZNE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1303174494&sr=8-1

Hrm. By my calculations you get 36 11x12" bags (minus a couple inches for sealing) for $36 of the Foodsaver brand. That's about a dollar per bag. The ziplocs are about $0.13 per bag. Hrm. 

Well, I guess I'll make a big effort to re-use these bags! There *must* be generic version somewhere.

[mnnice]

That's a pretty good price for the Ziplocs.  I usually figure .20 is the regular retail and with sales and coupons I can usually get them down to about .10

[SundayCrepes]

I just found out Ziplock brand bags (and Saran Wrap) are BPA, phthalate, and dioxin free. I wonder about the FoodSaver bags.

Someone just told me they freeze in canning jars. The canning lids have BPA in them so you need to buy special lids if you want to avoid BPA.

[SundayCrepes]

The one down-side to freezing is what happens if the power goes out?

I pumped and froze breastmilk for 11 months prior to adopting our daughter. I had a small upright freezer full of milk. When she was a month old, we went out of town for 4 days. I inadvertently left the freezer open a crack and it stayed that way the whole time we were gone. I lost 75% of my milk. It was one of the worst days of my life. I was still able to get my daughter to 5 months of age only using my milk, but then I needed to supplement with donor milk. I could have gotten by without donor milk if it hadn't been for that freezer incident.

I froze veggie broth and beans today. I still don't trust freezers 100%. That may be something folks want to consider if canning is an option for them.

[velochic]

Originally Posted by SundayCrepes 
Someone just told me they freeze in canning jars. The canning lids have BPA in them so you need to buy special lids if you want to avoid BPA.

<snip>

The one down-side to freezing is what happens if the power goes out?

We have a generator for this very reason.  If the power goes out, your deep freeze is good for at least 48 hours.  We have enough fuel to keep the generator running enough to keep the freezer going for about 6 weeks.  We also have enough canning supplies and a camping stove that if it were an emergency, we could can everything we have in the freezer than could be canned.  (Obviously not the things like ice cream, but I'm sure dd would be more than happy to make sure that doesn't go to waste!)  We buy our meat by the animal/side and IMO, having a generator is an insurance policy against that investment.

We also have toddler locks on our deep freezers (we have two), so that the door is not only closed, but locked each time.  This prevents mistakenly leaving the door open.

As for the BPA in canning lids... you shouldn't have your jars so full that the food comes in contact with the lids.  If you do, then you've over-filled your jars and the least of your worries is going to be BPA contamination.   You're going to be cleaning up broken jars and food inside your freezer.
 

[SundayCrepes]

Originally Posted by velochic 

We also have toddler locks on our deep freezers (we have two), so that the door is not only closed, but locked each time.  This prevents mistakenly leaving the door open.

Someone told me the problem with toddler locks is that if children are playing and one child goes in the fridge or freezer and another child locks the lock, the child in the fridge/freezer cannot push the door open and will suffocate. Without the locks, they at least have a chance to push the door open. I know this is probably a pretty rare event, but I'm not willing to risk it. After I lost so much of my breastmilk, we put a lock on our freezer. When I heard the above I took the lock off. My two year old is constantly in the fridge taking single bites out of food then casting it aside (behind the bathroom door, under the dresser, etc.) It's a terrible waste of food and money, but again, I'm not willing to take the risk.

[velochic]

Originally Posted by SundayCrepes 

Someone told me the problem with toddler locks is that if children are playing and one child goes in the fridge or freezer and another child locks the lock, the child in the fridge/freezer cannot push the door open and will suffocate. Without the locks, they at least have a chance to push the door open. I know this is probably a pretty rare event, but I'm not willing to risk it. After I lost so much of my breastmilk, we put a lock on our freezer. When I heard the above I took the lock off. My two year old is constantly in the fridge taking single bites out of food then casting it aside (behind the bathroom door, under the dresser, etc.) It's a terrible waste of food and money, but again, I'm not willing to take the risk.

Well, the purpose of the toddler lock is to keep the child from opening the door in the first place, right?  If you have the lock on the door, but aren't using it properly, then it probably *is* better to not have one at all than to misuse it.  Based on our freezers, a toddler wouldn't fit inside, anyway, so it wouldn't really matter for us.  We keep our freezers full.   Even if we're at the end of a season and there is less food, we use frozen water jugs because a full freezer is a more efficient freezer.

The point is that if you DO want to stock up a freezer, there are ways to ensure that you're not going to lose what you have in there (using locking devices, having a generator, being able to can everything in an emergency).  You can dismiss those methods if they don't apply to you, but by all means, the suggestions can be helpful to others.  Something as simple as a $5 toddler lock has helped protect our investment and it would be folly to just dismiss it out of hand as an extra layer of insurance for frozen goods.  I think the benefits of a toddler lock, including helping to ensure that you don't have your food thaw out, when used properly, vastly outweigh the potential for a tragedy.  Of course you have to use it properly in the first place, though.  I mean, people drive every day even though the most likely way your child will die is in a car.  The benefits of driving outweigh the potential for a bad outcome. 

[SundayCrepes]

Originally Posted by velochic 

Well, the purpose of the toddler lock is to keep the child from opening the door in the first place, right?  If you have the lock on the door, but aren't using it properly, then it probably *is* better to not have one at all than to misuse it.  Based on our freezers, a toddler wouldn't fit inside, anyway, so it wouldn't really matter for us.  We keep our freezers full.   Even if we're at the end of a season and there is less food, we use frozen water jugs because a full freezer is a more efficient freezer.

The point is that if you DO want to stock up a freezer, there are ways to ensure that you're not going to lose what you have in there (using locking devices, having a generator, being able to can everything in an emergency).  You can dismiss those methods if they don't apply to you, but by all means, the suggestions can be helpful to others.  Something as simple as a $5 toddler lock has helped protect our investment and it would be folly to just dismiss it out of hand as an extra layer of insurance for frozen goods.  I think the benefits of a toddler lock, including helping to ensure that you don't have your food thaw out, when used properly, vastly outweigh the potential for a tragedy.  Of course you have to use it properly in the first place, though.  I mean, people drive every day even though the most likely way your child will die is in a car.  The benefits of driving outweigh the potential for a bad outcome. 

Every family's circumstances are different. I have a 5 year old who has friends come over and I babysit  a couple times a week. Sometimes I'll have a couple 2 year olds, a 4 year old, a 5 year old, and a 6 year old. The older kids are old enough to open the toddler lock. Who knows what inspires kids to do the things they do. So, for my family toddler locks just aren't worth the risk. If I only had, say, a 12 year old and 14 year old, then a toddler lock would make sense.