Tools of the Trade: FoodSaver and Special offer!


Howdy folks, quick off topic post today. I got a cool email on a special offer that I can share with you guys. The folks at FoodSaver contacted me and let me know about an offer for bloggers and food blogger readers. (more on that in a second) Normally I'm not one for adding this kind of stuff on my site, but it just so happens the FoodSaver is of my most used tools these days not only for preserving but also for my more recently frequent sous vide applications.

So I posted a bit on this topic in the past. Back then I was most concerned with preserving left overs or freezing items that I've cooked in surplus. Now that I've had a few more years to get into the groove of things I find that home vacuum sealing has quite a few applications. The obvious is storage. I've used the large robust bags to seal vacuum and seal lots of dry good products that I need preserved from oxygen, things like big bags of paprika and cumin from the indian grocery or large dried shitake mushrooms. It's a nice way to keep my pantry stocked for resupplying my spices jars and holding on to those more "obscure" ingredients.

As I've said, recently I've also been using my FoodSaver in my various sous vide applications. It's pretty great to cook up two large pork tenderloins in a bag or a bunch of chicken breast. Pictured left is a frozen sous vide spicy chicken breast. I took it straight from my rig and quick chilled and dumped the whole thing in the freezer. I simply pull out a bag and let it defrost in the fridge and I have a perfect one breast portion of extremely tender cooked chicken. I've done the same with various vegetables so I can have portions kept on hand. Re-heat is either microwave or bringing it back up to temp with my sous vide rig. As a single guy it's pretty convient to just rummage through the freezer to pick stuff to eat.


So ok this is a "Tools" post what about the gear? Of course (pictured right) there are plenty of options for your various vacuum sealing needs, I usually opt for the bags for what I do, they sell various containers for holding anything from cereal to marinating meats. For my bag use they offer pre cut bags in various sizes that you just put your stuff in and vacuum away or rolls where you can customize your bag size. I've really have yet to run into anything I couldn't vacuum with the rolls and I've sealed up some pretty big stuff. I've not made extensive use of the other containers as I only own a couple. They also have an attachment for sealing up your glass bell preserving jars it should be noted vacuum sealing is not a replacement for canning/jarring pasteurization process.



As to the units themselves from the title you can see I am now the proud owner of two FoodSavers, both are nice, I'm having trouble with the one on the right I can't seem to get it to consistently vacuum I think I just need to read the manual, but when it works it rocks. So for now I've kept my trusty twenty dollar craigslist acquistion. I like the idea of more handsfree operation which is what the one on the right promises, my current one you have to somehow hold the bag and also press down with both hands. I've got the practice down, it's just a bit inconvenient. Now, as I said in my previous post, my biggest gripe is footprint. These devices do take up some good counter space, but if you're only using them once and again in bulk pulling it out of the drawer and setting up isn't too bad. FoodSaver have recently come out with some upright models that auto store the bags, have integrated bag cutters, stowaway hosey thing for the containers, and liquid detection all in a small foot print (it's just vertical space).

Disclaimer time: Ok guys, I ain't making a dime off of this post (well ok if you click the ad to the right maybe, but not from FoodSaver). The folks at FoodSaver contacted me on this deal they were offering to bloggers and said we could pass it along. Since I use the product and everyone asks me about sous vide all the time, I figure that they probably would like to capitalize on the deal too. So bottom line, not being paid to be a shill, just passing along a cool deal I found on a product I happen to like and use.

And of course this brings me to the "cool deal". The folks that own FoodSaver recently contacted me and with cool "blogger" special basically you get up to 50% off (which is how I'm gonna justify getting the new small footprint hotness) and they'll toss in three vacuum containers! How cool is that? Anyhow here's the link to the offer. Enjoy!

Comments

Paul Cz said…
Great timing on the post, my shiny new upright system just arrived and I've got a top round under water right now.

I got the 'V3485' for $80 and free shipping using the code 'J0FV60A' with free shipping but sadly looks like the code has expired.

They also have an attachment that supposedly works to seal the ziplock vacuum bags for like $20 but were out of stock when I ordered.
Ironjack said…
Hey! 80 bucks! Wow what a deal!

So the big question on the 3800 series the difference that I could see was that it offered a "wider sealing area" so a better seal. You know if that's the only difference? I'm still on the fence on which one to get. Waiting for the FoodSaver guy that contacted me to lead me in the right direction.

Happy Holidays!

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