What I Tried: The FoodSaver ($173.97 – Available Here)
With the economy in the tank and food prices skyrocketing, I jumped at the chance to test the FoodSaver and its vacuum sealing capabilities. The product claims to keep food fresh up to five times longer than traditional storage methods (e.g., Tupperware, plastic wrap, etc.). I also received a sample of the FoodSaver bags and canisters, which are similar to Tupperware containers, but they have a piece attached to the lid that allows you to suck out all of the air to preserve food.
What I Made:
I didn’t really make anything with the FoodSaver, but what I did do was preserve a bunch of foods before leaving on a ten-day business trip. A few days before I took off for my jaunt I had a breakfast party and made a whole bunch of food that I wanted to preserve with the FoodSaver. My list included biscuits, leftover uncooked sausage, a tomato, a boatload of peeled garlic and some shredded cheese.
The biscuits, sausage and garlic were preserved using the bags that came with the system and placed in the freezer. Mr. tomato and the leftover cheese were portioned in half. One half was preserved with the system and the other half was placed into a regular storage bag.
What it Rated:
Upon my arrival back into the city I opened my freezer and fridge to examine the foods. I removed the biscuits and sausage and made myself a sausage biscuit sandwich. It tasted great. The sausage was fresh and the biscuits did not have that “I’ve been festering in the freezer for a while” taste. The garlic was fragrant and I ended up roasting it for later use.
The “preserved” tomato was a little moldy, but not nearly as moldy as the one that was sitting in the plastic baggie. But to be honest, no tomato is going to last for ten days, preserved or not. The thing that I liked about my little science project is that the preserved tomato seemed to weather the ten days better than its unfortunate half.
The preserved cheese tasted pretty good too, but it was a little harder to recognize any real difference in the flavor profile.
My one little issue with this product is that its operation is not immediately intuitive. When I first plugged it in I could not get it to work and had to call the product rep to try and figure out what I was doing wrong. The directions are not that well written and as with any kitchen gadget my mantra is that companies should make the operation of any product so easy a toddler could make it work.
So if you tend to have a lot of leftovers or want to start preserving your leftovers or keeping your other foods on the fresher side, pick up a FoodSaver.
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