Testing Randy's vacuum seal meals today. Whats your favorite meal in a bag?

[shawfish]

Great education! Looking forward to making lasagna!

 

[old man]

Hope someone will still answer this question since this is an old thread . was looking at vacuum sealers for the first time and would say very expensive.So what my question is what size and price range do i have to go for a meal for one.

 

[Dave N]

I'll answer that! Buy one. You won't believe the amount of things you'll use it for. In general, the more you pay the better it will work. You'll get a better pump by spending a few more bucks. BUT, you'll have a better machine that will work and last longer. I bought a Weston unit off of EBay or Amazon (can't remember right now) for right around $150 and love the hell out of it. I process 3 or 4 deer a year and seal it all. Garden vegetables, fruit, leftovers, plus I'll find chicken or other meats on sale at the store and break them up into meal-sized portions and seal them for the freezer. We'll cook a whole turkey and I'll package a whole breast to save for later. I buy premade bags from EBay. I'll get 100 quart size for about $14-15. Yes, it's cheaper to buy rolls and make your own bags, but ready made bags are easy and convenient. Don't forget, bags are reusable. Seal something in a larger bag, cut it open at the very top, wash the bag out and use it again. More money saved! Look around, buy a name brand. They are well worth the money!

 

[jryoung]

The food savers are a good option at a lower price point. Ive had a few and they work well. Their sealing bar can be a bit thin which may require a double seal from time to time. Especially doing the freezed meal technique. IMO a vacuum sealers is a key piece of kitchen equipment since I butcher my game and fish. I now have a weston and it works great.

 

[Addicting]

I wanted to revive this for this upcoming years hunt for those that are not tracking how good of an idea this is and for a little help.

Has anyone done fish and rice? I have a bunch of frozen cod fillets to use and tried it tonight. It basically turned into about half the size and equal amount of liquid was displaced. In order to use this liquid for rice can I put Parboiled rice in with it for the frozen to hot 10 min boil and not have mush? Or am I better off just packing minute rice and making it separate so I can control the texture?

 

[plumber1969]

We did several meals this year on our elk hunk. Meatloaf needs to be portioned smaller, lasagna and enchiladas were great. Alligator etouffee was also good just had to use boil in bad rice. Not 100 percent sold on these heavy meals late. Next year may be ham and eggs sandwiches or grilled cheese and soup.

 

[JohnCushman]

I wanted to revive this for this upcoming years hunt for those that are not tracking how good of an idea this is and for a little help.

Has anyone done fish and rice? I have a bunch of frozen cod fillets to use and tried it tonight. It basically turned into about half the size and equal amount of liquid was displaced. In order to use this liquid for rice can I put Parboiled rice in with it for the frozen to hot 10 min boil and not have mush? Or am I better off just packing minute rice and making it separate so I can control the texture?

With rice, it pretty much has to be an exact amount of water, so trying to figure out what you'd have from frozen fish, you'd be kinda SOL. I'd pack in some cornmeal if you have other seasonings, or some pre-fabbed fish meal and fry it up in some oil and cook your rice seperately. Thaw your fish out on some paper towels to get the liquid out of it so it doesn't splatter in the oil Oil doesn't have to be kept cold and neither does fish seasoning.

 

[406LIFE]

I've found casseroles work really well. Don't care if they don't look pretty or stay together. Freeze the pan and then cut into portions and vacuum seal. Do 4 or 5, get 8 portions and you have plenty for several trips.

 

[the nikster]

I grilled up 40 polish sausages, 24 chicken breasts, 20 angus burgers, 24 sirloins and about 30 pork chops in 1 evening. Then my wife decided how many to put in each bag for 1 person and sealed them with the food saver. I put them all in a Coleman cooler in the freezer for a week.
Then I taped the cooler and took it with me to Alaska as 1 of my checked bags. I bought a small chest freezer for my cabin site, yes, I have power, and put the meat in the freezer. Every morning we picked what we wanted for dinner and got it out. Every evening we boiled the thawed meat for dinner. It was great! Most nights we added some kind of potato burned on the fire and either canned corn or beans. A little bread and butter to taste as well.
I see a lot of this in my future. But I do need to venture out of my comfort zone a bit.

 

[JV842]

Just finished up all my cooking, going to vacuum seal n freeze tomorrow at the firehouse. Did pinto beans w bacon n smoked ham hocks, chicken and dumplings, stew, chili. Flying to Great Falls n then headed up to 422 on Wednesday, hopefully still be bugling some when I get there, staying for a couple weeks.

 

[Khunter]

I grilled up 40 polish sausages, 24 chicken breasts, 20 angus burgers, 24 sirloins and about 30 pork chops in 1 evening. Then my wife decided how many to put in each bag for 1 person and sealed them with the food saver. I put them all in a Coleman cooler in the freezer for a week.
Then I taped the cooler and took it with me to Alaska as 1 of my checked bags. I bought a small chest freezer for my cabin site, yes, I have power, and put the meat in the freezer. Every morning we picked what we wanted for dinner and got it out. Every evening we boiled the thawed meat for dinner. It was great! Most nights we added some kind of potato burned on the fire and either canned corn or beans. A little bread and butter to taste as well.
I see a lot of this in my future. But I do need to venture out of my comfort zone a bit.

consider venturing into the 1 pot meal prep zone. for me point of foodsaver pre prep is to have my entire dinner in a single bag. delicious fast and no cleanup needed.

 

[alwayshunting]

Got our meals ready for antelope hunting i WY at the end of the week. Made our favorites from last year. BBQ antelope balls with mashed potatoes, antelope lasagna, and stuffed manicotti shells.

 

[Jim/Wa]

I experimented with these meals all season long. I found there are very few things that won't work. Scrambled eggs/bacon/potatoes work fine if you slap them on a tortilla but the texture is a little off compared to a fresh egg. It sure is nice to come back to camp, throw on a pot of water, crack open a cold one, and by the time I finish sorting out my gear for the next day it's time to eat. No grease and stink in the truck camper. No clean up required period.

 

[JohnCushman]

I grilled up 40 polish sausages, 24 chicken breasts, 20 angus burgers, 24 sirloins and about 30 pork chops in 1 evening. Then my wife decided how many to put in each bag for 1 person and sealed them with the food saver. I put them all in a Coleman cooler in the freezer for a week.
Then I taped the cooler and took it with me to Alaska as 1 of my checked bags. I bought a small chest freezer for my cabin site, yes, I have power, and put the meat in the freezer. Every morning we picked what we wanted for dinner and got it out. Every evening we boiled the thawed meat for dinner. It was great! Most nights we added some kind of potato burned on the fire and either canned corn or beans. A little bread and butter to taste as well.
I see a lot of this in my future. But I do need to venture out of my comfort zone a bit.

I'm usually the camp cook on hunting trips, but I have to say you have me beat When can I go hunting with you?

 

[Addicting]

I learned this year that double sealing them helps. The bottom single seals that I made had about a 50% fail rate after boiling when I tried to remove it from the water. Adding a extra seal strip on both ends of the bag is free insurance that I will be doing from now on out.