Cooking for one (Mark Three)

Hollyharvey

I know that a couple of you who post on here have food vacuum sealers (I think it is caron and kittie, but I could be wrong).

I am thinking of getting one, and not sure of which make to go for.

Also, do you get enough use out of it as a CFO to make it worthwhile purchasing one.

I know that I could use it to store things other than food for the freezer to make it last longer and even documents to waterproof them, so it does appear that they are more versatile if you get the right one, than I originally thought.

Although my main reason for considering one is for using to freeze food.

caronc

Hollyharvey wrote: »

I know that a couple of you who post on here have food vacuum sealers (I think it is caron and kittie, but I could be wrong).

I am thinking of getting one, and not sure of which make to go for.

Also, do you get enough use out of it as a CFO to make it worthwhile purchasing one.

I know that I could use it to store things other than food for the freezer to make it last longer and even documents to waterproof them, so it does appear that they are more versatile if you get the right one, than I originally thought.

Although my main reason for considering one is for using to freeze food.

Mine is a "Sous Vide" brand one - tbh it was a gift and you can probably get as good (if not better) for cheaper. As a CFO do I use mine? - yes absolutely as much if not more than when the kids were at home. It's fantastic for portioning "bulk" buys and freezing in CFO portions or equally dividing up chilled stuff and giving it a bit more fridge life (cheese mainly). Also handy for CFO "boil in the bag" homemade meals (I pop mine in a steamer basket over a pan rather than in the water). When mine dies I would replace it;):)

Hollyharvey

caronc wrote: »

Mine is a "Sous Vide" brand one - tbh it was a gift and you can probably get as good (if not better) for cheaper. As a CFO do I use mine? - yes absolutely as much if not more than when the kids were at home. It's fantastic for portioning "bulk" buys and freezing in CFO portions or equally dividing up chilled stuff and giving it a bit more fridge life (cheese mainly). Also handy for CFO "boil in the bag" homemade meals (I pop mine in a steamer basket over a pan rather than in the water). When mine dies I would replace it;):)

Thanks for this caron. You use your much as I would want to use one. Since I've been doing a bit more batch cooking I've been thinking about it, and some of them have a 'pulse' or 'gentle' setting so that you can vacuum pack more delicate things like cake, and as you know I do like to bake. I think I will do a bit more research online.

mcculloch29

You know, I love this thread, it's the one place (other than the disability forum OuchToo) where I can come when I CBA'd and know I won't be judged for having a protein cookie that Amazon sent me to review for breakfast, a pan of Knorr chicken noodle soup for lunch, and some baked sardines shortly for a very delayed tea.

I probably won't have any veg, CBA'd. I'll have some tomorrow, I fancy doing a spinach and lentil daal again.

[Deleted User]

Holly,andrew james. Cheapest on this site. Had mine since 2007 and use it a lot. Keeps food very fresh, like nuts when bought in bulk. Mine is handy in the kitchen, use it all the time to freeze solo portions of meat, no freezer burn or drying out

https://www.andrewjamesworldwide.com/kitchen-c1/preservation-c13/vacuum-sealers-bags-c64/andrew-james-domestic-food-vacuum-sealer-p113

can be used sous vide, boil in bag etc

[Deleted User]

I aim to eat well today, after that blip yesterday and the day before. Started with spelt/hemp/cacao nibs/dried raspberries with A2 milk + side portion of defrosted stewed apple

I want to make yoghurt, have run out of yeo and love my berries with a bit of yoghurt. I defrosted a litre of A2 milk and it is about time I had a go with this, so will start it off with a pint, heated and cooled with half a package of bulgarian starter, will vac pack the remaining package and store in the fridge

I have a nice veg soup, just asking for edamame pasta, lunch time and last meal will be a rm turkey meal, I used a lot of melting veg and some beans and it seems to be the key to me sleeping all through, like last night

I am going to be strict with the in betweeners, chocolate, piece of apple cake, small piece of parkin mid morning, for the sustained oatmeal fix plus the molasses minerals

My fridge is almost empty with lots of empty space and I am thinking ahead to moving and now realise that I actuallly want a lot less ie not a tall freezer plus tall fridge, side by side. They are staying as the space was built for them and I want a tall fridge freezer. Took me a long time to come to terms with that, to turn it around from want to need. I emptied the small beko chest freezer and that I will keep, not as a freezer but as a pretty good place to store stuff in my future garage but most of all it will be the back up, just in case, for my expensive grass fed meat and for my expensive fish and packets of butter etc. Another upside is that I will be able to take my freezer contents off my household insurance

moneyistooshorttomention

Agh! - shivers at the thought of less fridge or freezer space here:rotfl:.

They are respectively - fridge at 5'3" tall and freezer at 6'3" tall.

Though a bit of space gets wasted imo in my freezer - as one of the "drawers" has a chilled water thing in it that I don't use. Nervously wondering what would happen if I tried to take it out - in order to get myself a bit of extra storage space. Has anyone tried that? I've got visions of just landing-up with a broken iced-water container in situ there - unable to get it out and unable to get it back to normal.

PasturesNew

I have a narrow fridge/freezer, not overly tall. Freezer is the smaller part and fridge is the larger part and mostly empty most of the time.

I think people who have a vast raft of freezers/freezer space just assume others also have that much, they forget many people only have 1-2 little baskets' space worth to squeeze things into. I've simply no space for batch cooking because anything batch cooked would have to be eaten pretty quickly to free up space and I'd simply not fancy what I'd already eaten 2-3x recently.

I think my freezer describes itself as 56 litres, which I've worked out is the volume when you remove the baskets and measure the total hole space. It's freezer part is shorter than a standalone "under counter" one would be.

moneyistooshorttomention

True.

The modern variant on batch cooking seems to be "meal prepping". At which point one gets a single person there on YouTube and thinks "Yay - me then" and realises they're often making several portions of the same thing, plating them up prettily (ie in those plastic take-away boxes - so not that "modern" then - as they're still using short-life plastic:cool:).

These several boxes then go into the fridge - and they eat the same thing several times that week.

Which brings us neatly back round to the siren call of singles everywhere of "I've already had that recently - I don't want to 'repeat eat' ".

EDIT; On that note - those material breadbags suitable for freezer that I've ordered are currently en route to me from https://www.ecosnackwrap.co.uk (I did wince a bit at the happy family photo - of 3 young children and her for an eco firm - but bought them anyway). Waits to see what they're like...

wort

Morning. I hope everyone is well.
Kittie I'm pleased you're sleeping better, that's my goal!

Been mia, so Monday tea was chicken in tempura batter dipped in garlic mayo. A blueberry muffin warm with the last of the cream.
Tues, I made some broccoli soup, to which I added a herb pot I'd bought by mistake, but still added my chicken stock pot, so that's too salty!!! That's weds and Thurs lunch:o
Tues lunch was spicy chicken and cheese toastie.
Tea was chilli and lime salmon fillet with parmesan mash carrots and broccoli.
Weds THE soup with water added and grated cheese with a slice of toast.
It was big sisters 60th, so we went round for a get together, had wine cheese and crisp, piece of pecan meringue with cream.
Tea was pizza, before yoga and the quiz!!!! And more wine! We won a couple of rounds too :beer: