Seal Food To Save Hundreds

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So unfortunately, my husband and I had a stressful weekend. Between Kevin not feeling well, the city traffic being a nightmare (due to it being a holiday weekend), and the amount of rain Florida received, we decided that going to a spring wasn’t such a good idea. We are hoping for next weekend! Y’all are going to think I’m a liar, but I promise everything we do or don’t get to do is for a good reason and just know that our spring adventures aren’t too far around the corner. Bear with me! 🙂

Did you know that people waste hundreds (maybe even thousands) of dollars on food a year? I was totally blown away when I discovered that, but then I started to think about it. If my husband and I don’t eat everything on our plates, we usually throw it out. When I don’t use all the groceries I thought I would, it begins to rot in our fridge therefore forcing me to throw it out. That’s basically throwing money down the drain. Yikes! 

My Mom was the one who discovered this awesome company called FoodSaver. They make all kinds products but one in particular that I’m going to mention is what I like to call the vacuum sealing thingamabobber. (You’ll find out why shortly!) The best part of this process, besides saving money, is that it involves mason jars! You can significantly prolong the life of your food by sealing it within a mason jar. How cool is that?!

Here’s How It Works:

First of all, know that you can seal anything you’d like. You can use any size jar and type of food. One of my favorites right now is lettuce. I like to get a couple heads of romaine from Aldi, then I’ll cut, wash, dry, seal and store the jars in the fridge. It makes for an easy lunch and it’ll keep for two weeks this way as opposed to a couple of days.

As you can see in the picture below I have added my lettuce to the jar. To help get the food into the mason jar I use a special funnel that’s made for the mason jars. Let me tell you, it’s a HUGE help.

Next, I’ll add the lid. Make sure you check the rubber part of the lid and outer edges of the top part of the mason jar for any particles as it won’t seal if something is blocking it.

The white accessory I’m holding in the picture is what’s called a regular mouth jar sealer. They also have a wide-mouth jar sealer for bigger mouthed mason jars which I have as well.

You’ll put the accessory on until it feels sung against the jar.

This red suction thingamabobber shown below is the tool you’ll need to suck the air out of the jar. It’s called a “FreshSaver Handheld Vacuum Sealing System.” Now do you see why I call it a thingamabobber?!

Just add the sealer to the top, then press and hold down on the white button. (It’ll only take a few seconds.) It’ll make a different sound when all the air has been sucked out of the jar.

You’ll know it worked because once you take the accessory off, the lid will be stuck on there pretty tight. You can shake it, hold it upside down, and the goodies in your jar won’t go anywhere. How cool is that?!

And there you have it. Sealed lettuce! Every time I pop the lid off, the lettuce bounces back to life. It’s so crisp and fresh it’s as if I JUST bought it. If you don’t use all of what’s in the jar, simply re-seal it and it’ll be good as new once again.

I’m currently in the process of sealing almost every perishable product I own! Not only does it keep my food fresher for longer, but my refrigerator and pantry are starting to look very organized. It’s fantastic! I think one the main things I waste tends to be cheese. It’s only Kevin who can eat it, and even then he’s not a huge fan. So what would end up happening is I’d use the cheese once a week or so until it went bad. There was usually always at least half a bag of cheese that use to get thrown out, but not anymore!

Now Kevin’s cheese is sitting in a sealed mason jar and every time a recipe calls for cheese, I just use what I need then re-seal it back up. Cheese that’s been sealed and kept in the refridgerator will keep anywhere from 4-8 months! (I’m pretty sure all the cheese will be used by then!) I’m already saving more money and it’s actually fun! If you want to know how long food lasts being sealed vs. not check out this website: FoodSaver