Keeping it Fresh

Fresh melons and berries are so good in the summer. And they are not cheap. And there are only two of us eating. And I hate throwing out expensive produce after a few days, but did not think there was another way.

Then I was in Tuesday Morning several months ago and they had a FoodSaver Mini on sale. A friend of mine has the big version and loves it. So I grabbed it. (A quick check of the website indicates that it is no longer available, which explains why it was a Tuesday Morning closeout special. They have designed a very small one for a small price you can find here: link

Now, I do not like to read directions. Just ask my husband. So I decided the first thing I would "save" was some puff pastry I had baked from one of those frozen packages. Put it in the plastic bag that came with the FS, hooked it up to the machine, and watched in horror as ALL the air was sucked out of the bag, including ALL the air out of the PUFF pastry squares. Alrighty then.

I emailed my friend about my dismay. She was puzzled...you see, the DELUXE model allows you to STOP the vacuuming process at any point, allowing you to not end up with mush in the bag. I went back and read the instructions on mine and they casually mentioned that soft items had to be frozen first. Or, you could use the FoodSaver containers.

I trotted back to Tuesday Morning and proceeded to buy some of the containers in various sizes, brought them home, tried them out, and went back about three different times to buy more containers. Pretty much all my fresh food goes into them. I can keep produce for well over a week, sometimes up to a month. We especially loved saving our strawberries for several days; they tend to start going bad while on the way home from the grocery store.

So those of you out there who are tired of throwing away slimy produce, consider one of the food vacuum sealers on the market. There is even a very inexpensive one that is hand operated. I am considering buying one of those, too.