Principle #3: Vacuum Seal if Possible
It's been 5 months now since I started putting tomatoes into the freezer, and I didn't mean to, but for some reason I vacuum sealed some tomatoes and ziplock freezer bagged some. (Oh I remember why I did that...if I only had a few tomatoes I just ziplocked...but when I had a 15 lb box I got out the vacuum sealer.) Here are the results of 5 months in the freezer with vacuum sealing, and without.
Can you guess which one was freezer bagged, and which one was vacuum sealed?
You are correct! The one on the left is the freezer bagged one, and the right is the vacuum sealed one. Enough said?
The vacuum sealed ones were as gorgeous as they were last summer. The freezer bagged ones were o.k, but lots of ice crystals in the bag, and some freezer burned and discolored spots on the tomatoes.
Really, it's super simple and no hassle at all to pull out the vacuum sealer...so no more being lazy on my part, not wanting to run upstairs and get the vacuum sealer, where I store it when not in use...in fact I think to make it easier next August the vacuum sealer will earn a permanent place on the kitchen counter for a few weeks.
If you are going to be freezing a lot of things next summer, and you do not have a vacuum sealer...well, you've got about 8 months to try to get ahold of one. I got mine at Costco several years ago. It's a Food Saver brand and works great. I love it. But I notice they have them all over the place in various price ranges...usually between $100 and $200. Keep an eye open for good sales and you may even get one on clearance somewhere this time of year. Even if you have to pay $160 for one in August, if you start saving now that's only $20/month between now and then. Have a daily latte habit? Make coffee at home and you'll save a LOT more than $20/month...probably $20 per week! All for the love of fresh garden goodies in January! It's totally worth it.
If need be you might consider borrowing a vacuum sealer, or going in with a friend or family member and sharing the purchase of a new vacuum sealer, but personally it's not something I would buy used on craigslist. You never know what people have been carelessly vacuum sealing...like they might have gotten raw meat juices in it and not thoroughly cleaned it...ew. Not really a risk I'd take.
Now, to vacuum seal tomatoes you'll need to "flash freeze" them whole (Simple to do: Just line up your clean tomatoes on a parchment-lined baking sheet and stick the whole sheet into the freezer for about 24 hours), then when they are totally frozen, vacuum seal them and get them right back into the freezer. The vacuum is very strong, so if you tried to vacuum seal them fresh you'd end up with a bag full of squashed tomato juice! You can certainly vacuum seal liquid items for the freezer, like meats in marinades, and soups and stews, just be alert and shut your vacuum sealer off before it sucks all the liquid out of your bag! And make sure the liquid does not go up into the top of the bag where you want a nice seal.
I personally ONLY vacuum seal foods that are going directly into the freezer, but I do not vacuum seal dehydrated foods, unless I am freezing them. (Dehydrated foods are best kept in glass jars with simple screw on lids in my opinion.) So when you vacuum seal any kind of food I'd recommend getting it right into the freezer for food safety reasons. And be sure to thoroughly read the directions that come with your vacuum sealer. They are fun and easy to use, but make sure you observe good food handling, as always, for safety. (That's the mom in me talking...I'm always concerned for your safety 1st! ;)
And finally, if you choose not to vacuum seal, but want to go the freezer bag route, that's fine too....just try to get as much air as possible out of those bags prior to freezing, and probably try to use up the food within a shorter period of time. The vacuum seal bags I use are BPA free, and if you leave enough room at the top you can cut them open, take stuff out, and then re-seal them! And personally, I recycle them when I'm all done with them. I always try to recycle my ziplocks too, unless they've had raw meat in them, and then, they really just need to go into the garbage, sorry. :(
Three freezer principles down...three to go! See ya tomorrow.
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