6 Reasons to Get a Vacuum Sealer (for More Than Just Food Storage)

Far from being a fancy TV shopping product, vacuum sealers are very useful in preserving food.

Vacuum sealers are used in professional kitchens for vacuum cryogenic cooking, so people are starting to use them a lot for cooking at home with vacuum cryogenic cooking.

If you have been looking at vacuum sealers, whether for vacuum cryogenic cooking or other uses, there are several good reasons to get one.

Save ingredients for later use

You bought a big bunch of cilantro to make a recipe that only requires a tablespoon. Now you're stuck with a bunch of leftovers that will wilt in a few days. Or, your tomato plant has produced more tomatoes than you can give away, but you don't want to waste valuable fruit.

Vacuum sealers can help keep most fruits, vegetables and herbs in the refrigerator for weeks or in the freezer for months.

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Bulk meat and cheese storage

When home vacuum sealers first became popular in the 1990s, one of the main selling points was that you could buy perishable items, such as meats and cheeses, in bulk and preserve anything you couldn't use immediately. Buying in bulk was often more cost effective, especially when it came to beef and chicken.

Today, this is still one of the best reasons to get a vacuum sealer.

Over time, air is the biggest enemy of maintaining food quality. Oxygen allows mold to grow, which is why that open piece of cheese wrapped in plastic wrap in the refrigerator can become fuzzy after a few weeks.

Any air that comes in contact with food in the freezer can dehydrate and oxidize it, causing freezer burn. By leaving as much air as possible, you'll reduce the risk of both.

Keeping wine fresh

Yes, a vacuum sealer can do that! Using the cork attachment, you can reseal open bottles of wine for later use. Just don't use these with sparkling wine. Vacuum sealing will pull out all the air, which will only cause the sparkling beverage to go flat.

These attachments are also good for preserving oils and vinegars, especially homemade oil infusions and expensive specialty products that you don't want to waste.

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Reseal your chip bags

Potato and corn chips are notorious for going stale quickly after ripping open the bag. While sucking all the air out of the bag will only end up crushing them, you can use a vacuum sealer to just reseal it.

Vacuum low-temperature cooking method

You don't need a vacuum sealer to cook the vacuum low-temperature cooking method. A sink or pan filled with water and a zipper lock bag will be perfect for you to cook steaks, chicken, fish, etc. using an immersion circulator.

However, if you really like the vacuum low-temperature cooking method and do it often, a vacuum sealer will save you the trouble of using a fussy zipper bag. It will also ensure that you get as much air out as possible, thus preventing the bag from floating while cooking.

Dry seal in jars

For dry ingredients that spoil quickly but are only used in small amounts at a time - think spices, nuts, yeast - sealing them in a bag is not the most effective way to preserve them.

Instead, try vacuum-sealing them in glass canning jars. You can purchase attachments for many vacuum sealers that are suitable for jars. The advantage here is that you can open the jar, remove what you need and reseal it easily. With vacuum bags, you have to keep cutting open the bag, which ends up wasting plastic.

Preserve non-food items

Outside the kitchen, vacuum sealers can protect important documents (think birth certificates, car titles, your will) from water damage in the event of a flood or burst pipe.

In your emergency kit, you can vacuum seal items that will deteriorate over time, such as bandages or medications. It's also smart to seal things that shouldn't get wet, such as matches.