Vacuum sealed meals

[toyotech]

So I been trying to cut down my time spent cooking while camping. I been trying to cook all my meals and vacuum seal them. Than at camp I just throw them in a pot of boiling water to reheat and eat out of the bag.

So I'm looking for ideas of vacuum sealed meals you guys have done and worked out great??


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[tpond]

Chili, Coq au vin, Beef Burgundy, Spaghetti and meatballs, curry, soup, par cooked potatoes. Love to hear more ideas!

 

[pugslyyy]

We don't pre-cook meats, but we will prepare proteins and portion them before vacuum sealing. We then hard freeze them as flat as possible. We try and buy fresh vegetables along the way, and then cook with propane on our outside grill.

 

[IdaSHO]

We do a LOT of vacuum sealing.

Best tip I have...

Toss any fresh meat, fruit, cheeses, even soups and sauces into the freezer for a bit before vacuum sealing.
Just long enough to thicken the moisture.


Once the moisture in these items is thickened a bit, you can vacuum seal them completely, without fear of removing the moisture, as well as be able to get all the excess air out.

 

[toyotech]

Good ideas and tips. Hope to make some meals today if I can get of the couch. Lol


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[Coachgeo]

FWIW..... Saw the other day a way to get a nearly vacuum seal without a vacuum machine. Put the item in a ziplock like bag. Dip this bag in water till the ziplock is as close to top level of water that you can and zip it up. The water pressure on the outside of the bag displaces the air in the bag. Might me useful for resealing food items not completely used up? Just dip bag in local stream or?

 

[proper4wd]

I pre-cook meals and put them in 1qt containers in the fridge. I see no reason to vaccuum seal. Do most of the cooking in the two nights leading up to the trip, things keep in the fridge for 5-7 days easy. Soups, stews, sauces, rice, etc. Usually ~2-3 braised/slow cooked meat/veg quarts and a full quart of pre cooked rice are plenty. I am so over camp cooking from scratch.

 

[toyotech]

FWIW..... Saw the other day a way to get a nearly vacuum seal without a vacuum machine. Put the item in a ziplock like bag. Dip this bag in water till the ziplock is as close to top level of water that you can and zip it up. The water pressure on the outside of the bag displaces the air in the bag. Might me useful for resealing food items not completely used up? Just dip bag in local stream or?

That's a neat trick for when camping

I pre-cook meals and put them in 1qt containers in the fridge. I see no reason to vaccuum seal. Do most of the cooking in the two nights leading up to the trip, things keep in the fridge for 5-7 days easy. Soups, stews, sauces, rice, etc. Usually ~2-3 braised/slow cooked meat/veg quarts and a full quart of pre cooked rice are plenty. I am so over camp cooking from scratch.

Main reason is cooking(reheat) and cleaning. Vacuum seal allows me to rehear in boiling water and eat out of the bag. This means no clean up. I'm a little OCD and I tend to waste a lot of water washing up pots


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[proper4wd]

Thats a good point. Home made MREs!

 

[jeep-N-montero]

We absolutely love our commercial vacuum sealer we bought last year from Cabela's, probably sealed up 60 pounds of trout and salmon fillets so far and lots of meatballs and shrimp. We often will cook meals for camping at home and then seal them for freezing, biggest downside though is plastic is harder to recycle and try to use reusable Pyrex freezer dishes when possible.

 

[TwinStick]

We do a LOT of vacuum sealing.

Best tip I have...

Toss any fresh meat, fruit, cheeses, even soups and sauces into the freezer for a bit before vacuum sealing.
Just long enough to thicken the moisture.


Once the moisture in these items is thickened a bit, you can vacuum seal them completely, without fear of removing the moisture, as well as be able to get all the excess air out.

This is VERY GOOD advise. Al dente pasta & sauce is good. Chili con carne is good. Scrambled eggs & whatever is good---cook as much as possible, to avoid excess moisture when reheating.

 

[Honu]

ditto others tips
for our lay flat we freeze them on a big baking sheet pan if you put another one on top and a small bit of weight they can pack really really flat
which is one thing with a family of 4 and a 45 fridge this is HUGE for us
also we freeze knowing certain things will be had a bit later and helps our fridge run much less

another thing we do for some meals we still want to cook on spot say fajitas we prep all our onions peppers etc.. at home same with meat all cut and marinated ready to cook and throw together

 

[Trikebubble]

I use our vacuum sealer all the time. Generally whenever I'm cooking a chunk of meat I cook way more than is required then portion off single meal sizes and vacuum seal them for later use.
It's become a great addition to pre-prep for camping type meals.

I smoked 3 shoulders a couple months ago for a party and vacuum sealed up all the leftovers. Throw a bag in a pot of boiling water for awhile and the pulled pork comes out tasting almost as fresh as can be. I will pre-make burger patties then vacuum pack them for later use when camping. I've precooked meatballs then vacuum paced them to add to pasta while out camping.

I actually vacuum pack all meat that I buy that is destined for the freezer, regardless of where it is going to be cooked.

I have even experimented with cooking a soup or chili, then freezing it in plastic containers and once frozen removing it from the container and vacuum packing it.

 

[congochris]

I've (successfully) experimented with vacuum sealing plain old lasagna Hamburger Helper. Went straight from the pot to the vacuum bag to the freezer. Grabbed them on my way out the door for a day hike in early fall here in Colorado. So temps were above freezing, but a nice hot meal was appreciated. Just boiled the bag in my percolator (without the coffee making apparatus inside) over a Trangia stove. Unfortunately for some reason my photobucket is being a pain, so I can't link any of the pics I took for the original write-up on another forum.

 

[PPCLI_Jim]

i normally use the vac sealer to seal my meals. that way i make a months worth of meals by only really making 3 meals. a lasagna stew chili soups, etc when i do that it goes into the freezer and then i can have a main course meal easily. Ive got chicken with broccoli pasa for supper tonight and an entires months rotaion of meals... way better then having to slave every day. i can grab and go for meals for hunting fishing etc