5 Benefits of Vacuum Packing Food | The Tool Shed

5 Benefits of Vacuum Packing Food

In the current climate its never been more important to reduce food waste and extend shelf life.

Many of our professional customers will be in a position where they have a inventory of food that has no where to go.

Our Home Chefs will want ingredients to work as hard as possible, with Supermarket shelves at a all time low we won’t want to throw anything away because its past its best.

Please, don’t let it go to waste, with our handy hints below we can hopefully make our food last that bit longer and in some instances right through to the other side of the current pandemic without having to compromise on flavour or quality.

Here at SousVideTools.com, we have a great selection of vacuum packing machines for both the Home and Professional Chef, alongside bags for those of you who already have a machine. To make things easier we have rounded everything vacuum sealer up into one area, take a look at our full range here: Preserve & Store

Extend Shelf Life

Vacuum packaging your ingredients helps to extend their shelf lives, meaning that you can use, sell and serve them for a much longer period of time.

Vacuum sealing ingredients can extend their shelf life by around three to five times, although the exact shelf life will obviously vary depending on where it is being stored and the ingredient itself.

Food frozen within its sell by date can often be kept in the freezer for up to 12 months, with no loss to quality or flavour and no chance of freezer burn.

You can also reduce wastage by vacuum sealing leftovers that would otherwise be thrown out, which can then be used in preparation for a future meal.

To maximise shelf life, be sure to thoroughly clean ingredients before storing and make sure the labelled correctly after sealing to keep track of when it needs to be used by.

Safety

Keeping your ingredients in vacuum sealed pouches also helps to prevent any cross-contamination, dehydration or mould.

Mould and bacteria require oxygen to grow, so removing this from the pouch means that they cannot grow.

You’ll also see that food is kept fresher, with less discolouration or changes in texture or odour.

It also prevents ‘freezer burn’ from occurring, which occurs when water ends up getting into your food and prevents moisture from evaporating into the air.

Storage

Because it is a lot smaller in size, vacuum-packed food can easily be stacked and stored together with similar ingredients to optimise storage.

It also means that you can buy much larger quantities of seasonal products, knowing that they can be safely stored for a long period of time, or batch cooked ready to be reheated and served later.

Doing this doesn’t save you a lot of precious time in the kitchen, but it will also mean less money spent on ingredients as you’ll be able to get more bulk discounts from your suppliers.

Vacuum sealing is also a much easier way to store liquids. Just freeze them first for a couple of hours before sealing, or you can also vacuum seal jars too.

Flavour/Quality

Most importantly for your customers, vacuum sealing can also help to improve the taste and overall quality of your dishes.

Vacuum pouches provide a barrier that prevents any of the flavour and juices from leaving the bag, meaning they are locked in (this is amplified even more if you cook the ingredient sous-vide).

You can also choose to add various spices and seasoning to the bag too, which will be locked in and infused with the other ingredients.

Sous Vide

Of course, for us at Sous Vide Tools, the most important benefit of vacuum packaging is that it allows you to cook using sous-vide.

Click here to find out even more benefits to vacuum sealing your ingredients, or check out our full range of Vacuum Packing Equipment and Accessories.

WB.

Post by Chris Holland

Our Chef Director Chris Holland worked as Head Chef at the prestigious Alderley Edge hotel before joining us. He has a passion for using the best produce and never compromises on quality. Author of our best selling book Sous Vide The Art of Precision Cooking, Chris is a expert on the sous vide technique.During the later part of my school days at Wardle High School Rochdale I always wanted to be a chef . I knew from the very start that my path to work was never going to be academic it was always going to be something practical and hands on.

As a young boy growing up I was inspired to cook with my Grandma who was and still is an inspiration to me . I have memories of helping make the cakes that she always had made for visitors and family alike . She made the most amazing cakes and I loved nothing more than eating the sweet raw cake batter straight from the bowl . We used to fight over who got to lick the bowl/spoon after the cakes were made. My grandma’s philosophy for cooking even on a shoe string budget was always to use fresh and seasonal ingredients either home grown or bought from the market.

School was somewhat of a drag for me as I was itching to learn to become a chef.

I started at Hopwood Hall college as a chef and instantly fell in love with it .To me it was the only real time I excelled in something and this inspired me to really get my head down and put in the hard work. College was the first time I really excelled in something and gave me the opportunity to laugh at the teachers who said I would never make something of my life!!!!

During the three years at college I also took on a part time position in a local hotel working the bar and restaurant first and then the kitchen. These were great days and gave me the opportunity to see how the industry ticks. I learnt a lot from those days both good and bad !! But I have to say I was itching to work only in the kitchen but it was a good insight into the catering world .

After completing college I moved away from Rochdale for a full time roll at one of Cheshire’s most talked about Hotel restaurants The Stanneylands Hotel. This was the school of hard knocks for me as I quickly realised that although excelling at college meant nothing in “The Real World”.

I loved every minute of the 18 hour days 6 days a week on minimum wage . Although difficult I feel that without this grounding I wouldn’t have achieved what I have today. After 18 months of hard graft I left Stanneylands and went with the Head chef to open a fine dining restaurant at Mere Golf and Country Club. The opportunity to work alongside Matthew Barrett was too good to turn down. I learnt so much from the ex-Ritz chef and working in a much slower paced role helped me develop a much better understanding of how to organise and run a kitchen. We were a very small team and teamwork was and still is the only way to go for me.

After 2 years at Mere I got the opportunity to go into The Alderley Edge Hotel as Junior Souschef. The Early days at the Edge were all about learning new styles of cuising which is invaluable in any role as a chef. I got the opportunity to grow and learn all aspects of every section which was inspiring . I was offered the opportunity at the age of 29 (2004) to take the role of head chef. For me this was when I really started to develop my own style of food.

After 9 years at the top winning Cheshire restaurant of the year , Chef of the Year and appearing on GBM amongst many highlights including cooking for many celebrities and famous people I decided to move on into development with Sousvidetools.

The main inspiration for this was to train and educate people . I always had a great passion for education but could never really see myself at a college . The job is super rewarding and I am proud to say we have become the leading light in sous-vide education in the UK . This is something I am very proud of . Food is my biggest passion and this is what keeps me interested the most . I love to travel and try out other countries cuisines. I am constantly inspired by ingredients and the pursuit of getting the best out of them without destroying their natural flavour .It is super important to me to continue to try and be at the forefront of the food scene this is what inspire me and the team to keep driving forward .

Technology is now widely used in the industry and I am super proud to say we have been a big part of spreading that message.

I am very lucky to be in the position I am and the drive to constantly improve our training and links to the next generation of young budding hospitality chefs.

TI feel that my experience over the last 25 years really enables me to get close and educate the “next generation” of chefs .

The industry which I love is really struggling to bring through new recruits and if I can help that process I will be immensely proud.

The food seen in the Uk has improved dramatically over the last ten years and I feel this will continue with the correct education. What happens next only fate will tell us...

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