Poor Man's Vacuum Sealer

Vacuum sealers are great because they store food with virtually no air. The result is almost no freezer burn. That's the upside.

The downsides of vacuum sealers are:

• They are expensive, usually well over $100.
• The bags are surprisingly expensive (because they need to be specially designed or its hard to get out all of the air.
• They are fiddly. Even if you are trying to be quick, they aren't that fast. But if you want to do a good job, you normally need to push and prod your product to get trapped air pockets out.

My system is cheap:

• The sealing machine costs nothing.
• The bags are cheaper.
• I can vacuum seal 5 bags this way in the same time it takes to do one with a vacuum sealer.

Oh, and this system actually is less prone to air pockets, but is gentler on your food (particularly important for vegetables.)

• Put food into a ziploc style bag.
• Close the zipper most of the way, keep a finger in the opening.

• Immerse your food in water, keeping just the opening out of the water. The water is great at pushing the air out of every cranny and nook.
• While it is immersed, close the last bit of zipper.

Works pretty good. Works really well! Its fast, its cheap, its reliable. I have stored meat in my freezer this way, and seen no freezer burn after a year.