I love my...Food Saver!

One of the things that I just can't live without in my kitchen is my Food Saver vacuum system. Yes I agree that the start up costs are a bit high, but it pays for itself in the first year of use! There's no throwing away money in my house...no freezer burn!

I buy meat only on stock up sales, clearance, or at really good sale prices at the warehouse club stores. It use to be that I wouldn't pay over $3.00 a pound of any meat, however in today's economy that is not always the case. When meat does go on sale I stock up enough to last me until the next stock up sale, which can be a six months to a year away in some cases.

Some of my bargains that are currently sitting in my freezer are...

• 2# chubs of 97% grade ground beef - $1.89/# from Fry's
• Pork spare ribs, mostly de-boned - $1.68/# from Sam's Club
• NY Strip Steaks - $3.97/# whole in bag from Fry's
• whole chickens - $0.49/# from Fry's
• chicken wingettes (organic) - $1.99/# from Sprouts
• chicken breasts & tenders - $1.99/# from both Sprouts and Fry's
• spiral ham - $0.99/# from Fry's

I Food Saver not only raw meat, but so much more!

• If I cook a chicken for dinner, I usually cook two and freeze the meat of one. This goes for pretty much any meal; chili (freeze first then food saver), pulled pork, steak, etc.
• Too much rice from your take out, freeze it for a later use.
• Love the seasonal veggie of your choice, blanch it and Food Saver it and have it off season. Same can be said for seasonal berries, just freeze them first before Food Savering them so that they don't get crushed.
• During the holiday season when I'm making pies, I freeze a few before they're baked so that I all I have to do is bake it later without making the mess.

So as you can see, I'm totally obsessed with my Food Saver!