We generally go to Sam's Club weekly for our groceries. It is 22 miles (27 minutes) away. A couple of gallons of gas isn't the issue, it's the 2 hours (almost 1 hour of driving to and from plus shopping time). We would like to go less often. Every other week or even monthly would be awesome.

The issue is we get our produce there. Bell peppers don't generally last more than 10 day if they start out pristine. Salad (I get the "spring mix") can last into the second week if you don't open it. We also get celery, carrots and cucumbers regularly. Everything mentioned is consumed raw so slimy or squishy vegetables aren't going to be useful.

Can the useful freshness of any of these items be extended by vacuum sealing them?

It depends on the specific item and what you want to do with it.

https://foodvacbags.com/blogs/...eal-fresh-vegetables

Some items do well in the freezer, like green beans. Think about the veggies you see in the frozen foods section. Many produce items will begin producing gas, which will ruin your vacuum.

Often, you won’t maintain the fresh texture. If you were going to cook these things, it would be much easier.

My wife has a bunch of blanched zucchini and squash in the freezer. Not sure about vacuum packing raw vegetables though.

Something came up on Facebook,(so it's got to be true) about wrapping them in foil to increase the shelf life. Haven't tried that yet.

Cut salad should last longer in a vacuumed sealed container. Less air to carry away moisture and less oxygen to cause browning.

Don't know about whole fruits and vegetables. Oxidation and moisture loss isn't as prevalent in whole fruits and vegetables, and mold growth probably wouldn't slow down at all.

The above assumes NOT freezing--and just trying to stretch salad out from 5 days to something like 14 days.

The only item I vacuum pack is meat. I buy in bulk for the price saving.

Im not sure if the price of the sealer, bags and your time to seal everything will be beneficial for veggies.

Veggies are pretty cheap. I would just buy those locally as needed.

I buy produce locally, meat and dry goods from Costco

Mark, might it work. Possibly. Does not seem practical for that type of thing though. I applaud you for thinking about ways to lessen trips to the store though.
Is their a closer, smaller store you could fill in your needs for. Albeit more expensive would be my guess. Grow your own in season?

quote:

Originally posted by gpbst3:
... Veggies are pretty cheap. I would just buy those locally as needed.

6 bell peppers at Sam's are $6.98. At our local Giant Eagle it's sometimes $2.99 for each pepper. Anywhere else they are usually already starting to go bad and generally don't even last the entire week.

It's definitely worth getting them at Sam's but the produce is the only thing we need to get weekly. Sounds like the vacuum sealer isn't a solution.

Depending on how you like to cook and eat your vegetables.

You can chop, to the size you want, carrots onions, peppers and put them in the freezer. A good name brand zip lock bag is fine for this. Just pull the bag out of the freezer, take out what you need at the time, put the bag back in the freezer.

Do you have a stand alone freezer?

I have a Food Saver brand machine. I buy my meats in bulk, pack them in the sizes I want, and the Food Saver does its thing.

For Lettuce, wrap it in paper towels and put in the fridge. It will last longer if you do that.

Other fruits and vegetables do not freeze worth a flip.

Maybe you can find a local grocer to you to buy your fruits and vegetables in between trips to Sams.

We've been using a FoodSaver vacuum sealer for 25 or so years at this point. We mostly use it for meat of various types, stock up on BOGO deals and so forth.

We do put some vegetables in there though, corn, brussels sprouts, various others.

But we blanch them first, then vacuum seal them. They keep at least a year doing that.

https://www.vacmasterfresh.com...20the%20refrigerator.

Summer harvest season is in full bloom! If you are producing more food than you could possibly consume all at once, don't fear, you can keep your fruits and veggies fresh for 5 times longer by vacuum packaging them!

Preparing Vegetables for freezing

For larger vegetables it’s preferable to cut them into smaller portions after they have been processed. The best way to store all vegetables is to blanch them first, then cool, dry, vacuum pack and freeze.

Broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, brussel sprouts, turnips and other cruciferous vegetables emit a gas when refrigerated, but not when frozen. You can use vacuum sealing to preserve these vegetables in the freezer, but not in the refrigerator.

Search Amazon for Debbie Meyer Greenbags

You might consider checking out local ethnic markets. In my neighborhood, there is a Latin Mercado that almost always has much fresher fruits and produce than the Safeway where we usually shop. Peppers, especially, seem much less aged after picking. The only negative is that they are usually a little dusty, and need to be carefully washed before cooking. This might be considered a positive as it implies less post-harvest processing. Prices are generally competitive on produce. Careful about the meats, however.

quote:

Originally posted by architect:
You might consider checking out local ethnic markets. In my neighborhood, there is a Latin Mercado that almost always has much fresher fruits and produce than the Safeway where we usually shop. Peppers, especially, seem much less aged after picking. The only negative is that they are usually a little dusty, and need to be carefully washed before cooking. This might be considered a positive as it implies less post-harvest processing. Prices are generally competitive on produce. Careful about the meats, however.

The farmer's market in town is ladies that go to Sam's Club to buy stuff to resell at an outdoor venue for 4x.

quote:

Originally posted by gpbst3:
The only item I vacuum pack is meat. I buy in bulk for the price saving.

Im not sure if the price of the sealer, bags and your time to seal everything will be beneficial for veggies.

Veggies are pretty cheap. I would just buy those locally as needed.

Same here, mine is for meat.
Never tried veggies, interesting to hear how it might work but I have doubts.

I use mine for mainly dry goods like cereal, crackers and such' Use the jar adapters and quart or half gallon jars. Fill em up, throw in a oxygen absorber and vac seal. I'm eating stuff that is over 6 years old and it's as good as when sealed up. As other, meats shine when frozen.

They make special bags similar to ziplocs that have a green color for prolonging freshness of vegetables in the refrigerator. That is the direction I would go. I think vaccuum sealing them would ruin them.

Regarding celery storage...Wrap your celery tightly in a sheet of aluminum foil and refrigerate. It will remain remarkably crisp for weeks.

Mark I use these and can shop twice a month for just about anything and be good.
https://www.qvc.com/kitchen-&-...c.html?sc=PSCH&qq=mh

It cost to get set up, the more you use them the more you'll buy. Fresh out of the garden, 3 weeks on SOME things. Paper towel, pat dry seems to help a lot on celery, carrots, asparagus, etc.

My house mostly greens/fruits for salads green/friut/protein/smoothies.

I have owned a few FoodSaver units over the years. I use mine all the time, mostly for meat purchased at Costco. I like to divide large meat purchases into daily usable amounts.

My old FoodSaver found its way to my reloading room were I bag ammo for storage. I also bag firearm parts for shipping or long term storage.

Great idea armored, I never thought to store ammo this way! Always ammo cans ya know!