freezing meat - food saver failing

[Petee_c]

About 1-2 yrs ago, I bought a food saver on sale and a bulk package of rolls and bags to try to save 'family pack' of meat.

Usually we buy pork chops or back ribs on sale and try to freeze them for later use.

I'm finding that at least of 1/3 of the food saver'd meat tends to loose the vacuum. I am not sure if it is sharp edges of the bones poking though the plastic from the inside, or rough handling while in our small (5 cu ft) chest freezer. We have to move stuff around to find things.

I often buy back ribs from costco, which come as a pack of 2. I will food saver them as single full racks and 1/2 racks. For our family of 4, I can cook 1.5 racks of ribs and still have leftovers for snacking. I've been wrapping the ribs in wax paper and then putting them in the food saver bag. Pork chops we freeze in pairs or 3's as we can thaw the right number depending on the meal or guests.

I just found a 6 month old full baby back rib in the freezer from November that is likely freezer burned (ice crystals on the meat) because the seal failed.....

Sometimes I can find cryovac'd single rack ribs on sale, and buy those. There packaging seems to be tougher.

Baby back ribs around here $3/lb is a really good price, I've seen them for $6-7/lb

 

[sudsandswine]

What brand of rolls are you using? I've used Food Saver brand, as well as a different brand I found on Amazon much cheaper, and never have issues with the bags losing seal. I do double seal each end when making cut-to-size bags though, but never have any issues with bones or edges poking through. The meat is packed tightly in the freezer and gets jostled around quite a bit too.

Are you sure the heat seal is 100% contiguous?

 

[pjtexas1]

i have zero experience with sealing ribs. i mainly just seal 1LB bags of cooked brisket or pulled pork to use in different things. my first guess would be to find some heavier duty bags. i would think that wrapping the ribs in wax paper would be enough??? are you double sealing the edges? maybe try double bagging if you notice a rack with extra pointy bones?

 

[Stlsportster]

When I first got my foodsaver I had a problem with bags losing vacuum. I found 2 issues

1. Wet food makes for a bad vacuum. Just a little bit of liquid that makes it to the sealing element will ruin the seal. To fix ...either partially freeze food (I put hamburgers on a tray in the freezer for about an hour before I bag and seal)...or watch very closely as the liquid starts to creep up the bag and manually press the seal button to force the sealing process before the liquid gets too far.

2. The first couple times I sealed food I pulled the bag before the cycle was fully completed. Make sure you are waiting until the light goes off and the sealer bar lifts up away from the bag.

Your issue may not be related to either of these but I can tell you any bag I've sealed this way has never leaked at all.

 

[NickTheGreat]

I've probably put no less than 200 'things in bags' in my freezer. I think I've had failure on maybe 5 or 6 of them.

In my experience the actual Foodsaver brand is better. I have some rolls of Ziploc brand which I did not like. Had failures and just generally felt like a cheaper bag.

Sometimes I'll put two seals on a bag. NOT on the same spot, but put them 3/4" apart.

 

[sleebus.jones]

I rarely have a bag fail. Usually when it does, it's due to sharp bones. Since I started smacking the corners of sharp bones with the back of a spoon, I haven't had any failures.

 

[Ag76]

If you aren't getting a good vacuum in the first place, it may be time to replace the rubber gaskets in the top and bottom of the food saver. It is also possible that the rubber gaskets are still good, but are not properly/completely seated in the "trenches", for lack of a better term, that they are supposed to fit in. Other than that possibility, I would second the above recommendation to double seal both ends of each bag.

 

[Petee_c]

thanks for the tips guys. I'll try the double sealing and see if that works better.

 

[mtime7]

liquid causing bad seal has always been my problem

 

[Ag76]

You can put a piece of paper towel between the meat and the area where the seal will be to absorb any liquid moving toward the seal area before it can mess up your seal.

 

[jeffeg]

On my first sealer I had trouble if I tried to seal too many bags too fast. (needed to let it cool) I upgraded to a newer model and it wont let you seal if the unit is too hot.
this reduced my failures quite a bit

 

[legendaryhog]

I still use my food saver from time to time, but honestly if you know how to wrap with good butcher paper I think the difference is pretty negligible. I can get over a year out of a good wrap with butcher paper without freezer burn.

Times I have had broken seals are 1) using too small of a bag (i.e. trying to cram whatever you are sealing into a smaller bag to save money on the bag cost) or 2) sharp bones (especially on rib cuts b/c ribs have been sawed at the end) puncture the seal.

 

[IamMadMan]

About 1-2 yrs ago, I bought a food saver on sale and a bulk package of rolls and bags to try to save 'family pack' of meat.

Usually we buy pork chops or back ribs on sale and try to freeze them for later use.

I'm finding that at least of 1/3 of the food saver'd meat tends to loose the vacuum. I am not sure if it is sharp edges of the bones poking though the plastic from the inside, or rough handling while in our small (5 cu ft) chest freezer. We have to move stuff around to find things.

Although FoodSaver would have you believe their bags work best, it's not necessarily the case. Any Micro-channel bag will work fine, but some manufacturers use heavier material to make the bags. There are only a handful of manufacturers who make the micro-channel bags, so some brands can be identical, just privately labeled and packaged.

I prefer to purchase Weston bags (much heavier material) if I buy small quantities (100), but I will purchase from Sorbent Systems in larger quantities.. https://www.sorbentsystems.com/channel_bags.html

Just be sure to double check the size and the thickness of the material before you order.

Another thing to consider is if your seal isn't holding, try a double seal right next to one another. I had a FoodSaver many years ago and had to double seal every time because the thinner seals just don't seem to hold up over time unless you double seal.

I've found vac-sealed packages that fell behind other items over two years after they were sealed, still looks and tastes just as fresh as the day it was packaged. Although I never intended to store for that long, it's good to know that the items are still good after that amount of time in the freezer.