Importance of food preservation.
Most of the time, we do not pay attention to the food we put into our bodies. In fact, we frequently consider solely the flavour of our food rather than its quality. What you should know is that food preparation, preservation, shipping, and other procedures are all susceptible to external contamination and spoilage corruption. However, if we refrain from preserving food, this will result in a considerable rise in the possibility of hunger and food shortages.
For decades, people have developed different ways to preserve their food. This often gives us dry, pickled, smoked, and other types of food. In addition to that, since fruits and vegetables have their seasons, we cannot have them all year round. This is why people are looking for
more effective ways to keep them fresh and delicious.
Now, we use different products such as plastic and glass containers, zip lock bags, and paper wraps. However, in this article, we are going to focus more on using vacuum sealers.
What are vacuum sealers?
Vacuum sealing is one of the most recent technological breakthroughs in the food processing sector. These products offer a method of sealing that is now widely regarded as one of the most effective ways to keep or preserve any food item. Moreover, there are now many different types of vacuum sealers on the market. To make a general observation, most of them can either be classified as chamber or suction.
The general function of a vacuum sealer is to remove air from plastic bags, vacuum sealer rolls,
and specifically constructed containers before sealing them tight to protect the contents. Furthermore, they are commonly used to freeze things, including meat, fish, poultry, veggies,
and even fruits.
Vacuum sealers compared to alternatives
To further let you understand why vacuum sealers are so helpful, you need to know about their advantages compared to other items.
1 Zip lock bags
If you are a fan of storing food, especially snacks, then chances are you already have zip lock
bags inside your kitchen. However, while they can keep your chips crunchy, they are not that useful when it comes to storing food like meat, fish, and other frozen goods. Yes, they come in different sizes and are available in almost every grocery store, but they cannot prolong shelf life as much as vacuum sealers.
Furthermore, when comparing the two, the quality of food for those stored in vacuum sealers
are exponentially better. However, one edge that zip lock bags have is that they are better at storing liquids.
2 Plastic or glass containers
The most advantageous feature of glass or plastic containers is their cost-effectiveness and
convenience. You can use and reuse these products for a long time, and it will not take a lot of
money to replace them. However, when it comes to the quality of your food, when you preserve
them in these, you are not entirely sure if they are well protected from harmful bacteria and germs.
3 Paper wraps
While paper wraps are widely available on the market, and you can even use paper from your
own house, these items will not do a good deal when preserving your food. In fact, because of
the material, they can easily be ruined or destroyed. In return, your food will not be preserved
and protected well.
Also, paper is not also ideal to be stored inside the freezer because chances are, it will only stick to your food and stiffen.
4 Cling wrappers and foil
Cling wraps and foil are inexpensive and readily accessible materials that will help you preserve your food. In addition to that, if used carefully, you can also reuse them.
However, using them often is not good for the environment at all. Plastic is one of the top pollutants in the world.
Vacuum sealers, on the other hand, will not contribute that much waste. All you have to do is cut the sealed part, replace its contents, and re-seal. Benefits of using vacuum sealers
Now that we have compared vacuum sealers to other food preservation materials, we can now move on to the benefits they offer:
1 Food preservation
Food spoils as a result of oxygen getting into food storage containers. When this happens, a
chemical reaction occurs that can destroy your food. The ultimate reason as to why companies
purchase vacuum sealers is to help them preserve their products. To be more specific, cryovac machines/ food preservers are widely used in the food processing industry or when packaging food items.
At home, you can use this to keep your leftover food for later consumption. Additionally, this preservation approach avoids dehydration of the food and eliminates the possibility of freezer burns.
2 Healthier options
Between trying to manage our time at school, work, etc. we lose the priority to prepare healthy and quality food. As a result, we purchase food that is pre-packaged and unhealthy. However, when you have a vacuum sealer, you now have the option to plan healthier meals ahead and store them for consumption throughout the week. Unlike many other preservation procedures,
there is no need for unpleasant chemicals or other additions that might harm your food if you
use vacuum sealers.
3 Lesser food waste
Lastly, but most importantly, when you learn how to preserve your food, you get to keep them
longer. Food stored for extended periods of time is less likely to spoil, resulting in reduced food waste. Plus, you’ll be able to save money by purchasing food in bulk and storing it safely for
later consumption.