Foodsaver bags or containers? Raw Food
Submitted by Katie and Chumlee MN on October 12, 2010 - 5:40pmSince we buy 40-50 lbs at a time I have been to scared to buy containers to store the food because I'm afraid of freezer burn or little ice crystal things. I like the foodsaver bags because we have a foodsaver and we package everything in portions for each dog and write on them whether they contain gizzards or not and dates. I do not like the fact that they are not reusable. I've thought about buying two different brands of containers so there were two different colored tops to keep them seperated but I can't get over the freezer burn part. What do we think?
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Skasqueeeeeeakaaay!!
Katie & Chumlee
I use ziplocks, BUT...
I've heard of people washing out ziplocks with dawn and stnding them up over a paper towel to dry out.. that way you can reuse them. Or you can use ziplock containers... They aren't expensive, they are reusable and dishwasher safe and they come in a bunch of sizes... but as cheap as they are, if you do have to throw one away for whatever reason, it's not a big deal.
what size containers?
that would be a lot of containers for 40-50 pounds of meat. I use plastic baggies to freeze and a big conatiner in the fridge for the thawed and fresh stuff. I have not given a thought to the baggies not being reusable, and once I did I can't muster up enough energy to be worried about it.
Cathy and Audrey
yeah
it's a lot of containers. I only bring out enough for a days worth of food. it takes a day to defrost. Then as soon as I use a portion in the morning I bring out the next days food. So your right, lots of containers. I suppose you could do less if you were bringing out a weeks at a time and starting to defrost the weeks worth 2 days before you run out of the current weeks work... I don't have luck with keeping things longer in my fridge than 2 or 3 days though. I had some RMBs in my fridge that were supposed to be good until next month. I opened them up and the smell almost knocked me out. My kitchen smelled for the rest of the day. So I do a days worth at a time. 50 lbs would only seperate into about 16 packages for me or containers, Between my 2 dogs they eat aproximately 3 lbs a day. I suppose if you have only one though or want to save on containers (and do have 2 dogs) you could thaw 2 days at a time and only use 8 containers total.
Grind and package 40-50 lbs at a time
and label it all in one day. So each day I'm pulling out the next frozen batch. The thing that I guess I feel a little wasteful about is the $20 for the foodsaver bag rolls but we are keeping track to see how many we get out of our 8x20 rolls. I have an energy star chest freezer that I bought two years ago that I store their food in but I am just worried that if I put their food in little "take along" containers that they will get burnt in 5-6 weeks tops that they may be in there. I hate to be wasteful by not reusing but I don't want to lose food either....
Skasqueeeeeeakaaay!!
Katie & Chumlee
the majority of what Audrey eats is fresh
unless there is a super fantastic sale on meat. Although her organs are frozen, she can't eat them fast enough fresh. We usually have about a week's worth at a time in her bin in the fridge. It is SO MUCH EASIER to have just one dog!
Cathy and Audrey
Ziploc Containers
We use the rectangle 9.5 cup containers. They last us 2 1/2 days so it works out perfect. They stack neatly in the freezer and are dishwasher safe. Then I use the small 8oz. for there organ mix.
Freezer burn
If you fill the containers up to the brim you wont get freezer burn. The lid smooshes down and creates a seal. Also if you wanted you could put a layer of saran wrap to protect the meat.