Hi everyone. Chef Marty Rich here from chefmartyrich.com. Welcome back. It wasn’t an hour after I posted the last video about the Food Saver System and I am back here on the back porch and it is bright sunshine today. That is where our freezer is and I am shooting another follow up video.

Freezer Burn

I discussed the Food Saver system yesterday and had a question not a scant hour after posting the video to the site. And it was about freezer burn. What freezer burn is, is a loss of moisture in the meat. So it gets damaged by dehydration and oxidation.

What Causes Freezer Burn

And usually that occurs because of poor packaging. And the packaging comes from (whispers) ‘The Grocery Store’. No slam on your grocer, but what else do you buy food that is on Styrofoam packaging with a little nappy underneath it? I don’t know why, I was a butcher so this is one of my little pet peeves. Even at a butcher it is not wrapped properly (for the freezer).

Preventing Freezer Burn

So what you want to do, and I know I’m pushing the Food Saver system, but it is a great system. I have a piece of salmon here as you can see. There are a couple of air pockets in here, granted, that’s true but for the most part it is pretty much sealed. The air is out. Now I didn’t want to find this, but of course I went digging around in the freezer (and in the bottom of your freezer you will find one too) is one of these Ziploc bags with some kind of mystery meat in it. And sure enough, you can hardly see it, but that is freezer burn all in here. It has a strange looking texture and color.

Can You Eat Freezer Burned Food?

One thing about freezer burn is that this is a food quality issue. It is not a food safety issue. Freezer burn isn’t going to hurt you. I mean it might not taste very good but you are not going to kill anybody. Just trim off the effected pieces and go about your business cooking it up without fear that you are going to have a problem.

Foodsaver To The Rescue

So I just wanted to say again, I can’t stress enough, the Food Saver system works fabulously. It takes the air out of the package and that is the biggest problem you have with freezer burn. Now how something can dry out in a freezer that is full of ice, that is a science question and I am not even going to go there. That is how it occurs and that’s how you can prevent it.

So have a good day. Keep those questions coming. See you tomorrow.

Hi everyone. Welcome back to Chefmartyrich.com. Today I’m shooting in the kitchen. I had a question from someone who watched a video that I did a couple of days ago about meeting a woman in the grocery store and I shared with her cooking for one. I had a package of chicken thighs and said that you could portion them into three packs of two and freeze two of the packages and that would be an economical way to cook for one. So today I’m going to demonstrate a Food Saver system that I talked about. And that is what the call was all about. She didn’t know what the Food Saver system was. So I am going to show you real quick right here. This is the Food Saver system, my model. It comes in a lot of different models. It has a few controls on it here. This port here is for vacuum sealing. There are settings for moist food, dry food and automatic sealing. We open it up here and these are the bags. There is a handy slicer to slice the bags to a particular size that you want it for. A vacuum channel here and a sealing strip. You just pull the bag out here and I probably need about this much. I am going to seal all four actually just to show you how to do it. Then this slicing piece comes across. Put this down here across the sealing strip and turn the little safety handle to lock it in. Press ‘Seal’ and it seals the end of the bag. It only takes about 10 seconds or so. I tend to seal the ends twice just in case, especially if there is liquids in there. Pretty quick! The machine is just wonderful. It keeps your food from getting freezer burn and that is a good thing. It extends the life of your food. We will just put three in the bag. Put it in here, right into the sealing trough there. Close the lid. Press ‘Vacuum and Seal’. And there it goes! It makes a little noise but it takes out all the oxygen out of the package which cuts down on your bacteria growth. It cuts down on mold. It keeps it from freezer burning. Like I said before I like to seal it twice. And there you have it!

Now a lot of times you will see recommendations that things are only stored for three or four months, but this will stay in there beautifully for a year. Once you take the air out of it you are all good. I’ve got to go and catch the phone, so come on back tomorrow and we will have another tip for you. Thanks.

Hello everyone. Chef Marty Rich here. Sitting here on the front porch and decided to shoot you quick video for you. I just got back from the store. I was in the produce aisle, prowling around. I was in Tallahassee and the selection there is much better than it is where we are. We are about 40 miles outside of town, and sometimes the produce can be a little scary.

I was talking to this woman and we got to chatting about fruit and how to tell if something is ripe. So I asked here what her biggest culinary challenge was. And she said, “Oh, I am a drive through queen.” She is a single woman; her husband has already passed away. So she said, “What is the point of cooking for yourself?” And so, as fate would have it, in my cart I had a package of chicken thighs. Six chicken thighs for $2.58. First of all I couldn’t pass it up even though I didn’t need the chicken, it was just so cheap. So I said I just have to have it. So I tell her, “What if you eat 2 chicken thighs for your dinner? And then you froze the other four in packages of two. Then you have your entrée for your meal and it is less than a dollar. It’s like 75 cents for your main course.” We went over to the vegetable bin and picked up a big bag of green beans which was only $1.58. More green beans than you could possibly eat in three meals. We could have bought a five pound bag of potatoes, but I picked up a single potato, weighed it, and it was only 38 cents.

So for less than $2.00 (count them 2) you have dinner for one. And I know there are a lot of cookbooks out there about cooking for two, but there are a lot of you out there, like me, still single. And you are just cooking for one. It is easy to do. You don’t have to go to Costco or the big warehouse stores, even at your own grocery store if you buy a family pack and break it down. I am going to do a video shortly on the food saver system. I swear by it. I was a butcher for 4 years in Newport and I am telling you I cryovaced all kinds of meat orders for private yachts and homes and what not. It is an indispensable device and it is going to save you a lot of time and money. Portion control is all great stuff. I will have a follow up video for you. Stay tuned. It’s going to be great.

My Favorite “Cooking For One” Cookbooks

Alone in the Kitchen With an Eggplant by Jenni Ferrari-Adler

The Pleasures of Cooking for One by Judith Jones

Going Solo in the Kitchen by Jane Doerfer

The 15-Minute Single Gourmet: 100 Deliciously Simple Recipes for One by Paulette Mitchell

The Pleasure Is All Mine: Selfish Food for Modern Life by Suzanne Pirret

Disclaimer

Should you choose to purchase one of the titles above, The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) requires that I inform you that I will earn a commission on that sale, paid by Amazon.com for promoting their product. I do this to support my family, while I give you access to the best free content I can provide. If this is a problem, you can go directly to Amazon to check out these cookbooks. Thank you.