Vacuum sealers are a wonderful way to save money and time. One of our favorite ways to use our vacuum sealer is to MYO vacuum sealer meal kits. That is, ingredients for meals that are separated entirely, yet contained within a single bag.
Here is an example of a vacuum sealer meal kit that I prepared to take camping. This is cajun jambalaya. Notice that the vegetables are cut and sealed at the top, while the seasoned shrimp and chicken are sealed at the bottom.
It really doesn’t matter what kind of vacuum sealer you have. We actually have two different ones, a very basic Foodsaver vacuum sealer- which we keep in the camper for the moments when we’re fishing or crabbing and need to seal our catch to keep it fresh, and a heavy duty Gamesaver.
The Gamesaver is intended for sealing large amounts at a time, great if you tend to purchase meat or poultry by the case, or if you have a hunter in the family and you intend to process your own game.
How to MYO Vacuum Sealer Meal Kits
If your vacuum sealer doesn’t hold rolls of bags, it’s no big deal. You can feed the bag roll through by hand.
Start with the vacuum sealer plugged in.
Open the sealer door.
Slide the bag into the crack of the sealer door.
Here’s a close-up, see how it’s just peeking through.
Continue to pull it through, this is the part where you determine the size bag you need. Be sure you don’t short yourself. Eye the size based on how many cups of ingredients will be going into each side, plus room for sealing ( a couple of inches at the top).
Once you have the correct bag size figured, close and lock the lid in place. Seal the bag by pressing the seal button.
Release the lock and lift the lid, remove the bag. Cut (on the roll side) the bag to fit the size you need, once again, leaving enough space for both food and vacuum sealing.
You now have a sectioned bag ready to fill on each side.
Here’s the seal. If you’d like you can line it up again on the seal bar and create a double seal. I do this sometimes if I’m using ingredients that are overly juicy that can leak or if I’m using off-brand bags.
Here’s a double sealed bag. Some vacuum sealers have this option built right in, such as the Gamesaver Sealer.
To use, fold over the top, to prevent it from getting wet when you add the ingredients. Add the ingredients and vacuum seal the bag.
Flip it over, fill the other side with the remaining ingredients to complete your recipe and seal. We use this to make meals, dessert kits, etc.
