vacuum sealing and refrigerating vegetables? - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: coppercone2
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 21, 2021, 07:31:56 pm
content: I have no idea how to do this. Lets say you buy a big 6 pack of sweet peppers, broccoli, tomatoes and a buncha asparagus (the vegetables I have in question)The idea is not to freeze. What am I looking at here?Basic understanding:-weird stuff like asparagus and broccoli needs to be blanched for some period of time, dried, cooled and patted, then it can be vacuum sealed??-sweet peppers??? Wash with a scrub brush, dry off, cut apart, deseed and then put in bags and refrigerate? (for sweet peppers I get the google range between 'a couple of days' and '8-12 days' for vacuum sealing.-tomato ?? (this requires frequent amputations)-avocado ?? (these things are a fuckingproblem, I end up making guacamole the second I get them and storing that or throwing away half when I forget about them, take your pick, makes me not buy them because I know I will have to deal with cooking the second I get home)I understand that mushrooms, garlic, onion, cabbage, lettuce is considered non vacuum sealable.Does anyone have time frames that I can expect for non storing stuff or other procedures or cautions? I understand dirt is potentially dangerous, but thankfully root type stuff seems to keep well.Can you peel and vacuum seal carrots?The idea is to smooth out the vegetable peak after shopping and allow some leeway with kitchen planning (like spread spectrum techniques for EMI compliance to vary the peak power on various frequencies).I did not mess with vegetables because they are very confusing, hard cheese and meat having easy answer. I have had no problems with like gravey either, but I typically freeze that delicious substance after its sealed because there is little reason to keep it around defrosted. I want fresh grilled/fried veggies with less work basically to make side dishes that are healthy easier. Mass production with blanching I can handle but if I have to sit at 3 frying pans making absurd amounts of preprep stir fry its unappealing (this is the only way I did it up to this point and I want to stop doing it).

author: Halcyon
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: February 22, 2021, 08:06:02 am
content: I vacuum-seal them raw. Most vegetables and herbs can be frozen with minimal loss of texture/quality, including broccoli. Tomato's don't tend to last long enough in my house to warrant freezing.As for mushrooms, garlic, onion, cabbage, carrots all of those survive fine in the freezer.It all depends on how you plan to use them in future. If you want raw vegetables for salads, you're best off with buying in small quantities and buying fresh or, grow them yourself!

author: madires
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 22, 2021, 10:19:10 am
content: Tomatoes will lose texture, but are still good for soup, souces and similar stuff. No special treatment required, just washing and removing the stems.

author: coppercone2
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 03, 2021, 01:46:30 am
content: I blanched a whole bunch of broccoli and vacuum sealed it and then stir fried it with some left over porkchops and it came out excellent. I did not freeze the broccoli because my time tables are not that long but it seems like an excellent process to preserve a over sized purchase of broccoli or cauliflowerI thought I was wasting my time with the vacuum sealing because broccoli has a low dollar value but it tastes better then just refrigerated in saran wrap I think (24 hours so far). I have refrigerated 2 more bags of broccoli and 2 bags of cauliflower to try out later in the week that were prepared on the same day. I also froze one small bag of vacuum sealed and blanched brocolli to try out next week.The idea is to get 'authentic' proportions of vegetables used in recipes and to use ingredients to match the recipe without over loading on whatever will go off next to increase food quality and save money on take out normally I am at the mercy of bacteria and mold if I want to avoid food waste while doing complex recipes or plates. I feel genuinely satisfied akin to take out Chinese food (they are still better but at least its something).if you are trying to eat more vegetables in your diet then this is highly recommended, and I also blanch with slightly salty water. If I did not do this then I would just have had a pork chop sandwich.After I cool the brocolli in ice, I spin dry it in a salad spinner in small quantities in order to drain the water out. If you do this you need to make sure you empty the salad spinner frequently because these vegetables have alot of water on the surface. When it hit the hot oil in the frying pan the effect was good, I really only had to do a short stir fry on some garlic oil without that much splatter.

author: PlainName
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 09, 2021, 05:01:12 pm
content: There is a lot to be said for buying frozen vegetables. Peas, for instance, are fresher frozen than if you buy raw. Also saves you spending time blanching and vacuuming, etc, if you buy more than you use in a short period. Plus you'll never be stuck for a veg because it's gone off, of you forgot to get it, or whatever. As it happens, the other day we discovered some frozen cauliflower at the back of the freezer. Been then for over a year (perhaps two) and even had freezer burn, but it turned out to be pretty good in the end.The exception is broccoli. I've never successfully defrosted and cooked frozen broccoli, whether it was bought frozen or we did the process ourselves.

author: Halcyon
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: March 22, 2021, 06:42:37 am
content: Quote from: dunkemhigh on March 09, 2021, 05:01:12 pmAbsolutely agree. Some frozen vegetables actually have more nutrients because they are snap frozen shortly after being picked.Staples in my freezer are:PeasCorn (Kernels)Chopped spinachLeftover chopped onion, tomato and capsicum (good for things like omelette/quiche/pizzas)GarlicGingerChilliHerbsThe stuff I tend to buy fresh so they maintain their texture are:BroccoliCauliflowerCarrotMushroomsEggplant