Handy Hints, Gadgets, Products & Gizmos
Another member suggested a new forum section with new products but it doesn't look like it will be feasible. So I thought I would post this here under General RVing Issues. If enough people post (even...
Forum Discussion
Last night just accidentally came up with a new idea, meeting two requirements: I like to make choices that have green value and frugal value, and, as full timers, "Every square inch of space saved is a square in earned," to paraphrase a great genius.
I've had a hard time with learning to cook for two instead of five, but it's coming along. We bought groceries yesterday, and there was meat to divide and put away. I had been putting a meal's worth in a ziploc bag and putting them in the freezer. I felt bad about throwing out the bags, but washing and reusing raw meat bags doesn't appeal to me.
I have thought about getting a food vacuum thing, but it's just one more gadget to find space for.
Last night the simplest solution came to me, and I don't know why it never occurred to me before. I wrapped an individual meal's worth in cling wrap (I use Glad, whatever works for you) and dated it with a magic marker. The cling wrap fits closer than a zipper bag. It's not vaccum packing, but it allows less room for air contact than does a zipper bag. Freeze these items separately, then all like items go into a larger zipper bag, labeled with what it contains.
Now I can take out one meal's worth of chicken breasts, reclose the same bag, and put it back in the freezer. The cling wrap costs less than throwing away zippper bags and takes up less room in the trash. I believe that it will protect the meat nearly as well as a vaccum system. I leave the labeled zipper bag in the freezer even if it's empty, and reuse it when I repurchase that same cut of meat. I'm not tossing anyother zipper bag till it wears out.
I've had a hard time with learning to cook for two instead of five, but it's coming along. We bought groceries yesterday, and there was meat to divide and put away. I had been putting a meal's worth in a ziploc bag and putting them in the freezer. I felt bad about throwing out the bags, but washing and reusing raw meat bags doesn't appeal to me.
I have thought about getting a food vacuum thing, but it's just one more gadget to find space for.
Last night the simplest solution came to me, and I don't know why it never occurred to me before. I wrapped an individual meal's worth in cling wrap (I use Glad, whatever works for you) and dated it with a magic marker. The cling wrap fits closer than a zipper bag. It's not vaccum packing, but it allows less room for air contact than does a zipper bag. Freeze these items separately, then all like items go into a larger zipper bag, labeled with what it contains.
Now I can take out one meal's worth of chicken breasts, reclose the same bag, and put it back in the freezer. The cling wrap costs less than throwing away zippper bags and takes up less room in the trash. I believe that it will protect the meat nearly as well as a vaccum system. I leave the labeled zipper bag in the freezer even if it's empty, and reuse it when I repurchase that same cut of meat. I'm not tossing anyother zipper bag till it wears out.
