While oxygen is essential to life and health when breathed, exposure to oxygen can actually spoil foods. When the fats in meats, vegetables, and dairy products are exposed to air, they form carbon compounds that create strong, undesirable odors. Whether it is the browning of an avocado or an oil going rancid, it is oxygen that causes these unpleasant odors and flavors. Vacuum sealing removes all the air from your food packaging and seals it shut, preventing oxidation.
Microorganisms like bacteria, fungi, and yeasts that can grow on the surface of foods require air to breathe and survive. Vacuum sealing not only protects your food from getting contaminated by other foods, but creates an airless environment in which these organisms cannot live.
In the world of food preservation, it is often true that one bad apple spoils the bunch. Fruits and vegetables have natural enzymes that interact with air, leading to food spoilage. Vacuum sealing reduces this enzyme reaction in the affected food itself, and also prevents it from accelerating spoilage of other fruits and vegetables stored nearby.
Freezer burn is caused by oxidation and dehydration, when the water in a freezer evaporates without liquifying, drawing moisture out of foods and expelling it as vapor. Oxidation causes foods to brown or turn grey, while moisture evaporation creates a tough, leathery appearance. Vacuum sealing traps natural moisture within the food and prevents it from evaporating.
For all these reasons, vacuum sealing prolongs the life of foods. But even the best vacuum sealer can’t keep foods fresh indefinitely.
Dry foods
When pantry items like flour, cereal, pasta, and other dry food items are vacuum sealed, they last 2-4 times as long as they do when stored conventionally. Pantry items like flour, sugar, rice, and pasta can last for up to 6 months in the pantry without vacuum sealing. When vacuum sealed, they can last for up to 2 years.
Frozen foods
Frozen meats, poultry, and fish can last in the freezer for up to six months when packaged conventionally. When vacuum sealed, frozen meats can stay fresh and free from freezer burn for up to 3 years. Vegetables also do well in the freezer, and can last for months when vacuum sealed.
Raw foods
When it comes to raw foods stored in the refrigerator, a vacuum sealer also keeps your food fresher for longer. Cheese can spoil in as little as 1 to 2 weeks, but will last 4 to 8 months when vacuum sealed. Fruits and berries stored in the fridge stay fresh for less than a week, but with a vacuum sealer you can double their lifespan, keeping them fresh for up to 2 weeks.
Cooked foods
Vacuum sealing can also make your meal-prepping foods and leftovers stay fresh for longer. Most cooked foods will only stay fresh in the refrigerator for 1-3 days. When vacuum sealed, cooked foods can last in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.
Remember that simply using a vacuum sealer doesn’t eliminate all risk of food spoilage and contamination, and that vacuum sealing never replaces refrigeration or freezing in the process of extending the freshness of food. Storage temperature and vacuum sealing work together to keep your vacuum-sealed food fresh and safe. Here are some things to keep in mind when preserving your food.
Not all bacteria require air
In fact, C. botulinum is a dangerous food-borne pathogen that causes botulism, and it does not require air to grow. In fact, without competition from other air-loving bacteria, unsafe vacuum sealing may actually create a more favorable environment for botulism to develop.
Food preservation statistics rely on perfect use
While a vacuum sealer can make your food last 3-4 times longer than conventional storage, these statistics rely on perfect use and perfect sealing. Not all vacuum sealing machines are created equally, and some may leave air in the bag or have an imperfect seal. It’s also possible to introduce contaminants during your cooking or food preparation that will impair the safety of your food. Always follow these important tips to make your food last as long as possible:
- Always wash your hands when handling food. Keeping your hands clean reduces any bacteria that you may introduce onto the surface of your food, and also reduces the risk of cross-contamination as you touch other surfaces in your kitchen
- Always store and thaw foods at the proper temperature. If an item needs refrigeration, keep it cold before, during, and after vacuum sealing
- Avoid re-freezing thawed raw foods. If you have frozen food that you have thawed, do not re-freeze it without cooking it
- Blanch vegetables before sealing. Blanching vegetables is essential for food safety, but also for preserving the freshness, crispness, and flavor of fresh vegetables. Blanching both kills any harmful bacteria or microorganisms that may be on the vegetables, but it also halts the enzymatic processes that ripen and age plants.
To blanch vegetables, bring a large pot of water to a rapid boil. Add your vegetables, and wait for the water to return to a boil. Once the water is boiling, most vegetables need to be boiled for 3-7 minutes (see this chart for specific times). When the time is up, quickly drain and submerge your vegetables in ice water to halt the cooking process. Once they are cool, they are perfectly ready to be vacuum sealed and frozen.
Vacuum sealing can preserve almost all foods for 2-5 times longer than any other packaging method (different foods have different shelf life). It’s a great way to keep your foods fresh and healthy, and save you money every month.
June 17, 2020
Vacuumed sealed life expectancy. It’s a well known fact that vacuum sealing extends the shelf life of food. The question now remains – how long does it then last for?
Thanks to companies such as Food Vacuum Sealers Australia, we can know keep our food fresh up to five times longer. Common storage methods such as freezing and refrigerating infer common knowledge on how long your food or drink will last. For one thing the packaging usually tells us and for another, we see it happen before our eyes. Failing that, the old sniff test seems to be a fool proof method…
The food vacuum sealer movement is next big boom in storage methods. But as it’s still reasonably new on the market, it’s not yet common knowledge as to the shelf life of vacuum sealed goods. Check out our new vacuum sealed shelf life below.
Vacuum Sealed Life Expectancy: A Closer Look
Meat
The vacuum sealed life expectancy of large cuts of meat such beef, poultry, lamb and pork have a normal shelf life of 6 months when kept in the freezer. Vacuum sealed shelf life? A massive 2 to 3 years. Ground meats from beef, poultry, lamb and pork only last for around 4 months when frozen. Why not times that by three and let it sit for a whole year! Now when you look at those 1kg mince packets and you wonder who would possibly need that much, you have your answer.
Berries
Strawberries, raspberries, blackberries have the short refrigerator life of only 1-3 days. If you’ve also made the mistake of eating them all in one go, you’ll too appreciate how short lived berries aren’t ideal. Why not maximise that shelf life to a full week by vacuum sealing them. Better yet, look into freezing the fruit yourself or purchasing pre frozen. Other berries such as cranberries, huckleberries, blueberries have the slightly extended refrigerator life of 3-6 days. Vacuum sealing makes them last for two weeks.
Beans
I definitely have caffeine to thank for getting me through late night assignments back in my University days. Coffee can see you through the times your eyelids felt they had weights on them. If you can relate to that you’ll know the feeling of stress when coffee beans have gone off or run out. At room temperature, coffee beans can last for 4 weeks. Vacuum sealed they last an amazing 16 months. Better yet, frozen they can last between 2 and 3 years!
Oils
Oils with no preservatives, like safflower, canola, corn oil last between 5 and 6 months at room temperature. Vacuum sealed it lasts between 12 and 18 months. Now you can purchase an array of oils that perfectly match whatever you feel like cooking.
Cheese
Pasteurized, hard and semi soft cheeses last 1 to 2 weeks when stored in a refrigerated environment. Why not multiply that by a whooping 16 times. That’s right. Vacuum sealed cheeses can last 4-8 months in the refrigerator. Bear in mind though, soft cheeses such as brie, camembert, cottage, ricotta and teleme are not able to be vacuum packaged as long.
Ingredients
Common cooking ingredients such as flour, sugar and rice last 6 months in room temperature when uncooked. Sounds pretty good right? Maybe. If you don’t want to take advantage of the 5kg bulk bags. If you’ve ever seen one of those thing you’ll know that the bulk bags take up the entire bottom layer of your trolley – seems impractical to buy them. Not any more! Splitting up cooking ingredients into small portions means they can last for 1-2 years. Talk about being prepared for emergencies!
Lettuce
One thing I personally find myself buying and wasting is lettuce. Sometimes I’ll make epic salads and smash through a bag in two days. Other times it sits browning in the back of my fridge – limp and inedible. In the fridge, it lasts only 1 to 3 days. Vacuum sealed in a food vacuum canister, it last 2 weeks. Salad night can now be when you want, not when you have to.
Snacks
Snacks such as cookies, chips and crackers go stale at room temperature after a week. So the food vacuum sealed life expectancy is not longf. Unless you sit down and eat them all, they are periodically opened meaning they are constantly being spoiled by the oxidation process. Vacuum sealing already opened good means the product lasts between 3 and 6 weeks. A great idea is to vacuum seal one portion at a time – perfect for school lunches or afternoon tea.
Wine
The mysterious already opened bottle of wine sitting in the fridge sparks the age old question “is it still ok to have” more than any other item. Knowing that once wine is opened, it lasts between 3 and 6 days (depending on the type, brand and quality) in the fridge, you really need to start labelling when they’re opened (or face even more peculiar effects of the product!) Better yet, vacuum seal wine and let it sit for 2-4 months refrigerated. Talk about vintage wine.
Got another product in mind? Comment your favourite vacuum sealed item below and we’ll guide you through its shelf life.