Vacsy food storage system recommended by Carol Alt

[Sharon in Colorado]

I just checked out Carol Alt's "Eating in the Raw" book from the library. I really enjoyed reading her short autobiography about her history with food, and her modeling career, it was quite interesting.

One of the recommendations she makes is for the Vacsy food storage system. It is a product made in Europe which uses a very small device, smaller than a compact curling iron, for the vacuum. The containers are glass and lids are made of Lexan.

Thing that appealed to me is produce that I don't use or use at a slower rate can be kept fresh longer. I'm thinking stuff like green onions and cucumber, and chunks of ginger which tends to turn quickly if not used right away. I cannot tell you how much money has been wasted on produce that went bad before we had a chance to eat it.

Carol said she was called away to Europe at a moment's notice just after buying tons of produce and didn't have time to give it away. She put it in the Vacsy containers and when she returned from her trip everything was still fresh.

Has anyone ever tried or used this product? It isn't cheap, but looks pretty cool.

http://www.vitamix.com/household/products/vacsy/

[Goddess_girl]

my sister has something like that she bought from walmart.(35$)
i havent been able to find the one she has; but I have been looking.

[jenna rose]

Hm. Looks like a neat idea, but wowza....expensive.

[Sharon in Colorado]

My herbs always go to pot before I use them up too, mainly parsley and cilantro. Maybe I should keep some plants around instead. Would be cheaper, maybe.

[ReneeSC]

I'm glad you brought that up, Sharon.

I'm the Carol Alt apologist on here ( as you know ) - and I've also been thinking of her food saving system. I currently use those green food fresh bags you get at the hfs, and they DO help.. they have me, anyway. But, I've been looking for something more.

I looked into FoodSaver - but those bags can get expensive.. and..for some odd reason.. I was concerned about petroleum waste contamination from those bags being so stressed over the food.

Vacsy has GLASS. Wonderful. I'd seen a system on t.v. that used containers before..but, again, plastic.

Yay! Something else to look into.

[rawpriestess]

If you have challenges with keeping cilantro and parsley, you can extend the life for about two weeks, by simply cutting the stems, and placing in water, in an upright postition, do not let any leaves touch the water, and change the water daily, this also works with basil, do not keep basil or tarragon in the fridge, as they will wilt and turn black.

[exurb]

I do what raw priestess says with the herbs, and I am amazing how long cilantro will keep like that, even certified organic cilantro.

The cost of the vacsy is very high, starfrit also makes a system and so does vacu-vin (the company that makes those handy wine corks with which you can pump out a partially used bottle of wine (back into a vacuum to keep it fresh). Theirs are both a hard polycarbonate type of plastic, not glass, but maybe less "outgassing" than something soft like those vacuum systems like FoodSaver that use plastic bags and stick the bags to your food.

[tvillemom]

I thought of using a vaccuum sealer with the mason jars. I'm glad someone else started this thread. A friend of mine who eats alot of salad and veggies told me she stored all of her produce in the containers from the vaccuum sealer company everyone knows....her produce kept fresh for weeks!! Thought I would give it a try.
Wendi

[Sharon in Colorado]

I have an herb container which is sort of like a vase, as you mentioned, for herbs. You cut the bottom and place a few inches of water below. It does keep it fresh, but not much longer. It could be the dryness here, as I remember herbs staying fresh longer when I used to live in Southern California.

Exurb I found the vacuvin on Amazon.

[tvillemom]

So has anyone USED the vacuvin? IT looked really cheap. I could do that. Do you use the wine "vac" thingie on the canisters? It looks like I could buy a vac and a three set of canisters for less than $50! I'm interested.
Wendi

[RawFoodieMom]

Ummm... Okay, maybe this is a really dumb question. I have a foodsaver, and I've thought of buying the reusable cannisters to go with it. How do you use your own glass pickle or mason jars with the foodsaver?? :o

I didn't know you could store produce in vacuum cannisters to keep it fresher. I thought produce had to breathe. I guess not? I think I have that in my head because they sell those veggie bags that have breathable holes, etc.

Debra

[RawFoodieMom]

Cool, I didn't know there was a universal plastic disc thingy. :) I will have to seek it out, thanks! :)

Debra

[exurb]

I have both the starfrit and the vacuvin, they work fine, but I really don't use them all that often. (have no problem not eating stuff LOL). I'd say they're both decent, I prefer the vacu-vin a little. I love the vacu-vin wine system, we use that all the time. :o

Re: glass VS plastic, for most of us pretty much the whole inside of the fridge is plastic LOL.

Sharon, do you keep your herb vase thingey in the fridge when it has herbs, that's what I do, it seems better than on the counter.

Also with keeping produce, keeping it dry is a big help - some people who use paper towels find that one in the bag makes a lot of difference to the length of time something keeps.

[Mystical]

I recently bought the "pump and seal" and it works great and is inexpensive. Can seal Mason jars, which I use for juice. Also can use it with regular zip-lock bags. http://www.pump-n-seal.com/

[tvillemom]

On the "pump and seal", do you have to have a "disc" for EACH container, or does it seal the mason jar lid, (does that make sense?)
Wendi

[mrsalf97]

On the "pump and seal", do you have to have a "disc" for EACH container, or does it seal the mason jar lid, (does that make sense?)
Wendi

You punch a small hole in each lid and it comes with little yellow pieces of tape (like bandaids) to cover the holes after you suck out the air.

[Rob]

I have been using the Vacuvin (http://www.vacuvin.nl/) jars for over a year now and they are fantastic!

I still find it amazing that guacamole stays green overnight in one of these jars.

Also if anyone is worried about the plastic,just use an open glass jar inside the vacuvin canister.(must be left open coz of the vacuum :eek: )

As we speak I have a pint of green smoothy (blueberry and peach) in the fridge and know that it will taste just as good when I have it for my breakfast as when I made it (same colour too!)

I also use them to store all my most perishable nuts and seeds and nut butters.

And to top it all they're cheap and readily available (almost unheard of in the raw world :D )

Rob.