I’m a Trained Chef and a CR Editor, and This Small Appliance Helps Me Eat Healthier and Save Money

Brown rice is our go-to whole grain at home. We pair it with stir-fries, use it as the base for grain bowls, and toss it into otherwise bland salads to make them feel a bit more substantial (see what I mean about “fun” salad toppings?) 

But brown rice is time-consuming to make. The conventional stovetop method takes about an hour, and even using the pressure cook function in my multi-cooker, it still takes at least 35 minutes, start to finish. 

Instead, I’ll cook a giant batch (say, 4 cups) of brown rice in my Instant Pot, which expands to 10 to 12 cups when fully cooked. Once cool, I’ll portion the rice into five or six vacuum bags, seal them, and freeze them for the future. I can store the rice for months in my freezer, and thaw it as needed in a matter of minutes. Best of all, when I’m cooking, I’m never tempted to swap in a faster-cooking but less healthy alternative, like white rice or refined pasta. The technique works equally well for other grains, such as farro, quinoa, and barley.

As much as I love using my vacuum sealer to bulk-cook healthy foods, I think I love it even more for saving or setting aside sweets and heavy food for the future. 

Case in point, pulled pork. In the summer, I often smoke a whole pork shoulder for pulled pork, which yields 5 pounds (or more) of meat. That’s a lot to eat in a few days, even for a family of five. So rather than force fatty meats on my loved ones for days on end, I’ll serve the pork once, then vacuum-seal the leftovers to serve them some day in the future, when everyone’s had a chance to recover (and have a few salads). 

I use the same technique for sweets, like Christmas cookies. We’ll rack up dozens if not hundreds, around the holidays. Rather than tossing them out, or worse, scarfing them down before they go stale, the vacuum sealer lets me seal and freeze them in smaller groups, which we can thaw and have all year long, whenever we crave something sweet. It saves food, yes, but also prevents us from having too much junk, since we can thaw a pack of three or four delicious, homemade cookies as opposed to opening a whole box of store-bought sweets.

Even as someone who cooked professionally, I often have nights where I find myself ill-prepared for dinner. For years, takeout was my default on these nights, but my vacuum sealer has changed that.

Aside from the aforementioned leftovers, I also use my sealer to portion and marinate raw food. I’ll bulk buy proteins like pork chops or chicken thighs at Costco, then divvy them up into different bags, add a marinade or dry rub, and freeze. The trick here is portioning things into small batches that can thaw quickly—that way, you can thaw in the fridge during the workday so they’re ready at night. 

My prized vacuum sealer is a now-discontinued option from Nesco. But our vacuum sealer ratings have models that are widely available, including the three standout sealers below.