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How to use Nutrichef Vacuum Sealers

Introduction

Over recent years, there has been an increasing awareness of the importance of not wasting food. Concerns about the environmental impact of food disposal allied to a desire to make the most of the world’s finite food resources have made people more cognizant of avoiding waste. Of course, there are also sound economic reasons for doing so and, if further justification is needed, another factor has emerged during the last year.

Hopefully, Coronavirus won’t have a hugely invasive impact on our lives forever but since the Covid-19 outbreak was declared a global pandemic, many of our habits have changed: using food to the full extent being one of them. Whereas pre-Covid, people might have disposed of the particles of food that were surplus to the requirements of a recipe, they are now more likely to try to find another use for it. There is also a greater awareness of ensuring that food is not at risk of contamination from any source. It’s logical: why go to great lengths to avoid any sort of infection for ourselves if we’re cavalier with the food that we eat.

But there is a problem: how do we preserve the freshness of food and ensure that when an off-cut is re-used, it will taste as good as the first time around? All foodstuffs deteriorate once they have been opened or unpacked or cut/peeled and, in some cases, this process will occur rapidly. Every kitchen would benefit from an efficient method of arresting such deterioration. It can be done manually by carefully wrapping up food or storing it in containers or in aluminum foil, but using a vacuum sealer completes the task speedily and also reduces the margin for error. We will concentrate on our favorite and tell you how to use Nutrichef Vacuum Sealers.

Why should you use a vacuum sealer?

Without getting too scientific about how fresh meat or fish or vegetables can be transformed into something distinctly unappetizing, once oxygen mixes with fresh foodstuffs, the process of oxidization begins. Under this process, perishable foods become moldy, with unpalatable fungus-like growths and other firmer foodstuffs become hard and unusable. The agent behind this transformation is air and a vacuum sealer eliminates the opportunities for air to co-mingle with food.

Vacuum sealers also facilitate the storage process. Because the sealed bags are of manageable dimensions, they can be stacked in the appropriate place–fridge, freezer, cupboard, etc–and their transparency allows the user to immediately distinguish between them.

How does a vacuum sealer preserve food?

Vacuum sealers create an airtight environment in which the food is stored in a transparent plastic vacuum bag before sealing the bag to eliminate any possibility of air entering whilst simultaneously preserving the food in its natural juices to keep it moist. The bags can be kept in a fridge or a cool location if the food’s use is imminent or in a freezer for longer life. It’s a simple process, but there are some pitfalls to be avoided and a product such as the Nutrichef Vacuum Sealer makes it easy to do so.

Who are Nutrichef?

Nutrichef came into existence in 2014 with a mission to provide an alternative to fast food convenience and reintroduce people to home cooking. Their range of products–including refrigerators, cookers, steamers, and cookware– embraces just about every aspect of cooking and imbues each with distinctive quality. They also provide a comprehensive selection of recipes on their website to get the best out of their products.

How does the Nutrichef Vacuum Sealer work?

It’s pretty straightforward… albeit ingeniously so. Nutrichef provide a number of models in their vacuum sealer range and my instructions below are specifically for the Nutrichef PKVS18Sl Compact Vacuum Sealer. However, the functionality for all models is quite generic and the below is applicable to pretty much any model.

The device is small–6 inches long, 14 inches wide, and 3 inches in height–and shaped like a rectangular box. It is electronically operated with a cover (or lid) which houses the control panel containing a row of five buttons that determine the function used.

The Nutrichef Vacuum Sealer package includes everything required to complete the process–vacuum sealer and air suction hose, wine stopper cork, vacuum bags, and an extra-long roll of vacuum bags which can be used to one’s own individual requirements.

When the user is ready to vacuum seal food, (and it should be noted that the food can be raw or an already-cooked dish) place the food in one of the vacuum bags provided. Maneuver the bag so that the open end is placed under the lid of the sealer–it should be positioned so that the space inside the bag is almost completely taken up by the food to be stored.

Close the lid of the sealer until it clicks and then selects the action required from the control panel. The options will be:

Mode: a choice of two settings – Normal or Gentle – with Normal being the default mode. Gentle is the setting to use if the foodstuff is crumbly.

Food: this button is to specify the type of food with two settings – Dry or Moist – which are self-explanatory. Dry is the default setting.

Seal: select this action and the machine will seal the bag.

Vac / Seal: push this button and the air is removed from the bag before sealing it. Note that when using this function, the open end of the bag should be placed inside the vacuum chamber of the device.

The entire process will just take a few seconds and, when completed, re-open the lid of the sealer and remove the sealed bag which is now ready for storage. Voila! I did say it’s easy to operate.

There is also a Stop button on the control panel which will terminate the process if selected.

Is there anything the user should be aware of?

As can be gleaned from the above, the Nutrichef Vacuum Sealer is simplicity itself. As long as some careful consideration goes into the positioning of the bag, the process should be error-free. I mentioned earlier that the package comes with a wine stopper cork, which can be used to re-seal an unfinished bottle of wine (or any other liquid) and preserve its taste. I know how disappointing it can be to re-open a half-drank bottle of wine a few days later and find that I’m now getting hints of vinegar rather than vintage!

The additional items in the package also contain a 79-inch long roll of vacuum bags which equates to about seven or eight medium-sized bags but gives the user the flexibility of creating a bag to suit their own needs. To create the bag, you cut off a strip to the required size, place one end under the lid of the sealer and use the seal function… you now have a bag ready for use.

The bags provided and the extra rolls are all washable and re-usable, providing another compelling reason to use this economical and waste-avoiding device.