Eating fresh, whole foods is the number one mover to your health! You can exercise all you want but if you don’t control what you put on your plate, you won’t get the biggest bang for your buck. This means you have to spend more time in the kitchen, prepping and planning.

This all takes time and money, so if you are like me, you’re always looking for ways to be more efficient in these areas! If you purchase in-season produce, buy in bulk, make your own salsas and sauces, and make good use of your freezer, you will find that eating this way really isn’t that much more expensive and one day of prep during the week can really help with your day to day eating!

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I do purchase my meat/poultry in bulk and often store extra soups, in-season produce, and bulk flours in my freezer, but let’s be honest. They are very freezer-burnt or packaged in some odd way. (See below!)

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Enter the FoodSaver® Vacuum System! One of the perks of being a blogger are the products I get to try out and review! To be honest, when I was asked to do this one I was going to decline. I mean–a vacuum sealing system? I like prepping food and all but I didn’t really think I’d have any need for one.

I was wrong.

I said yes to the campaign and I am so glad that I did! This tool would be amazing for any busy, frugal mom! First off, let me tell you a little bit about the system I got!

 

The FoodSaver® V4865 2-In-1 Vacuum Sealing System 

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I received a sampling of bags and accessories to try with it so I had a good time playing around with different things!

I really like these FoodSaver Zipper Bags. They are meant to be used for items that are accessed more often. (Perfect for the walnuts we use for our oatmeal!) There is a hand-held sealer that makes it easy to seal back up when you need to. Keep these in the fridge and not the freezer!

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Click here if you want to see a quick video of how these bags work!

I love sweet potatoes as a side dish so being able to slice them up once at the front of the week is AWESOME! Look at how perfect these look!!

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Look at my sad peaches on the left. I wish I had this system 2 months ago when I got my big box of peaches from The Peach Truck!

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Sometimes I buy bulk whole bean coffee and it would be great to have it super-fresh! I used the “make your own bag” option for the coffee beans. I love that you can do that with his model!

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We can’t forget about freezing poultry and meat! The liquid block bags are great for juicy and moist foods! (If you have them in marinade this works great!)

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Here are two neat accessories. One is a bottle stopper used to extend the life of liquids such as wine and cooking oils and the other is a jar sealer to be used for sugar, spices, coconut and more!

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So here are some of the various ways that I can see myself using this system:

– Freeze bulk size whole bean coffee

– Seal nuts and store in the freezer or the fridge

– Meal prep food for the week and keep in fridge (I sliced up sweet potatoes ahead of time and put them in the fridge!)

– Freezing bulk meats/poultry when they are on sale

– Fresh produce (Peaches are in season so I cut them up and put them in the freezer!)

– Freezing bulk flours etc

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So the big question. Would I recommend this product to you?

YES: If you can your own foods, have a garden, buy in bulk, have a large family and want to simplify your time in the kitchen
NO: If you are single or rarely cook. (There are some other models that might suit you better!)

While it was over-whelming when I first opened up the product, I was able to figure out how to use each of the different types of bags. They have great product videos and resources on their website which helps so much! I’m off to vacuum save some more things. Do you think my son will appreciate that I did this to his Legos? 🙂

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Disclosure: This post was sponsored by the FoodSaver® Brand through their partnership with POPSUGAR Select. While I was compensated to write a post about the FoodSaver® Vacuum Sealer System, all opinions are my own.