The Costco Appliance That Absolutely Changed My Food Storage Game

Costco is known for its large selection of high-quality, affordable products. Besides the retailer's wide array of grocery items, the chain also sells a number of large and small kitchen appliances to fulfill your prepping, cooking, and storing needs. Although there may be a few kitchen appliances to avoid buying at Costco, from personal experience, the FoodSaver Vacuum Sealer is one kitchen tool you don't want to miss out on. 

Costco's FoodSaver Preserve Vacuum Sealing Starter Kit retails for $129.99 at some Costco locations and includes a full-size vacuum sealer machine, a handheld vacuum sealer, and a six-month supply of bags and rolls. The vacuum sealer works perfectly to create an airtight seal around your food to keep it fresher for longer. The machine has four different sealing modes: dry, for vacuum sealing foods like pasta, beans, rice, and cereal; moist, for wet foods like meats, fruits, or cooked vegetables; pulse, which allows manual control of the vacuum seal; and sous vide, for when you're doing this type of cooking. 

There are numerous ways to use a FoodSaver, but some of my most common uses include resealing snack bags, marinating meat, and above all, vacuum sealing meat for freezer storage. Although our family doesn't use this feature as much, you can also use the handheld vacuum sealer to seal pre-cut FoodSaver zipper bags, mason jars and bottles, and containers.

Before using the FoodSaver, I used Ziploc freezer bags to store meat like ground beef, chicken breast, pork chops, and steak. When stored this way, meat will generally last for a while in the freezer, usually anywhere between six and 12 months. Still, vacuum-sealed meat will last even longer. For example, chicken and beef can last for up to three years when sealed. The FoodSaver can also extend the freshness levels of rice and pasta from six months to about one to two years. It can also extend the life of hard cheeses. Kept in the fridge, cheeses usually last between one to two weeks. When sealed, they can hold up for anywhere between four to eight months. Overall, the FoodSaver claims to keep food fresh five times longer, saving you from having to throw away food that goes bad fast.

If you're a Costco shopper like me who buys meat in bulk, the FoodSaver could be a game-changer for you. It's almost a must-have for storing meat in the freezer without it becoming freezer-burnt or spoiled, especially when shopping at Costco as a single shopper. It might even motivate you to start buying more food in bulk, which, like buying steaks at Costco, is an easy way to save money.