Sous-Vide

The average American household throws away about $1,500 per year in spoiled food. A vacuum sealer is the best tool for fixing that — it pulls out the oxygen that causes freezer burn, mold, and spoilage. Meat lasts 3-5 times longer in the freezer. Dry goods keep for years instead of months. Sous vide becomes practical instead of a hassle. Not all sealers are the same though. Cheap ones pull a weak vacuum and lose seal within weeks. Expensive chamber sealers cost thousands. We tested 7 models across countertop automatics, handheld portables, and chamber sealers to find the ones that actually keep food fresh. ...

Sous vide cooking went from restaurant-only technique to home kitchen staple faster than almost any cooking method in recent memory. The idea is simple: seal food in a bag, submerge it in a precisely heated water bath, and cook it at exactly the right temperature for exactly the right amount of time. The result — perfectly cooked steak edge-to-edge without a gray band — is something you just can’t get with a pan or oven. ...