Tuesday, April 30, 2013

There's A Sucker Born Every Minute

At the risk of outing myself as just another delusional blogger, I want to tell you how close I feel to all of you, even though I've never met most of you in person and in all likelihood never will. Sometimes, I tell you all things I would hesitate to share with my closest friends and family.

For instance, I will now reveal to you a source of deep personal shame, something I've never had the courage to speak aloud before: I suffer from acute infomercial envy.

Intellectually, I know that these products rarely (if ever) live up to their hype--because how could they? The entire infomercial philosophy is about overselling, raising expectations to the point where even a stellar product would underdeliver--and let's face it, these are mostly mediocre products at best.

All this I understand intellectually, but believe me when I tell you that it is not my intellect that is standing between me and the acquisition of a Magic Mesh Door Cover. It is only my wallet.

Never has the siren song of "As Seen On TV" been so strong as when those vacuum food storage systems were all over basic cable. I did not merely want one of those systems--I yearned for one, craved it, coveted it.

But even the "ridiculously" low price at which they were being offered was beyond my ridiculously meager means. Sure, I could've splurged, but it would've blown the budget for a month or so, leaving us with no food to vacuum seal, which would've been a cruel tease, not to mention how difficult it would've been to explain to Child Protective Services.

So, you can imagine my excitement when I came upon the Ziploc Vacuum Freezer System. It is a hand pump that you use with specially designed bags. The starter kit, which came with the pump and three quart-sized bags, was less than five dollars. Replacement bags are about $3 for 8 bags.

In the five years I've been using the system, I've frozen leftovers of all kinds in addition to blanching  and freezing fresh vegetables that are on sale and, of course, I've frozen meat from larger (cheaper) packages into smaller meal-sized portions. Though the bags are intended for use in the freezer, they work pretty well to keep cookies, chips, etc. and brown sugar fresh at room temperature. I've not had any problem resealing/resucking the bags after I've opened them when using them this way.

When I first got it, three of our four kids were still at home and the system really let me take advantage of big pack meat sales. Now that all of the kids are out on their own, rather than doing the complex algebra required to decrease our traditional recipes down to a manageable size for just Hubby and I, I just freeze the leftovers, getting two meals for the work of one.

My only caveat (which, I'm pretty sure, is Latin for "lesson learned the hard way") is to be sure to label the things you freeze lest you, as I have, spend the day looking forward to hot turkey sandwiches made with the turkey and gravy you think you're defrosting only to open the bag and be whapped upside the head by the completely unexpected smell of sauerkraut and pork roast.



Z is for Ziploc Vacuum Freezer System



23 comments:

  1. My favorite part about infomercials are the really inept people trying to use traditional products. This made me laugh so hard: http://mashable.com/2013/03/24/infomercial-gif/

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    1. This is fantastic! That's one of my favorite parts, too. My husband and I have a running joke whenever we drain pasta that we may just dump it all over the counter and the floor because it is SO HARD to pour the plain old pot into the plain old colander.

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    2. I loved this, too. Though the last one--with the avalanche of plastic ware flying out of the cabinets--has actually happened to me several times this week alone. One difference: my lids and containers all flew out independently of one another. I'm a master at grown-up life. ;)

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  2. Okay, as long as you are sure we will probably never meet in person, and since this appears to be a confessional, I will share one of my "gotcha's".
    Richard Simmons. That's all I'm gonna say.
    Not only did I fall for the "package", you know, "You will not only get...but we will throw in...and...wait we're not finished yet, you also get..." I got talked into buying more of the extras when I called to place the order. "Did you know for only another $5.00 you get blah, blah, blah.
    Yeah, I never lost any weight. Diet and exercise, give me a break.

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    1. I loved that last line, Lynda--probably because it hits a little close to home. Richard Simmons--I swear that dude does some sort of subliminal hypnosis thing and it's so effective because he looks so ridiculous that you can't imagine him steering anyone wrong.

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  3. I love this! I am a complete sucker for infomercials, too. It appears to be a family trait. One time when my jBird was about 4, she gave us a blow-by-blow explanation about why we absolutely must buy the Jack Lelanne Juicer. We didn't, but I still wonder about it sometimes...
    There should be a support group.

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    1. Son-Two had a passionate need for Flexiblocks, which were sold on commercials in the '90s. In the pre-internet days, we had to get a money order and send it by snail mail since we didn't have a credit card. We never got the blocks or a refund, despite several calls to the 800#.

      And, yes, to a support group. It would be wrong to offer door prizes FROM the infomercials we're trying to wean ourselves off of, right?

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  4. What a stick in the mud I am - I am too serious, too cynical, too jaded - turn the thing off! Cant stand anything about them. But, I bet you guys have a lot more fun in life than I do.....

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    1. I don't know about that, Gracie. Though I do think a large part of my interest is not that they are convincing, but that they are hilariously awful.

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  5. I just nominated you for a Liebster! I've enjoyed getting to know you. It's here:

    http://www.alioffthemark.com/2013/05/its-spring-cleaning-time-bitches.html

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    1. Thanks, Allison. I will stop by soon to check it out. I've really enjoyed reading your stuff, too. Adding you to my "regulars." As my other "regulars" can attest, that usually means I will go weeks between catch-up binges. So silence, followed by 42 comments in an hour. ;)

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  6. I hate infomercials but my mom bless her heart... I am now the proud owner of a Magic Bullet...I could sell those things myself!

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    1. Oh, the Magic Bullet was another one of those really tempting ones. Like I said, I've never really had the money to risk/waste on the stuff--just love the IDEA of the crap.

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  7. I love it. I bought a ... something or other once. I can't even remember what it was.

    I do love my ShamWOW towels, though. I don't care what anyone says. :)

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  8. I freaking love my Ziploc Vacuum Freezer System. I knew we were soul mates.

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    1. I think I meant kindred spirits. Soul mates sounds creepy all of the sudden.

      Also, I loved your A-Z posts. Kinda sad that's over.

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    2. Happy to have you as a kindred spirit and/or totally non-creepy soul mate, Leah. I really enjoyed A-Z, too. Now I'm sort of floundering on what next. ;)

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  9. I've seen these things in the store and have considered trying them, you really make them sound like a good purchase.

    I've nominated you for a liebster award. Check out the details here: http://mamajess66.blogspot.ca/

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  10. I have one of those fancy vacuum sealers (a gift from my sister) and I rarely use it because it's a pain to get it out of the cupboard, set it up, etc. Sounds like the ziploc system would be easier to use.

    I SO want one of those Magic Mesh Door Covers. I've found them on sale at a local store and may be getting one for the summer.

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    1. I could really use a couple of those door covers at the halfway house--my guys are having a VERY hard time understanding the concept of not leaving the doors hanging wide open when there are no screens on them. As Chief Nag, those magic mesh thingies would make my life a lot easier. :)

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