Ziploc Perfect Portions Bags are one of the latest innovation from the Ziploc Brand. They’re used for storing and freezing bulk foods and individual portions of poultry, meat, fish, and more. These are great if you shop the sales and stock up on items like ground meat, chicken breasts, and fish. They’re also much easier and cheaper to use than a food vacuum sealer.
Here’s how I use them when fish is on sale. We love salmon especially, because it’s tasty and full of healthy omega-3s! Buying a whole fish is almost always cheaper per pound than buying it in already cut up into steaks? Pleas tell the butcher behind the fish counter that you want buy the whole fish. They should be able to cut the fish into steaks for you, if you ask. You should get the whole fish per pound price, but do not for get to ask first.
When you get your fish home, open the package of fish, grab a Perfect Portions Bag and slip your hand inside the bag. Then grab the salmon steak through the bag, pull the bag over the fish while holding on to it. Let go of the salmon steak, push the air out of the bag, twist it and then place it into a Ziploc brand freezer bag. Your hands never touches the raw fish, so you don’t need to worry about clean up or contamination. Plus, using the double bag system also help protect against freezer burn.
You can always try marinating your fish or meat before placing it in the Perfect Portions Bag. Then all you have to do is defrost and grill it!
A friend of mine uses Perfect Portions Bags that makes taco night easy. She likes buying ground beef in bulk during the stock up sales. She browns it and drains any fat by placing the cooked meat in a colander in the sink. A simple tip is where you can rinse cooked ground meat under the faucet to get rid of more fat. Then lay the meat on a paper towel to absorb any water or fat.) She then freezes it to use in later in her favorite recipes.
You can do the same thing with lean ground beef, turkey or chicken. Then weigh out a pound portion of already cooked meat to use in tacos, chili or taco soup. Just place the cooked ground lean meat in a Perfect Portions Bags and freeze for later use. For many recipes there’s no need to thaw out the meat. Just add it to your recipe while you’re cooking!
If you have taco night at your house, take it a step further and combine the browned meat with your favorite taco seasonings and cook it like you normally do. You can always make a double, triple or quadruple sized batch. Let it cool, then divide into a portion your family would normally eat. A pound or two depending on your family’s size and if you like leftovers is the best. Add the already cooked up taco meat to a Ziploc Perfect Portions Bag and freeze. Then all you have to do is thaw out a bag in the refrigerator the night or morning before.
If you forget to thaw it out, just heat it up in the microwave. Ziploc Perfect Portion Bags can be used in the microwave on the defrost setting only. Place bag on a microwave safe dish and cook until warm. One word of caution, do not overheat contents as the bag may melt. Instead, you may want to remove it from the bag. Then heat it up to the desired temperature and serve with refried beans, veggies, homemade guacamole, fresh salsa, cilantro and corn tortillas.
Ziploc Brand products are available in grocery, mass merchandise and drug stores nationwide at suggested retail prices ranging from $1.09 to $4.59.
Northerly Nosh 