FoodSaver and Salads in a Jar

My mother-in-law bought us a FoodSaver vacuum sealer for Christmas.  You know you're officially a grown up when you're excited about something like this.

Tin Man and I had talked about buying one but when his mom asked what we wanted for Christmas, this was on the list we gave her.

We're trying to save money any way we can, and buying meat in bulk is one way.  Whenever we find a great deal on meat we try to stock up.  This seems like a great idea at the time, until its time to clean out the freezer.  We then find ourselves throwing away so much of these great deals because of freezer burn.

This last time was the last straw and we decided we needed to invest in the FoodSaver so we could stock up on the meat, and actually be able to eat it.  Not to mention Tin Man has seen several recipes that require vacuum sealing the seasonings into the meat for a couple of days.  He's more excited to try those out than he is saving money.

Another great thing is all the attachments you can buy.

There are so many so Tin Man and I decided on choosing one each right now.  Tin Man chose the quick marinator bowl.  Since he's is on a low sodium diet, we've had to find creative ways to season everything.  A lot of the low sodium seasonings just don't add much flavor.  So Tin Man has started experimenting with different seasonings and marinades.  He loves coming up with his own "top secret" marinades.

I chose the wide mouth jar sealer attachment. A couple weeks ago I came across Salad in a Jar.  I love the idea and now am excited to make my own.  I love salads but always find myself throwing out the lettuce more often than not because it gets soggy and gross. 

I like the idea of being able to prepare these one afternoon and have them available whenever I want a snack or a salad with a meal.  I find myself eating out a lot more than I would like because I don't have the time to actually fix me something for lunch.  Plus eating out and trying to lose weight don't go together.

These will definitely come in handy on our long days at clinic.  There isn't anything within walking distance around the clinic, and eating at the hospital is expensive, not to mention very few options that Tin Man can actually eat.  Even hospital cafeteria food is high in sodium.

Yes I know, I get excited over the smallest things, but anything that helps us save money, AND is healthy, I'm all for it.