I have recently purchased a food vac-packing system, which is used with plastic bags, etc... It takes the air out of the bags and seals it for food preservation. I'm going on a camping trip and want to take my own food instead of being "outfitted". My question is; how long will food (let's say cooked chicken breasts) last if I pre-cook it, vac out the air and freeze the food. It will slowly thaw....

Will the forzen/cooked food last for at least a couple of days if it's placed in a soft cooler with other "like-preserved" frozen/cooked food...?

-- Patricia Cold (patricia.cold@prostaff.com), July 23, 2001

Answers

I take precooked food camping all the time,, and I have never vacummedpacked it. It will last about 5 days, if kept cool, without a problem,, you add the vacum packing,, it should last at least a week,, just keep it cool,, doesnt have to be frozen. If your in doubt about it,, just make sure you re cook it, bring it back up to a high temp,, and you should be fine. Ive done it with chicken,, hamburgers, hit dogs, ect,, even did shrimp once,, ate that the second day.

-- Stan (sopal@net-port.com), July 23, 2001.

This necessarily depends on the air temperature you'll be camping in. Just now in the middle of July in most areas of the country even if you started with it frozen in one of those soft coolers I don't think I'd trust it past two days and maybe not even then.

Basically if the outside of the vac-pac isn't cold to the touch it's time to eat it right then. Vacuum sealing isn't a replacement for food preservation methods like boiling-water bath and pressure canning.

={(Oak)-

-- Live Oak (oneliveoak@yahoo.com), July 23, 2001.

As above. It's almost impossible to guarantee food has no bacteria whatsoever: even if you did manage to kill all bacteria and spores by cooking, it would start getting re-infected immediately from air and kitchen surfaces and handling devices and hands. So, your food will have bacteria on it, and subtracting air gives the ideal (anaerobic) situation for salmonella to flourish. However, a couple of days if packed frozen with other frozen foods in an insulated container should be OK - once it's no longer at least chilled, or preferably just before, it's time to eat it.

-- Don Armstrong (darmst@yahoo.com.au), July 23, 2001.