I was searching for “can i sous vide without a vacuum sealer?” and yes, you can. They just say you need a vacuum sealer if you’re gonna be doing vegetables.
Even has a section on “but isn’t plastic bags wasteful” where they bring up how driving is a different kind of energy burn, so cooking at home has benefits.
The displacement method (stick it into water so air floats up and out of the bag) is mentioned lots of places, like:
I have no idea what sous vide is, but that it can use vacuum sealing impresses me the hell out of me.
sous vide means you put it in a water bath at a lower temperature for a longer time, so your food gets heated evenly all the way through. that’s why it needs to be vacuum sealed! otherwise it would be boiling the food. people like sous vide because it seals juices and flavor inside, so stuff (usually meat) comes out especially tender.
i did end up getting a handheld vacuum sealer! it takes reusable zipper bags. i’ve been vacuum-sealing everything from half a watermelon to crackers to half an avocado to waffles to one-cup batches of pancake mix.
last week, i cooked using the sous vide technique for the first time with pork chops (defrosted), and a few days ago i cooked chicken breasts (put into the sous vide bath directly from frozen). the pork chops were still chewy, but relatively tender! the chicken is juicy but 4 hours was too long i think =) i can shred it. tomorrow i’m going to turn it into chicken noodle soup.