The
Reynolds Handi-Vac Food Storage System promises to keep food fresher longer. We put it to the test to find out if it is a deal or a dud.
A baby in the house means the Wallace family needs to make every dollar count. That's why Stephanie stocks her freezer with grocery sale finds. But they don't always make it through freezer burn.
"You don't want your money to waste," Stephanie said.
She's hoping the Reynolds Handi-Vac food storage system can help. The Handi-Vac claims to improve the texture and appearance of foods. We're testing, broccoli and steak and hamburger buns. We put one sample of each in a regular plastic bag and one in a Handi-Vac bag.
We start with broccoli. One in the regular bag and one crown in the Handi Vac. Stephanie uses the vacuum sealer to remove all the air. "I think that looks amazing!"
Now the steaks, one ribeye for the Ziploc, and one for the Handi-Vac.
"It's easy to line up and pressing the button hardly takes any force at all... you just press it," Stephanie said.
And finally hamburger buns, one pack in the control group and the other for our test group!
All the samples went into the freezer for two months. Two months later, we open the freezer to see the results.
First, the bread. The regular plastic bag did not prevent freezer burn. "I don't think it did well at all. You can see the ice," Stephanie said.
But in the Handi-Vac bag, there's just a little damage. The main problem is the appearance. After defrosting the buns they won't pop back into shape. Next, the broccoli. Our first sample looks like it's been in an ice storm. The Handi-Vac broccoli fared better, but it's not perfect.
"Definitely we have freezer burn on this broccoli," Stephanie said.
Finally, the steaks! Each piece of meat got a little freezer burn with both the regular bag and the Handi-Vac bag.
"With the Handi-Vac I'm not impressed with it because we still saw some freezer burn." And while she won’t call it a Deal or Dud, "Maybe it is a deal slash dud..." she does know one thing.
"I wouldn't purchase it." To us that sounds like a dud.
