How To Vacuum Seal Any Bag, But No Vacuum Sealer?

For one reason or another you do not have a vacuum sealer at your availability but you want to throw something in your water bath and sous vide it to perfection. So how do you vacuum seal any bag without a vacuum sealer?

In this article we will try and cover some of the methods available in order to vacuum seal any bag but without a vacuum sealer. We will also touch upon whether or not vacuum sealing is critical in order to succeed with your sous vide endeavors.

We have previously mentioned the water displacement method as a way to achieve vacuum sealing when using Ziploc bags and believe it is worth repeating in this article on how to vacuum seal any bag.

Follow our easy step-by-step guide below in order to use the water displacement method and vacuum seal any bag without a vacuum sealer:

Water Displacement Method aka. Vacuum Without A Machine

One of the best and easiest ways to achieve a vacuum-like effect on your bag is by using the water displacement method.

How to use the Water Displacement Method aka. vacuum seal any bag without a Vacuum Sealer.
Great trick if you sous vide with Ziploc bags.

Total time: 5 minutes

1. Fill up a bowl with water

   

   First we start out by filling a bowl with water. Alternatively you can use your sink or any other container capable of holding onto water.

2. Place your meat or ingredients in Ziploc bag

   

   Add all you contents to the Ziploc bag and ensure you leave up to 1 inch or 2.5 centimeters of space to the opening.

3. Close the zipper (but not all the way)

   

   Almost close the bag fully, but leave a little bit of room for air to leave the bag. Now you are almost ready for the magic to happen.

4. Submerge the Ziploc bag

   

   Now slowly, submerge the Ziploc bag into the water. Be sure to do this slowly.
   Leave just the zipper area above water.
   The pressure from the water will now force most of the air out.

5. Close the Ziploc bag

   

   Before raising the Ziploc bag out of the water ensure that no more air can be released.
   Once the air have been release from the bag. Close the bag.
   Now you are ready to take it out of the water.

6. Take the Ziploc bag out of the water

   

   Final step, take the Ziploc bag out of the water.
   You are now ready to place the bag in the container you will be using for sous vide.

Is A Vacuum Sealer Necessary For Sous Vide?

Strictly speaking you will be able to achieve a result even if you do not vacuum seal your item before placing it in the water. However this is not to be recommended. There are several reasons as to why this is not really to be recommended.

First are foremost, sous vide basically means “Under vacuum” in French. Also the Cambridge dictionary describes it as “food is put in a container that no air can enter”. Therefore, by not vacuuming your product you are essentially doing something else than sous vide. It does not mean that you do something wrong or something that is bad, but whatever you are doing it is not sous vide.

Secondly, and probably more important, one of the reasons as to why we want to vacuum seal our products when we sous vide, is to achieve a tight seal around the item. The tight seal ensures even distribution of heat and that all areas of the product (e.g meat) is cooked evenly.

Without the tight seal of the vacuum, you run the risk of cooking your product unevenly. Therefore a recommendation from our side is to try and vacuum seal any bag you intend to use for sous vide if possible.

Vacuum Seal Any Bag

So what should you do if you can not use the water displacement method or have a vacuum sealer available?

If, for some reason, you can not use either of the options mentioned above it is not a catastrophe. You should still be able to achieve a great result. For inspiration of things to sous vide check out our extensive guide on time and temperature.

There is one major thing I want to highlight when you want to sous vide without using either a vacuum machine / sealer or the water displacement method. Please try and ensure that you remove as much air as possible from your bag prior to placing it in the water. A bit of air is not a disaster, however by having air in your bag you run the risk of the item to flow to the top of your water bath.

If the bag floats to the top of your water bath you risk that not all of the item is surrounded by water. If this happens you may run the risk that the item will not be cooked evenly. One of the great benefits of sous vide is that you can easily cook your product evenly, so we should really do everything we can to minimize this risk.

One way to work around this risk of an uneven cook is to place a heavier item on top of your bag in order to mitigate the float and to ensure that it stays below the water level. This way you increase your odds of evenly cooking the item to your desire.

Another way is to use sous vide balls or ping pong balls spread across the water. This will both help with keeping the item submerged and provide an isolating layer which will help you keep your desired temperature while requiring less use of your sous vide machine thereby minimizing your use of electricity.