Why Every Mother Needs a Sous Vide

Before I had children, I was the veritable guru of healthy meal prep. I had Instagram worthy stacks of my delectable meals stacked up every Sunday. My day usually started with a leisurely trip to the grocery store with my husband. We would laugh, we would joke, and blithely gaze upon each other in an ethereal child-free existence. We might stop at a few other smaller stores, but eventually head home, car full of groceries. Once home, he’d turn on the music, and I would begin grating lemon zest or some other high-brow ingredient.

After I had Vicky, I resolved to get healthy again. My doctor had strictly ordered I stop lifting weights, and once the pattern of healthiness was interrupted, my diet followed suit. I packed on over 70 pounds, pregnant with my 5 pound, 12 ounce baby.

But meal prep was no longer something I could devote an entire Sunday to. We had an infant to take care of. An infant, who could not just wait until I was done breading the chicken. I needed to find a way to eat healthy, but cut down on the prep time.

Enter…the sous vide. The sous vide is one of those things that you really have to see in person. Most brands are effortlessly quiet, the bubbles moving around the bin rapidly, generating heat. Essentially, you vacuum pack the food you want to cook, throwing in seasoning, marinades etc. You buy a no-frills vacuum sealer and you’re in business! After you set the temperature and time on your sous vide cooker, you throw the bag in and walk away. It’s so easy! Here’s a few more reasons that buying a sous vide really changed the game for me:

• The sous vide cooks on its own. Once it has reached temperature, you pop in your bags of food and it does the work for you. That means you’re making lunch while you simultaneously play with your kids.

• The sous vide also eliminates clean up. Unless you choose to grill or pan fry your meat on a skillet, there are no pots and pans involved.
• The sous vide seals in flavor. Gone are the days of dry chicken breast. As the food is vacuum packed, moisture literally has nowhere else to go!
• The food stays fresher, longer. My uncooked bags stay fresh for up to 18 months in the freezer. If the food was already cooked in the sous vide, the food is good for 8-10 days in the refrigerator, compared to the 4-5 day shelf life of normally packed cooked food.

• No more defrosting! You can actually pop in frozen meat into the pot of water and it cooks just the same. I err on the side of caution when doing this, and cook for the maximum recommended time.
• The cost savings are great! You do not have to buy expensive cuts of meat to get the perfect texture. The sous vide is very forgiving to cheap cuts of meat!

What I recommend to start out:

• Anova Culinary Sous Vide Precision Cooker
• GERYON Vacuum Sealer
  • This is one of the cheaper models on the market, but we have had ours for years and it is still going strong!
• Vacuum Sealer Bags
• Sous Vide Bin
  • You can also buy a lid, but it isn’t necessary unless you are cooking something for an extended period of time and are concerned about water retention.

Try it out! Comment and let me know how it goes!