Freezing Fish

[Reel Addiction]

I am interested in learning the best way to freeze fish. I have always put the fillets in a zip lock bag with water. Is vacumn sealing the way to go? If so, what model and / or brand is best? I am optomisticly looking forward to a productive spring in fish so I want to be prepaired.

[Salty Gator]

Food saver vacuum sealer

[GaryDroze]

Circle K technique: stick a soda straw in the tiniest opening you can make in the corner of the ziploc bag. Then suck for all you're worth and close the corner just as you pull the straw out.

PLUS: Very low cost option to vacuum sealer; gives you a head rush, entertaining to watch
MINUS: Very real possibility of inhaling bits of raw fish, blood, parasitic worms, etc.

Not a perfect vacuum seal, but keeps my filets in good shape for 7-10 days. If I screw up & rip the ziploc bag, I take that as a sign to just make ceviche.

[FUTCHCAIRO]

I HAVE ALWAYS JUST USED ZIP=LOCK BAGS, COVERING THE FILLETS WITH WATER AND ZIP THE BAG CLOSE, HAVE HAD SOME THAT WENT OVER A YEAR AND WERE STILL GREAT.
PA
SEMPER FI

[Steve Stinson]

My method is the same as Pa's. I have tried a couple of vacuum sealers, but unless you get all of the moisture out of the filets before trying to vacuum seal them, you suck fish-water into the sealer which first makes it smell terrible, then makes it quit working after a while.

[Joe]

I wrap each filet with Saran Wrap and place all of the individual wrapped filets in a 2 gallon Zip Lock. My wife then sucks the bag closed. This allows for individual portions to be unthawed very quickly. I do not store fish longer than about 6 months...

[redbelly7]

After vacuum sealing, I always make 2 more seals to ensure a good seal

[SS-342]

We just use a FREEZER zip-lock bag. Keeps for us over a year. Take out as much air as you can. If you use the regular kind it is good for about six weeks.

[EddieJoe]

Food Saver Vacuum sealer is the absolute best, and worth the investment in the long run. The more basic models are entirely adequate for the job. Target has one for $79, and that is about what I paid before inflation for the one I have. Mine is almost 10 YO, and still works well. Plan on buying the bags in rolls, and cutting them to size. Target, Walmart, and others carry the devices and bags.
As mentioned by another post, you need to dry the fillets off as best you can prior to putting them in the bags, or otherwise the liquid will be sucked up into the sealer when the vacuum is enabled.

In the past, I used the ziplock and water method, which works O.K., but packing in water makes the fillets less tasty when thawed and the bags take up a lot of room. You can thaw a vacuum packed bag right in a tray of water without opening it, thus keeping the fillets in good shape.

Buy the Food Saver, but skip the models with all of the gizmos.

EJ

[fredhey]

We place the filets or peices of larger fish on wax paper on a cooke sheet and freeze overnignt. Then package meal size servings in vacume bags then seal. No moisture to deal with. We ust the Food Saver brand sealer and bags. We also do a larger bag cut larger than needed so we can take peices out and re-seal. Note- us two sheets of wax paper between layers of filets for easier seperation after freezing.