Planning the meal

Good planning allows so much to be prepared ahead of time. Many dishes are easily prepared in large quantities then vacuum-sealed into separate single-use pouches for later use. Once cooked, and if cooled correctly, the individual pouches can be stored in the fridge for three days or immediately frozen, then defrosted in the fridge as required.

Some really special sous vide dishes require 12-72 hours cooking time; this seems like forever, but can actually work quite well if the item is put into the water bath just before mealtime the correct number of days in advance. The low temperatures used for, say, 72-hour beef ribs is the same temperature used for some quick-cook dishes, such as a medium-rare steak or succulent duck breast. Each primary food item to be cooked sous vide must be individually vacuum-sealed and, so, as long as the temperature is right, many items can be cooked in the one water bath without affecting one another.