My parents are always commenting on my brisket and how they wish I could cook one for them. Well I've got a vacuum sealer now and I've sealed up a bunch of chopped brisket and it was great just dunked in boiling water till it was warm again. I'm curious if I cooked them a whole brisket and vacuum packed it if I should go ahead and slice/chop it (probably 2/3 sliced, 1/3 chopped) or if I should leave the sections I'd normally slice in larger chunks and let them slice it after it's reheated. Planning on making 1 pound packages for them since they're retired and it's only the two of them in the house. Which way would reheat better?

At that size, I'd lean towards just slicing/chopping.

You suggest a different size?

Not really. I just mention size as if you were doing a whole brisket for someone to later serve to a large group, I could see doing it all unsliced or in a few sections (point, a few flat). Doing it by a small serving size, I don't think benefit to not slicing and will be easier for them to have it sliced.

We vac seal intact half briskets and freeze them to give out. we put a card with instructions on how to reheat. We tell them to put in a cooler with boiling water till hot, and people love them.

We do this all the time for my Mom anytime we have leftovers. She loves small packages of smoked brisket (we slice it to make it simple for her & it does well), slices of pork loin, even a few ribs or sausage sealed up. So handy for her since she's alone & doesn't like big productions in the kitchen anymore. She pretty much stopped cooking full meals for herself after my Dad passed. I asked her why & she said she'd spent 65 married years fixing 3 meals a day - ha! I get it.

For Christmas, I always spend the week before making her a hearty beef soup, a few casseroles that she likes, a pot of very lightly seasoned chili, etc. and seal them up in one serving bags for her to have throughout the winter. It lets me know she's eating well and makes things so easy for her. We also freeze up some bags of crappie filets for her & she loves that. Another big hit is homemade tomato sauce - we always have a million tomatoes & I found a great recipe that used to take 15 hours in a crock pot that I now do in the Instant Pot for 45 minutes and it's just as good. I bag it up in 1 & 2 cup bags and she uses it all year on pasta, in soups, etc.

edit to add: I skype her every day & she always tells me what she's eating from the freezer!

Recipe for insta pot tomato sauce?

If I wanted to send brisket portions (or even a whole brisket) to relatives in Florida from Texas what's the best way to go about doing that?

If they are knowledgeable enough I usually just split the flat in the point in vacuum pack each one whole, freeze it and sent it.

If I'm sending son to my parents I will usually slice it up and freeze individual meals.

Here it is - super easy - the only thing time consuming is the tomato prep.

https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/58854/slow-cooker-tomato-sauce/

We don't plant romas so I use bigger, tastier tomatoes of any variety. We always make double batches for 12 servings. You can adjust it to 12 on their site.

We figured that 20 roma = about 3.5 pounds of peeled, seeded ones. 2 teaspoons of cayenne makes it too hot for us - adjust that for your own taste. Everyone that has tried it here asks for the recipe & all have used much less cayenne. Most seem to like it at around 1/2 teaspoon. We make several batches at different heat levels (but never the full 2T and we are not wimpy spice people) & label them accordingly. We freeze in 1 & 2 cup packs.

When I got my Instant pot, i decided to give it a whirl and randomly decided 45 minutes should do it and it seems to work just fine if you chop the onions pretty uniformly & small. Allows me to make several batches in a day when the tomatoes are rolling. We use it in soups, chili, just over pasta for a super quick meal, etc.