Food saver??

[paulito]

I used my Cabelas sealer this past weekend to put up some venison breakfast sausage. Noticed for the first time its actually a food saver. Just stuck their logo on it.

 

[Dustin Pate]

Add me to the Food Saver club. I've had my current one 10 years and it hasn't given me a lick of trouble. I couldn't begin to count how much it has been used. I use all brands of bags and currently Costco bags have been working well.

 

[ucfireman]

And, you can wash and re-use those bags over and over several times.

yep
Tip I do is place the meat in a zip lock bag and leave the zipper open a little and then place in a vacuum bag and seal, I find the ziplock bags easier to wash out than the vacuum bags. or wrap in plastic wrap or paper. my 0.02

For bag sealing issues, I usually double seal both ends of the stuff I am putting up for a longer time.

Always do this, mine I seal once and then just hit the seal button again.

One tip for re-using bags. On your first vacuum, cut your bags an inch or two longer than you need. At first glance it may seem wasteful but it allows you enough length to re-use the bag a second time.

yep.
see above too.

I have noticed on occasions food can get sucked up into the vacuum hole and can get clogged leading to not vacuuming well. That hole can be cleaned out and the sealing strips too.

 

[DannyW]

Some good info in here on using vacuum sealers...I especially like the alternate use tips like sealing up tools to keep them dry on a boat.

 

[shdw633]

I'll bet I've had over half a dozen Foodsaver sealers over the years and I have used them a lot and burned everyone of them up. Even now, the one I have the sealing strip will only seal about 3 bags before it overheats and I have to wait for it to cool down to continue. I'm done with them and am going to a chamber unit next. Most likely the Vevor because I can get it for somewhere between $200 to $300 on Amazon. I enjoy sous vide cooking so I use the sealer quite a bit and the chamber seems like an easier and quicker way to do it. I will keep a Foodsaver around for the big items I seal up, like a whole boston butt or whole rack of ribs but for everyday use I am going to a chamber here soon.

 

[Dr. Strangelove]

The best thing you can do is keep it on the counter so you can use it when you want without having to drag it out of the pantry/wherever. I haven't been successfully able to negotiate counter space with the kitchen manager, lol.

It will heat seal chip bags, spice mixes, essentially anything in a plastic type bag.

Try to keep liquids to minimum, if the pump sucks up liquid it will severely shorten it's life.

Buy the heavier bags, we have a chest freezer and the cheaper bags develop holes if you're moving things around often.

Wipe down the seals if they get cruddy, empty the liquid chamber and clean if you are sealing really moist food. (The seals are replaceable, I fixed my parent's that wasn't sealing with a new set of seals for less than $20)

I sous-vide weekly and we get about 3-4 years out of a Food Saver before the pump goes out or the heat sealer bar dies.

I'm going to look at a commercial chamber model next time we are up for a replacement. Cooking is a hobby for me and while I'm certainly not wealthy, $1k for a commercial model is less than the cost of a new rifle/scope combo, deer lease, week of vacation, woodworking tools, etc.

 

[DannyW]

The best thing you can do is keep it on the counter so you can use it when you want without having to drag it out of the pantry/wherever. I haven't been successfully able to negotiate counter space with the kitchen manager, lol.

Glad to see I am not the only one fighting this battle.

What makes it worse is she has all kinds of useless stuff, decor as she call it, sitting on the counter while the useful vacuum sealer gets put in the pantry.

 

[sbroadwell]

I don't use mine much, but do get rolls of bag material from Amazon, really cheap per bag.
But I found out something. You shouldn't leave the lid clamped down tight when not using it. It actually said that in the instructions, but I didn't pay any attention. I did, and after just a short while, couldn't get a good seal. It had compressed the foam rubber around the sealer too much. I was able to fix it, by leaving it open a few days. Now I'm real careful to make sure it is not closed tightly when I put it back in the box. I have too much other junk on the kitchen counters to leave it out.

 

[bfriendly]

I've also got the $99 from Walmart foodsaver brand unit. Had it for awhile, used it a bunch, but when I replace it, I'm not getting the same one.

I too have started having the problem of the seals letting go, more frequently as the unit gets older. I also think off brand bags are more likely to let go, but I've had it happen with foodsaver bags, too. I've also got the more recent issue of the unit not being able to seal well enough to pull a vacuum. I'm often having to press down on the lid to get it to start pulling tight. In other words, my machine is wearing out.

Ultimately, I think this is a place where spending a bit more is worth it. I often see recommendations for some of the Weston Pro series units. That's probably the route I'll go.

Chamber style units are supposed to be the cat's meow. There are benefits (can seal liquids like broth and soup), and supposedly the bags are significantly cheaper (5 cents as opposed to 50 cents). Probably boils down to how much you plan on using it - do you use enough bags to pay for the machine with bag savings cost?

But, brand/style aside, I will always have a vacuum sealer of some type. There's a noticeable difference in quality when freezing meat, and I think it's an absolute necessity when freezing fish.

I use a cheap $40 Amazon sealer. It’s been amazing and i bought my friends wife one too. She says it’s the best present she ever received!
Make sure when you store it, it is NOT clamped down or closed……it was on the label and makes sense for longevity. I love mine!

 

[Flash]

I don't use mine much, but do get rolls of bag material from Amazon, really cheap per bag.
But I found out something. You shouldn't leave the lid clamped down tight when not using it. It actually said that in the instructions, but I didn't pay any attention. I did, and after just a short while, couldn't get a good seal. It had compressed the foam rubber around the sealer too much. I was able to fix it, by leaving it open a few days. Now I'm real careful to make sure it is not closed tightly when I put it back in the box. I have too much other junk on the kitchen counters to leave it out.

How cheap??

 

[sbroadwell]

How cheap??

I really don’t remember. I got 6 good sized rolls, I think for about $25.
I know it wasn’t much, as I’m pretty cheap!

 

[tad1]

Another positive positive reporting for food savers. I bought probably the cheapest model they have I doubt if I paid more than $30 for it. This was probably 10 years ago.
I Buy economical bags off of Amazon, bulk, off brand.
Commonly I will cut those in half.
Any issues with the sealing are uncommon likely related to user error, too much liquid, or a bone perfing the bag. If I do a bunch of consecutive sealing I sometimes have to wait a minute or 2 to let the strip cool down. I store the unit closed but unclamped to not compress the gasket. Not a hard user, but I’ve used it quite a bit for many years and it works just like day one.
For me, it’s one one of those game-changing things. Although I have been known to manually suck the air out of a freezer bag too, OK with trail mix, not ideal with catfish fillets, or raw meat!

 

[LTZ25]

I'll bet I've had over half a dozen Foodsaver sealers over the years and I have used them a lot and burned everyone of them up. Even now, the one I have the sealing strip will only seal about 3 bags before it overheats and I have to wait for it to cool down to continue. I'm done with them and am going to a chamber unit next. Most likely the Vevor because I can get it for somewhere between $200 to $300 on Amazon. I enjoy sous vide cooking so I use the sealer quite a bit and the chamber seems like an easier and quicker way to do it. I will keep a Foodsaver around for the big items I seal up, like a whole boston butt or whole rack of ribs but for everyday use I am going to a chamber here soon.

I was in the same spot , went and bought a chamber unit for about $600.00
but it works very good and it don't matter if water is inside bag it will not suck it out but seals perfectly . I keep it on the counter and use often also it's very heavy .

 

[shdw633]

I was in the same spot , went and bought a chamber unit for about $600.00
but it works very good and it don't matter if water is inside bag it will not suck it out but seals perfectly . I keep it on the counter and use often also it's very heavy.

What unit did you get?

 

[trial&error]

My first food saver lasted 12yrs until the divorce, may still be working. Second one is still going strong after 8 yrs. One tip freeze the contents before you vacuum seal. Cuts down on squishing things and juices running out.

 

[NCHillbilly]

I think a lot of the failures described are simply from storing your machine with it clamped shut and not using it very often. It kills the seals.