Bob - I've sure been fascinated with this idea of yours. Hate to say this, but not too sure I understand what a "food saver" is - afraid you'll have to 'splain this to me.

Dale

Bob,
What a great idea, I can only imagine how funny the clothes look though. Hubby always keeps an extra set of work clothes in his truck for when the mood strikes to head to the campground instead of coming home.
Lynda

Dale
A food saver is a machine that has several different size bags and containers. The original intent is to put food, mostly meats, in the bag and the machine sucks out all of the air and then seals the bag. The meat is said to last for three or four years in the bags.

Jersey_ponder
The clothes do look kinda funny. All squished up. But they do stay dry.

I also camp with one of the old lanterns, the kind you see the cowboys light and throw in the barn, that takes lantern oil. I used the thing to wrap 2 bottles of the oil. Each in a different bag. That way if they leak it doesn't go anywhere and with no air around the bottle only a bit will come out of the bottle. Also did several bags of matches.

Even thou ziplock bags will keep things dry this thing takes out all of the air and with the clothes a rolled up tee shirt takes up about 1/3 the space.

Bob

You can wash and reuse the bags too. I don't reuse the bags that held meat though.

Bob, your idea sounds good for backpacking to keep clothes dry.

Jo

We've used the same kind of principle with Coleman bags, available in sets of 3 medium, or 1 each of small, medium and large. You put clothes in them and, contrary to the instructions, close the zipper all but about an inch or two, roll them up, then close the zipper the rest of the way and unroll them.
This works well, can be redone while travelling or camping.
We got them at Walmart (Supercenter, the smaller Walmarts don't seem to have them), in the camping or luggage areas.
The medium size has been useful. The small is too small and the large is too large.

Brian

Less costly to the FoodSaver machine are the SpaceSaver bags, they come in many different sizes and are available at local stores, like WalMart's and similar. You place the items inside the bag, zip them up, and a one way valve is on the side of the bag. To suck the air out you just have to place a vacuum hose to the valve, and in about 10 seconds, all the air is gone. They're also a great alternative for those without FoodSavers', or the need for one. They work great!

-James

i carry a vacuumed bag of socks that looks like beef jerky. no matter what you get into you'll always have dry socks.

but the problem is resealing out in the wilderness. just got back from 3 weeks in alaska & the wxtex drybags worked out great. i kept my sleeping gear in one ( down bag & sleeping clothes) and my clothes in the other bag. these work great compared to the other vinyl dry bag because they have a valve that lets you purge the air out & compress them. the fastex clips at the top & 2 lashing holes make it simple to clip it to your pack. these are cheap at $15 for the 5 lt bag. they have become one of my 10 "must pack" items. check them out & next time you will always have dry clothes.

Here is a link that might be useful: wxtex dry bag

"The meat is said to last for three or four years in the bags."

It does, just don't open the bags!! haha

3 or 4 years .....hmmmmm interesting.