I have owned one for about 20 years.
I think the best version of the Foodsaver is the upright model.
Think it is V3 or something like that.

We got a Food Saver a few years ago as a gift. It is now sitting in the basement. We never use it. For whatever reason, we could never get all the air out of the packaging and get a really tight seal. I would go to the freezer and find the seal split on most of our items. I'm glad I didn't spend the money on it myself.

I use mine for certain things and I'd use it a heck of a lot more if it wasn't for the cost of the bags. For what you're talking about, I think you'll find it to be very expensive. Package those meals well and throw them in the freezer. They won't degrade from freezer burn in just one or two weeks; that's not a long time.

I've been using a mid-range FoodSaver for a few years, mostly for freezing fresh hamburger, steaks, chicken, and pork chops, that I buy in large packages at Costco. I break them down into meal size portions, seal, and store in the freezer. The bags/rolls are not cheap, but the ability to store these in the freezer for months, with no apparent loss in quality, is well worth it to me. I'm sure some items have been kept in my fridge much, much, longer than recommended, but nothing has gone bad.

I find the plastic 11" and 8" inch rolls that you cut to length are more versitile than the bags. I usually get the FoodSaver combo bag pack at Costco that has some of each.

The main caveat I have is that sealing foods that have much of a liquid content is a problem. The vacuum draws liquid out of the bag as well as air. This interferes with the heat seal process, and can make a mess, although a slight amount of seepage can still work. It's recommended to avoid the problem by pre-freezing before sealing. I've found for meat, it doesn't have to be necessarily frozen solid. For a slight amount of moisture another suggestion is to place a folded piece of paper towel in the bag below the seal line to absorb the moisture.

Baked goods can be crushed by the vacuum. I have vacuum sealed frozen Costco garlic bread loaves by partialy freezing the bread, and then cutting off the vacuum (easy to do) short of completion and total collapse of the bread.

I have some of the available accessories, like vacuum canisters, and the vacuum meat marinator, but I don't really bother using them. I think some of the containers are what is recommended for storing cooked meals, but I'm not convinced they are worth it, because you can only create a partial vacuum in the container, and if there is any air space, there will be some air. With the sealed bags, the bags suck in around the food so there is little space for air.

I think with frozen foods, or dry foods, the FoodSaver works really well. I'm not familiar with their current models, but I think the more expensive versions mostly add more adjustable settings, and more attachment options. Some are more compact than others. My version, V2440 has a Vacuum & Seal button, Manual Seal only button, two seal heat settings (labeled Moist and Dry which adjust the length of the seal heat time), and Low and High speed settings. Not sure offhand what these do. It also has a vacuum port and plastic tube to connect to accessory containers, and a canister setting button. I think these are most of the basic controls, and more than enough.

It is fun, and amazing to your friends to watch a marshmallow balloon up inside a vacuum canister. haha

Thanks for everyone input! So I guess in my case where I cook full meals I should just freeze them all as soon as I cook them then put them in the foodsaver...???

I have the Food Saver Costco sells; not sure of the model #. I haven't used it a ton, but it has been great for meats, poultry, seafood, etc. We can seal a ton of salmon after a good summer's catch and it will still be good the next summer. We never have any freezer burn or that off-taste from frozen foods. I also got a small one (for $20 from Food Saver site) for a 2nd home and use it very successfully for meats and cheeses and such that we might leave for a couple of months. I think it would be a very good investment for you.

I also heard you can re-use the bags so i guess it's worth trying? Or not I should not re-use the bags since I store the meals and they could stain the bag?

And I have also read that certain bags don't fit the foodsaver... has anyone run into that?

I'm just beginning to learn how best to use it myself, but I got a lot of tips in the Cooking Forum. You might want to try searching there and posting a thread for more advice. They can certainly answer your reuse questions.

I don't have my notes here, but I think they recommended wrapping some things in plastic wrap to keep the bag from getting messed up. They also recommended, for instance, that if I wanted to use it for things that you usually have in a dish, like a small or single portion lasagna, the thing to do is get it good and frozen, take it out and remove the dish, then put it in the Foodsaver bag and back into the freezer. That way you don't need a lot of freezer to oven dishes.

One of the things I hope goes well is sealing nuts. I don't like chilling them, and they always go rancid on me before I can use them all.

You don't really need anything special for freezing most foods. Just a full (i.e., not much air) container or freezer bag. My mother used to freeze a large family's worth of cooked chicken on one of those rippled aluminum pans. That goes right in the oven, and can be reused many times. Cover the whole thing with freezer paper, properly folded to fit the contours and seal out air, and it'll keep fine, especially if your freezer doesn't self-defrost.

The Foodsaver should be superior, however. It has not much air beat, y'know?

How do you know that the seal is going to last? Can you test it before you put it in the freezer? Any tips?

I've actually had a couple of sealed bags, out of hundreds, that had air leak in over time from a failed seal. The only result though was some freezer minor burn.

I modified my method to try to get a more reliable seal. I used to pop the lid of the FoodSaver open as soon as the sealing light turned off, but now I count to 5 before opening the FoodSaver to let the seal cool for a moment. I think it helps, but who knows.

On reusing bags. If the seal area is clean then you can seal it. For dry goods, or things like cheese, it's easy to make the bags over length, then when you cut the top off to open, you have enough area left to reseal.

I don't bother reusing the bags once they're empty since mine would usually require a a pretty good cleaning, and it's not worth it to me.

But speaking of cheese, I probably save the cost of the bags by the amount of cheese that doesn't spoil anymore in my fridge. I always buy 2LB vacuum packed cheese with a marked shelf life around 6 months, and then cut it into thirds. I used to keep them in ziplock bags, or wrap in plastic wrap, but the mold would start in a couple weeks at best. Now I take the 1/3 block chunks with the exposed ends and seal in a vacuum bag. They seem to last as long as the original 2LB block.

One last point, I have run across a roll of bags that the FoodSaver would have a hard time pumping the air out. The bags have a textured pattern to them that allows airflow out of the bag even when pressed in the sealing process. I must have gotten some bags that were too flat. As I remember, this was more of a problem when I used some cheaper brand of bags. I do keep an eye out for sales on FoodSaver bags.

How do you know that the seal is going to last? Can you test it before you put it in the freezer? Any tips?

Again, I'm a total newbie and don't know much yet, but if you want a test, you can grab it by the bottom and shake it. :) Really, if you don't have moisture in the seal area, it should seal well.

I'm certainly no expert, but I use one occasionally when I get back from COSTCO. I'm also cheap and have a bad habit of keeping the bags short. That means that I sometimes don't get a good sealing area to work with. When that happens, the unit won't pull the air ALL out and the sealer won't turn on. When it actually seals, it is a good seal. I have left things in the freezer a long time without a failure. I suspect that multiple failure to seal is due to a defective unit.

My neighbor is a big fan of these things. she used to live on a farm and freeze tons of stuff including pre-cooked meals (stuffed peppers, for example). She would put precooked stuff on a trey and freeze them overnight and then bag them.

I was watching a cooking show the other night on PBS. They did a test of different vacuum packaging systems. They said the issue is the bags being too thin. The ice crystals that form inside eventually puncture the bags, letting in air. The thicker bags were better. Their best system was a $400 commercial unit. The worst was some kind of 'ziploc' back with a special valve. The Foodsaver was in the middle.

Have you looked into Once a Month cooking? there is a lot of info available for people who cook this way, and it's quite popular. I have a food saver and use it quite a bit, but I grow/raise the bulk of what DH and I eat.

About the only time I have a seal failure is if I get moisture in the seal. I only use it for things I'm going to freeze for several months, I use ziplock and plastic containers for things I'm only going to freeze for a short amount of time (like less than a month).