I got one recently and love it! You have to freeze anything you want to seal first. It pulls a suction and will make a frightful mess if you try to use it with unfrozen liquids. I freeze liquids in plastic freezer containers, then take them out of the containers and put them in the food saver bags. It sounds like a lot of work, but it isn't. For freezing cooked solid foods (I make lots of casseroles), I put them in the food saver bags, then put them in the freezer standing up until they are frozen, then wipe any moisture away from the inside of the opening, then seal. I've frozen cake slices the same way - freeze first! It's a real life saver, believe me. I don't use it for things that I know I'll be using soon because of the expense of the bags, but do for anything that might be there for a while. And things take up a lot less space in the freezer when they're in those bags. Go for it!

Every once in a while FS has email sales. Get on their email list. Last year, a $200 model was being sold for half price. a great bargain to say the least. I think that the moderators here took off my last thread for great FS deals, as I have not seen it when I did a search. Admittedly, I really amd not very happy with this forum searches, but if you keep it simple with a few words, it should give quite a lot of info.. Rolls are cheaper than bags, and there are a few alternate sources for them. Keep in mind the plastic bag material should have the embossed quilted surface on one side, so the vacuum can pass through and properly empty the bags before they get the final seal. I think Ruthie had got a bag material that lacked the quilting so they didn't get fully collapsed as they should. I don't reuse the bags, but if it were for dry things, they may be fine to reuse. I also bought an impulse heat sealer (from eBay) to make the bags from rolls. It reduces the wear on the heater strip on the FS machine. My favorite is the ability to pull a vacuum on Ball canning jars. The lids go between the jar and the vacuum hose with attached adapter, and once air is let back in, the blast will push the lid hard against the canning jar making quite a vacuum tight seal. I even use the adapter with a higher capacity vacuum pump to make some pickled peppers that simply will not survive any heat processing of any kind. Avoid using the FS with any liquids that might get accidentially pulled into the vacuum pump. My higher powered piston type vacuum pump has big moisture trap that can collect up to a quart of liquid should it ever see any while pumping.

I'm on my 3rd one after 20 years of using them (and the next one is in the basement in storage). No two have been alike, interestingly enough. I wouldn't be without it. I have a special cart to hold it, right by the refrigerator. If you can keep it out, you'll find you will use it much more than if you have to haul it out each time. The FoodSaver is on the top, for easy access, and already plugged in. I keep an assortment of the rolls of bags, the tube for sealing the canisters, and jar attachment in a nice basket on another shelf. I also keep scissors to cut the bags, and a couple Sharpies there to mark them. On the bottom shelf of the cart I keep an assortment of canisters and canning jars (which you can also use for vacuum-sealed storage). -Grainlady

I put my food on trays, so I can pre-freeze (about 30 minutes) and then seal. Having it dry out for a modest amount of time in the freezer is ideal for some things. I find meat doesn't oxidize and turn brown inside the bag if I freeze it first, whereas it does if I don't. I don't want a lot of freezing and thawing, and if you can pack the contents loosely without additional moisture, pouring out what you need is ideal, especially if it's things like sliced fruit or bacon slices. stir fryi, I freeze muffins, cookies, sweet breads (sliced, not whole), etc. all the time. But you have to pre-freeze them. If that's a problem, I can see why this wouldn't suit you. I don't mind though, especially when I can pull something out months (and even years like that skirt steak) later and there's no issues with the food. bamahostaman, that's a good tip about elevating your VS. I just figure if I went to the trouble of making real food, and making it well, I want to save it so it will be eaten in its entirety. It's another process. Does it save time? No, not while I'm doing it. But it sure saves time when I don't have to cook again so soon, and the food tastes as fresh as when I made it. I suspect those of you who don't love it, simply have a different method or means of food preservation. Certainly a different style of cooking. It's great for my particular lifestyle, because I don't always have the energy to cook when people are hungry; but I can always pull something out of the freezer that people are happy to eat!