I had something similar to that device for marinading meat. It came with a shorter version of a hand pump and a squareish container with flat cover and a rubber seal in the center that would allow the hand pump to pull the vacuum. If the vacuum were done in the down stroke it would be much easier to pull a decent vacuum, but it will not pull a vacuum until you pull UP on the plunger, using pull force. For most people thats a bit more exercise than I would like. The electric pumps on the FS go down to about 25in mercury where 30 is usually the maxiumum for larger, more powerful vacuum pumps. My special external vacuum is a dual chamber diaphram type pump and all this is done by a double shaft motor and two pistons. The full strength 5% vinegar will eventually soften the tender peppers, but if stored, they usually last up to about a year before getting soft. I also add the Pickle Crisp to act as a buffer for all that acid when doing the peppers. The method I use has no heat of any kind applied to the jars or contents. Because of that, I don't think that diluting the 5% vinegar is a very good idea unless a heat processing were done after filling the jars, and that heat process is what will soften them. If I were to attempt to can them using a conventional pickling recipe, the end result would be all green mush. Sweet cherry peppers are also a favorite of mine, and are very hard to find pickled in jars. I grow them here as well, but have not tried the vacuum method on them yet. Marinades work very fast to tenderize things if they have acid in them. Even soy sauce marinades can make mush out of beef if left soaking in it for too long. Simple brining marinades like salt, sugar, a little flaver and a good soak in a vacuum for about 2-4 hours will work nicely. The thicker the meat, the longer it should soak. One of my favorites on the grill in summertime is a marinade made of lime juice and a few other herbs. Chicken breasts are marinaded in it for about 30-60 minutes and they come out really tender. Red wine vinegar is OK as a marinade, but again, because of the high acid, a very short soaking is needed. I don't know what a potato would do in a red wine vinegar, but must assume it would turn dark and be like a potato salad without the added dressings.

The three FoodSavers I've used since 1986 have all worked as they were intended for bags, jars and canisters. The first one, which happened to be a used machine, failed when one of the children vacuum-sealed a powdery substance and it was sucked into the motor. The second machine died when a friend borrowed it and I didn't realize they were vacuum-sealing a large amount of food, and they didn't follow the instructions to allow time between each use so the machine could cool down, and they burned the motor out. The current one has been in use for over a decade. I suspect many problems are due to failing to read the user manual and following instructions: -Drawing in liquids, powdery, or fine-grained products into the unit. You can place a coffee filter over powdery items in jars/canisters to help keep the fine powder from migrating to the lid during vacuuming. You can prevent liquids from being drawn into the unit by placing a folded paper towel at the top of the bag (but below the seal area), place the wet food in another bag FIRST, before vacuum packaging. -Failure to clean the rim of the jar/canister, and failure to heat the canning lids to soften the sealing compound before attaching it to a jar. -Heavy use it's not intended for - like vacuum-sealing a large purchase of meat one package after another. You need a commercial-grade machine for heavy use. -In the early machines you needed to place the bag in the machine with the rough side down, and "the bag should not overhang into the vacuum channel itself, or touch the rubber gasket" (outlined in the user manual, complete with pictures). -Failure to close locking clips on each side of the unit properly - on machines that had the locking clips. -Failure to wipe any excess moisture or residue from inside the bag surface at the open end. When possible, roll the side of the bag over to fill it (it's also helpful to use a wide-mouth funnel to help keep the top of the bag debris-free, then roll it back up when the filling is complete, in order to help keep the top edge of the bag clean. -Note how use of any other bags "may damage your machine and invalidate your warranty". -Sealing contents that are warmer than room temperature because the vacuum may cause the contents to bubble out of the container or jar. -Failure to leave adequate headspace. -Failure to set the sealing time adjustment switch (if your unit has one). -Sealing foods you shouldn't vacuum seal - like strong-smelling vegetables (cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower) and whole avocados with their pits. You can place a wad of plastic wrap, paper towel, or a piece cut out of a Styrofoam meat tray over bones. You can also double-bag meat - raw, frozen, or raw that you quick-freeze. For instance, if I purchase a bag of frozen chicken pieces, I'll package them in user-friendly amounts in small plastic bags, place them back in the original bag, and place that in a FoodSaver bag and vacuum-seal shut. For raw meat I'll portion it using a Ziplock product called "Perfect Portions" (7-3/4"x11-1/4" bags - 150 bags per box) and quick-freeze those on a cookie sheet, then place the meat in the Perfect Portions bags in a FoodSaver bag and vacuum-seal shut. I'll be interested in getting my next one to see if the new versions are a bad investment, as so many have experienced. If that happens, I'll resort to using Oxygen Absorbers to vacuum-seal canning lids on canning jars. -Grainlady

Grainlady doesn't come here anymore. Our loss. Feel free to post a new thread any time you have a question, even if it relates to something you saw in an old thread. That way you can put the screen name of the person you're asking for in the title, and you'll get more looks, anyway, if it's a new thread. As to storing cooked food, yes, you can (I don't know of any anaerobic safety issues), but I don't know if it'll do you any good. If there are already mold spores in the food, or bacteria, I think they still grow, albeit slowly. Think about when you open a container or yoghurt or something for the first time and it's off. Cutting the air out of the storage is good, but you might want to save your food saver bags, which are expensive, for something you're going to store for a longer time, and use a regular zipper bag for this. You can also portion it into smaller bags so you're not adding contaminants if you don't use the whole thing at once. Or put most of it in a food saver(s) in the freezer, and just keep the amount you expect to use in the next day or two in the fridge.

I bought one when they first came out. Back then they were pretty tiresome to use. You have to really lean on it to get it to extract the air and seal and it makes a very loud sound while doing so. I kept it in the laundry room on the counter. It's fine but recently it broke after all these years and I was glad to get it off of the counter top. I find that I just don't need it. We have grocery stores very near and I don't normally buy in bulk anymore since it's just the two of us. The bags are expensive at least it seems and I'm not going to wash them out like it says you can (what I need, another job) so I would run out of them not realizing I was close to the end. I would put off ordering because you had to order a lot of them at a time and I didn't really want to spend $30-40 dollars for bags and so I would put it off and then forget about it. You can get them at Costco but the combinations of bags were not what I was looking for or they were just the rolls and so many of them! Something else to store! Then for the longest time you couldn't get the larger ones and the small ones are not useful for me. You can make your own but it was sort of a pita. It was freeing to be rid of it. One less thing on my counter and I'm enjoying the extra space I have now. If I had a large family and bought in bulk quite often and had a lot of freezer space I think it would be very helpful, if not, then I don't really think it's that necessary.