Veggies and foodsavers
10 years ago
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Which FoodSaver model would you recommend?
Comments (5)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....See MoreFoodsaver Problems... YIKES!!
Comments (34)Well I took mine apart and checked all the clear hoses and little T's where the hoses hook up to and all were clear of any food or anything. Just before closing it back up and giving up I noticed there are little legs on the lid that stick into these holes on the bottom part and those had little rubber covers over them. One of them wasn't all the way to the top like the other one was so I removed it from the under side since I had it opened up and it had some food around the little rubber thing. I took that off and it went back to the top like it's suppose to. I think if it's not shut just right it went work and that was keeping mine from shutting right. Anyway it's working perfectly now. I googled and watched a boat load of you tube videos on how to fix them. One guy added a bit of hot glue to the little leg thing because his had broken off or something and it worked when he let it dry. They are just VERY sensitive and cranky. lol Anyway yesterday I found another F.S. at a garage sale for 5 bucks with almost a whole roll of the bags so I bought it. It was a church garage sale and come to find out it was my nieces F. S. She said she had used it twice and had tried to vacuum seal some blueberries and it started sucking the juices up into it and she stopped. So I don't guess she used it anymore after that. It has a button to push that has wet or dry. Anyway it's one of the upright ones more up to date than the one I had. I am still keeping my other one though since i have it going just for a back up one. ALSO you might need to take the rubber things out and wash those so they will swell back up so it can make the seal. Mine had powder on them it felt like so I just took a damp rag and wiped them off really well. I hope you get it figured out and haven't tossed the other ones. You may figure out what's wrong with some of them by watching the video's. :-)...See MoreSafe use of FoodSaver - help please
Comments (8)I believe the bacteria involved in soft cheese is Listeria, which can multiply under the right conditions and become the toxin Listeriosis. The CDC estimates that approximately 1600 illnesses and 260 deaths due to listeriosis occur annually in the United States. It's been associated with Mexican-style soft cheese, and other types made with unpasteurized (raw) milk, but other dairy products as well -- generally from lack of pasteurization, OR introduction of the bacteria at some point after it's been pasteurized, OR post-processing contamination from unpasteurized milk. Listeria can grow under either anaerobic (without oxygen) or aerobic (with oxygen) conditions. The bacteria multiply best at 86-98.6 degrees F, but it also multiplies better than all other bacteria at refrigerator temperatures. I believe these are the reasons not to vacuum-seal soft cheeses. Vacuum-sealing might encourage keeping them much longer than might be safe. We consume all kinds of bacteria all the time, it's when it's in the right environment that the bacteria multiply and become a toxin. It's the toxin that's the problem, and that doesn't happen with much regularity. The challenge comes because we don't know if the bacteria is actually present to begin with, and that is why we should practice good food safety rules when choosing, handling, preparing and storing foods of all kinds. Vacuum-sealing just isn't the appropriate method for everything. Factors that increase Listeria's potential to human health: (source: linked below) 1. Grow at refrigerator temperatures, 32-degrees F and above. 2. Grow in an acidic (as low as 4.4 pH) or basic (as high as pH 9.6) environment. 3. Tolerate low moisture environments; it has been detected in hard fermented salami. 4. Grow under anaerobic conditions at refrigeration temperatures. This property makes Listeria a potential threat to the safety of foods packaged under vacuum or modified atmospheres as the growth of this microorganism is not inhibited in vacuum packaged food items. 5. Grow at extremely high salt concentrations, especially at refrigerator temperatures. It has been detected in commercial cheese brines. Thus, cheese brines should be considered as potential sources for cross-contamination. 6. Due to Listeria's ability to attach to different surfaces, packaging materials can be a potential source of contamination. I've been using a FoodSaver since 1986 (on my 3rd one) and I have practiced home food storage since that time and vacuum\-seal large quantities of dry goods (both bags and jars), refrigerated and frozen foods \- without incident. Dry goods stored at room temperature need to be at 10% moisture or LESS. Things I DON'T vacuum\-seal because the moisture level is too high for dry\-packing using a vacuum\-seal is brown sugar and popping corn. I also avoid vacuum\-sealing home\-dehydrated foods because in most cases the percentage of moisture left in the food is unknown. Home\-dehydrated foods are also short\-term storage foods which should be used relatively quickly and store well in an airtight container. When it comes to the freezing foods that are raw, fresh, or cooked, you simply apply good food handling practices and incorporate the proper practices for thawing to increase a safe food supply. At least 80% of the food items in my freezer are vacuum\-sealed. I can "flip" through the baskets that contain frozen fruits, vegetables, breakfast meats, pre\-cooked meats in individual servings, portioned ground meat (raw and pre\-cooked) as well as all meat purchased in bulk, stacks of homemade bean burgers/tuna or salmon patties...... Chili, soup, pasta sauce, sloppy joe mixture, etc., are all frozen in user\-friendly sized containers. Once they are completely frozen, I pop them out of the containers (now the plastic containers can be used for something else), stack the food cubes and vacuum them. I can quickly use one frozen cube of chili to turn into a taco salad meal, topping for baked potatoes, or as a soup. I generally portion foods first, quick\-freeze them, then vacuum\-seal them. I cook for 2 adults, but I make most things in large amounts (cook once for many meals) and freeze them in portions. These are my "convenience" foods. I probably only make mashed potatoes 2 or 3 times a year (after my spring harvest, fall harvest, and when I find potatoes BOGO), but always have portions of freezer mashed potatoes ready to thaw, heat and serve. I also freeze portions of cooked grains and beans. I just made a large batch of black beans and I quick\-froze them on a rimmed baking sheet covered with a sheet of FREEZER paper. When they were completely frozen, I lifted the freezer paper and the beans loosed from the paper. I then used the freezer paper as a funnel to pour the loose beans into a FoodSaver bag. With the opening of the bag to one side, smooth the beans into a single layer and vacuum\-seal the bag shut. When you need some black beans, cut the bag open, give it a tap and the beans will once again become individual frozen beans and you should be able to measure out the amount you need. I try to freeze foods in a single layer this way. Then they are easy to "file" in my small plastic baskets that line my freezer shelves. I always re\-package commercial frozen foods into FoodSaver bags so they last longer. \-Grainlady Here is a link that might be useful: [Food Safety \- Listeriosis \#9.383](http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/foodnut/09383.html)...See Morefoodsaver/sealer
Comments (36)We recently tried the Reynolds Handi-Vac ziploc bags that have the "port" for vacuuming out the air using the handheld battery operated appliance that sells for about $10. I like the smallness of the vacuum tool and the fact that I can take items out of the bag, rezip & reseal. What I don't like is that each bag takes a fairly long time to vacuum, holding down the button on the appliance the entire time it takes to vacuum, and sometimes a bag port takes some fiddling before the vacuuming happens. I will keep using it for things like frozen fruits & veggies. Based on this experience, last week I bought a FoodSaver system at Costco. DS recently hunted his first buck, & we had the venison processed into smoked "hunter" sticks, Italian style sausage, chorizo, & other meat items. I needed to repackage it all (for a new chest freezer) to prevent freezer burn & in more manageable quantities per bag. Clearly it would take forever using the Handi-vac system, and unfortunately a Handi-vac bag occasionally loses its vacuum. I'm very pleased with the FoodSaver, which has the space to store a roll, built-in cutter, and the vac-seal process is so easy, just one push of a button. The unit itself is fairly large, so I won't be keeping it out on the counter every day....See More- 10 years ago
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