The second type seems to be higher end one

I liked to use a vacuum sealer, until it stopped working. These smaller ones like I have are really not well made at all . Mine, of course, is the kind that sucks the air out. Mine didnt even get any heavy use and it still didnt last long . I took as good care of it as possible and did all the usual of replacing the gasket. but it is just cheap plastic and cheap parts.

If you get one and really think that you are going to use it a lot, go for a better one

I found that the thing I really liked about it is that I had the ability to seal things in canning jars with it . Of course it does not take the place of hot water canning. But I use so many canning jars for most of my kitchen storage it did a great job of keeping it fresh in the jar and in the fridge! I could cut up melon, for instance, and sealed in glass jar in the fridge, the melon will keep surprisingly well. I used it to make meals in glass jars for daughters family and I would seal them up so that they would keep well in the fridge.

But the lesser ones are really so cheap and shoddy.

MIne just will not seal a bag anymore, despite the new gasket . It will still seal a jar, though. Some little insignificant looking bit of something has gone bad in there because that is how cheap appliances do.

I freeze a lot but I'm not into gadgets of any kind. Small house, small kitchen.

I have two FoodSaver machines - one for each house, and I use them a lot. I've had mine for quite a few years, and I do not think the models I have are available anymore. The last one I bought was refurbished (and works well), and I bought it used because I could no longer buy it new. Mine have attachments for sealing jars, and I use those a lot as well as the bags.

I bought a large supply of the rolls for bags, thinking I would go through them fairly quickly, but I am very efficient about reusing the bags. When possible, I wrap the food in plastic wrap and/or paper before putting it in the FoodSaver bag, and this way the FS bag stays clean.

I make a point of sealing the bags with a minimal amount of edge so that very little of the bag gets wasted. Certain models are better for this than others.

I was never interested in sous vide, and so I have no experience with that. I might have gotten interested if I cooked beef, but since my brother will not eat that, I have not been cooking it, although I will order it in restaurants, which we go to very rarely, and when we do, I often order seafood instead.

Obviously I love my FoodSaver machines, or I would not have two of them. They are especially useful for repackaging cheeses, especially from Trader Joe's, which has the worst packaging for cheese of any store that I go to.

I like our FoodSaver. I use it for freezing meats and also use it a lot to reseal bags such as chips and crackers, We only eat a few at a time and by resealing the bag, they don't go stale.

I have a foodsaver brand now but it doesn't vacuum very well anymore after about 15 years. Probably just needs a new gasket. If you are sealing meat I'd advise you to bag it and then put it in the freezer for a few hours before vacuum sealing it or any blood will get sucked into the machine. We have our beef and pork processed at an Amish processor now so don't need it for meat anymore as they give it back sealed in Cryovac bags.

I used mine mostly for garden veggies and it works well for preventing any freezer burn on those for at least a year.

I have a food saver, don’t use it a ton but when I use it I’m glad I have it. I’ll use it for freezing steaks and I do feel it improves longevity. Similarly, if I buy a Costco-sized hunk of cheese that I don’t expect to go through quickly, I’ll cut off a piece and vacuum the rest. In this case it’s actually important to oversize the original bag so that it can be reused. You’re cutting off an inch or so each time you open.

Overall I have a tough time with the plastic waste. And I’m not super comfortable doing SV too often because of plastic. But I’m also not comfortable with air in my pouch, so vacuum it is.

If I vacuum sealed with any regularity I’d invest - money and space - in a chamber vac. More versatile, better seal, more resilient plastic. Friends have one, but they go out deep sea fishing so they have a lot of tuna steaks, etc. to pack well for freezing.

I'm on my third FoodSaver, which does get regular use because we make our own bacon and sausage and process our own chickens.

I haven't loved any of the three I have and I've only gotten one to seal jars of dried beans and other dehydrated foods. They are cheap and not particularly well made. Freezing raw meats requires freezing the meat in advance or wrapping in cheaper bags and then vacuum sealing. Berries and fruits must be frozen on sheet pans first or will be crushed to mush. I guess you can tell that I am not particularly a fan, but it was helpful when I was still making meals for Mother, as I could vacuum pack extra portions and they could be reheated. IT doesn't work well for breads, muffins or rolls either, even pre-freezing will result in smashed/squished/broken food.

If we were processing our own beef, pork or venison I'd spring for one of the chamber type sealers, but those products come from the processor already vacuum sealed in clear packaging which is a thicker grade than the bags.

I do reuse vacuum sealer bags, just remember to cut them larger if you are going to open then reseal, or clean the bags and package something smaller the next time. That, of course, requires a spot to store the cleaned bags and the memory to use them.

Annie

I don’t have one, don’t need one, don’t really want one EXCEPT after reading about compressed watermelon which I’d love to try. Could someone else do it so I can enjpy it vicariously?

1. Food in Ziploc bags in the freezer get freezer burnt. Sometimes when food is on sale, you need to freeze a lot in separate bags for months. Vacuum bag minimizes freezer burnt.

2. Ziploc bagged food does take more room in the freezer.

Another big reason is the ability to prepare food ahead of time to increase flexibilities.

When I have big BBQ parties planned, I often have whole racks of ribs as well as other items such as steaks and seafood on the menu; this is what I do:

Season all items and freeze them. Once they are frozen, there will be no problem vacuum seal them. Depending on the schedule, I can actually sous vide cook them all at once ahead of time using a big beach cooler. Of course sous vide also eliminate the need for marinating. Once the items have been cooked, again, depending on schedule, they can be frozen in the bag, quick sous vide to temperature and go into the BBQ for a final quick finish.

The vacuum sealer makes it very doable for big gatherings.

dcarch

I'm on my second FoodSaver. Used the first one for several years before it started not working so well anymore. I use it a lot through the year.

We really like green beans, and in the morning, I will pick, tip/tail, seal into two people worth, and have them in the freezer within a half hour, easy. Some days are a bag, some a couple. I find it works great, without blanching needed. Not quite flash freezing, but about as good as I can get at home.

I do a lot of meal prep and big cooking. It's just the two of us. But it's nice to have stuff in the freezer ready to go. So I can make dinner, and plan to freeze up leftovers. Or make a huge batch of something for the freezer to eat up for a while.

Bulk buying and home splitting it up is something I do a lot too. Front end packaging for bulk is less, but home packing is more. Sometimes it balances out if the broken down packing would include extra other packaging. Like if I get a 10 pound bag of bacon, and break it down into five 2 pound packs. That's an extra five bags of trash. But if it were in the processed packaged form, that's five to ten or more bags and also the informational packaging. Sometimes I use up more plastic, like if I get a big bag of rice and seal up some half gallon bricks of rice.

I also have the jar attachments and a marinade container. I don't use them a lot, but they can be handy. I have some of the reusable ziplock bags. Those are handy for some things that you like to keep air out, but use a lot. Like brown sugar.

I have an entry level Food Saver which I bought after joining CF and hearing how great it was. I also have a similar sized one, bought quite a bit later, to use with sous vide quality bags because the FS wasn't sealing them adequately. Things may have changed, but the FS bags I was using for freezing weren't good for sous vide. The texture of FS bags does make it better at sucking out the air from odd shapes, for freezing. My cooking has changed with the shrinking of the family, and I just don't freeze or sous vide much any more. The home chamber vacs came out after I finished my kitchen, and I don't know where I could sqeeze one in, but I've lusted for those first ones from Italy, along with the home blast chiller. Anova now has a small counter top chamber vac which is accessibly priced, but I think it's too small for the things I've most wanted it to do. Freezing half a dozen meatballs is dead easy for the FS.

I don't do the jar thing. I don't have anywhere to put them. It's a great use for the vacuum sealer, as stated above.

In my climate, I don't really need to seal pantry items, except, maybe, nuts, but even they last pretty well in a ziplock for me. My fancy freezer uses an evaporator, and works really well. If I let containers steam out and cool properly, first in the fridge, they freeze fine without sealing. A lot of iciness is frozen condensation. Sealing does help with that, of course, as well as with water migration, but I do fine with containers and Ziplocs. The fancy freezer helps, even when things are going in the low tech freezer with the freezer shelves—though that's in big part also because it's easier to carry things down to the low tech freezer if they're already frozen.

What I used to do a lot of is make large batches and freeze meal sized portions. Evening meetings are still on Zoom. SO much better! None of the stress of traffic, parking, politely nibbling on a cookie one doesn't want, complimenting people's new looks, etc. Start on time, get right into the agenda, finish promptly, and, in a pinch, turn off the video and finish one's dinner. Suddenly, that packet of frozen meatballs is sad, rather than a delightfull time saver. The quality of what I do freeze hasn't suffered, but they're things the FS wouldn't make a big difference on anyway.

I don't buy food in bulk. Not enough storage space. If buying meat to freeze, it's better to get it flash frozen, to protect the celular structure (i.e., keep it from getting mushy). Flash frozen from the butcher in white paper, to me, is far superior to home frozen in plastic, no matter whether it's vac sealed or not.

Sous vide was mostly for entertaining, which I rarely do anymore. It works great, if one can get a good suck and seal on the right kind of bags.

Conclusion: I rarely think I need to seal stuff anymore. You can certainly live without it. If you pop for one, make sure it's big (if chamber) and strong enough to really do the job you want.

I have foodsavers in both of my homes, The first one for my primary house is larger. It is very easy to cut and make bags, and also can store a roll. I have a utility room next to my kitchen and have counter space there to keep it out full time. I often prefreeze before vacumn sealing if it is already wrapped like in butcher paper or other packaging and find I can often reuse those bags if I take the meat out before thawing. I have had it for several years without any issues. I bought a more compact version for our second home so I can store it easily in a cabinet. Its not as convienient for making bags but other than that it works great. Like others I use the attachment for sealing jars, and I also find their marinade cycle works well as I purchased a few of their plastic storage containers. I have not had good luck with their ”ziplock” resealable bags as I find they do not hold a seal very long. There are other brands that get better reviews so I would look at those. I got mine at Sams/Costco when they were on sale so I don’t have a large investment pricewise in them.

Oh! Just saw on TV, chef tossed the pasta dough into a chamber vac to do the job of resting it.

A quick tip:

My vacuum width is 11 inches. I often use it to seal bags that is 15 inches wide. You can do it by turning the bag at an angle and seal, and vacuum/seal the remaining opening .

That's how I can vacuum/seal/sous vide the whole pork butt or a whole turkey.

dcarch

I have a food saver too. I think I'm on my second over many years. So many people have borrowed it and returned it with fresh supply of bags I think I have bags or rolls for making them for a couple of years. There is even a box with the steam vents for microwaving frozen vegetables.

I did have a third very upright model purchased at Costco that I returned. I don't keep small appliances other than a very heavy food processor and a coffee maker on my counters, just not happy with the look even though I have the space. The Costco model was meant to push back under a stack of upper cupboards, be convenient and look pretty and gleaming. What I found was when doing a large number of bags consecutively, like the entire box of kielbasa a friend had a butcher make, it would quit mid job, need a rest or cool down before it would continue. No problems with Costco of course, they took it back no questions asked.

I don't use mine even weekly but would hate to be without it. I also wrap in butchers freezer paper, a skill forced on me when newly married and I became rather good at it 😊 That would not work for the uses you are considering though.

I have an upright freezer and freezer compartments in two refrigerators. The things frozen in foodsaver bags can be a little slippery and want to jump off the upright freezers shelves at me (my feet) as I search for something I know is in there. They also take up just slightly more space with their bags 'hems' - not tightly wrapped in precise freezer paper.

But I do use both methods. The food saver is great for seafood, rib steaks and rib roasts. I prefer the coated paper for 1# packages ground meat, boneless steaks and boneless pot roasts which wrap tautly and neatly. Compact.

I have a FoodSaver (brand) and I love it! I think it is the V4400 on the big A site. I have had it for maybe 5-10 years. I use it mostly for cooking in quantity and being able to grab a bag out of the freezer on the days I don't feel like cooking. I also use it for buying in bulk and repackaging. I don't use it daily or even weekly, but I would replace immediately if it quit working.

Yes. For stuff that I want to keep for a while. Pulled pork, roast turkey, ham, etc.

Short term storage, like chicken breast, I put in a Glad fold top sandwich bag, place in a gallon Ziplock, and freeze.

I do this not to save money, but to have on hand when I need them.

I am on my second food saver I believe, but it has been a very very long time.

Ditto what everyone else has stated here. I will add that I bought one as a gift once so I must be a fan.

Bonus points to the fact that my current unit is purple and works as well as any stainless version out there. 💜

Thank you everyone! I’m reading over your experiences with vacuum sealers and thinking about where I could store it. And thank you, I think???, plllog for sending me down the “home blast chiller” rabbit hole.

John Liu, if you would like to try a Food Saver I could loan you mine to try. I'm just a few miles N of you in PDX. I often re-use the bags and I like freezing thin pork tenderloin slices in teriyaki sauce.

lisaam. try sealing your cut melon in vacuum sealed jars. It is amnazing how well it keeps! Melons is notorious for not keeping well after it is cut. I like to prepare it and have it ready to use. A nice cold jar of cut melon is such a beautiful thing to reach for!

I also will use canning jars to seal up bread. I have gotten creative about fittting some things into canning jars. Sealing things up really helps to keep it!

Things that are soft or delicate will do well in sealed jars. Give it a try!

I have lots of canning jars and I mostly hot water can tomatoes in the summer. When the jars get empty of tomatoes, i have a lot of extra jars!

My sealer wont do a bag anymore but will seal a jar. Something in there is leaking air and I cant find where. I took it open and saw how cheap it is made. I seems about as puny as an aquarium pump! Really shoddy materials!! I hav changed out the gaskets, so it is not that.

I have a cheapy one that i've had for years. It has a vac and seal button, just seal, and an "inching" button where you can determine how long it "sucks" for so if you see any liquid going towards the seal spot, you can stop and seal. Can be useful for wet things or softer things. I think it does improve the quality of frozen food and having food ready to go in the sous vide is magic and a great time-saver.

Plllog what would you use a blast-chiller for? Intrigued!!!

I am sure you all know this; it is impossible to create vacuum as long as you have liquid in what you are trying to vacuum seal. Water boils under vacuum even at room temperature.

Your vacuum machine basically is a low pressure air remover.

dcarch

I have had a cheap foodsaver one for years and use it frequently, more for meats when kids lived at home but now mainly for garden vegetables. I have space in a cabinet right below where i use it, so I don't have to keep on counter.

Islay, If I had a built in blast chiller, I'd use it to chill and freeze batch cooking, rather than cooling out from oven, then in fridge, then in kitchen freezer then in the storage freezer. Just blast chiller to storage. I'd hope that it would do well enough to flash freeze raw meats without breaking the cell walls—it's supposed to. I wouldn't have to keep wines cool in the fridge or compromise on the temperature. Just a minute or two in the blast chiller and it's the perfect temp, whether 65F or 43F or any other. Theoetically, I could use it as a cheese cave, but that would take it out of action for other uses and there are much less expensive solutions for long term projects. I wouldn't have to do stages for cooking/baking that requires chilling as a step. Also, Freddy (Inox of Italy), unlike some crazy wall ovens that were big fails, besides blast chilling does slow cooker warming past the danger zone, and will keep your meal at refrigerated safe temperature then heat it at your set time to be warm and ready for you when you get home (I don't need that, but for entertaining it could be very useful). There's a lot more nuance, depending on how sophisticated the controls are (some just chill—Freddy is fancy). I haven't checked the measurements, but given that Freddy, at least, also warms, I might be able to replace the warming drawer and storage drawer below with it (something I just thought of now), unless and until I have to replace the Advantium oven in the same stack (just had it repaired), I'm not even considering it. My 15 year old kitchen still feels new, and I have no intention to spend that kind of money on it.

Thanks Plllog. I just came across the Smeg guide to blast chillers...... It seems that you'd have to be cooking for a large family every day to make it worth the time and money.

I was watching an Italian grandma cooking a ragu on TV yesterday and it was a good reminder that we surround ourselves with too much stuff thinking it will make our food better/save time...... she had a rather rusty old knife and a 30 year old ceramic cooking pot. LOL

You just freeze the whatever in the open bag, top up, then when froze solid, vacuum seal.

I do chili like this, since one big batch lasts us about a year.

Thanks leah - I don't want to take your Foodsaver from your kitchen, but I might come over and see how it works, maybe vacuum seal a few things and compare to zip locking. Probably not for a couple weeks. We are doing a big spring clean - more of a multiple decades' clean.. House is piled high with Goodwill things and a 10 yd dumpster on my curb for the discards. Hoping to reverse this gathering slide into hoarderism and decrepitude!

IC, I hear you! A lot of my kitchen is designed for one cook making multicourse sit down dinner for three dozen people and being nice to them. I have a lot of equipment based on that. Most of my prep is the same ol' chef's knife and a cutting board that goes in the DW. Cast iron pots, which are timeless. But I have a lot more than I technically need because I love trying out new tools. I often think I wish I had a blast chiller, but not enough to acquire one,

JL, your clearing project sounds useful. Good luck!

Anova has a chamber vacuum sealer on sale. I’m intrigued by the rapid infusing, pickling, drying features.

https://anovaculinary.com/products/anova-precision-chamber-vacuum-sealer

Oh man, John, I did not need to see that....

Annie

I’m sorry!

I’m also looking at the AvidArmor line e.g. https://avidarmor.com/avid-armor-ultra-series-usv20-chamber-vacuum-sealer-machine/ that get better reviews in Reddit etc. Like $100 more but seems a sturdier machine.

I want to make unique infused oils and drinks. Perhaps sardine-infused gin will bring global peace and contentment, perhaps not, but it would be fun to try.

OMG!! I want one! A certain someone owes me presents. ;) I kept saying I didn't want the Anova. It's too small and amateurish. The AvidArmor is right sized, weighs less than my childhood cat (all stature and muscle), and has features I really want in a chamber vac. Let's see what a few well placed hints can do....

In fact, I could remove the two not quite right small units to the the laundry room high shelf, and there would be room in the drawer next to the fridge for it....

I totally get where Annie is coming from, but John Liu, bless you for doing the research and showing it to me. :) But not even for you will I be making fishwater. Gin is supposed to be botanical not pescatorial!

plllog, you are better at reading specs than me. Remember I thought Giselle was a microwave too. But I scanned the specs for the three Avid models and the V20 seems nicely in the middle, in chamber size and ”vacuum power”. 3.0” chamber height - seems workable. I guess the gin goes in a little bowl rather than a highball glass.

Oh! I guess fish infused gin as a condiment isn't so bad.

I admit, I'm too tired to really look at the specs. Just dimensions and weight. But I think you've found the Goldilocks. And the reviews are convincing. I'm pretty good at telling real from 'bot or shill.

“I wish I had a vacuum sealer” he grumbled as he painstakingly submerged each gallon ziplock in the pot of water, chasing out the air and finally zipping the last inch of lock around the two 12 oz prime ribs inside, noting grouchily that in addition to butter, truffle salt, garlic powder, pepper, wasabi paste, and fresh rosemary, each bag still contained some air. He repeated the grumble with each of the four bags and eight prime ribs, each with the residual unwanted air. Sitting down to decide on sous vide temperature and time, he grumbled again. ”I wish I had a sardine gin and tonic”.

Woah, I’m confused.

I’ve always sous vided prime rib at 125F for 8 hours or so. But I’m now reading that 130F or 135F is considered medium rare.

The crowd is a mix of gimme-blood and please-cook-it types. I’m planning to sous vide overnight, then refrigerate in the morning, as soon as I get back from work tomorrow afternoon remove from fridge and place back in sous vide bath for a few hours to get back to temp while making a sauce, then bring meat, sauce, and cast iron pan to my friends’ house and do the searing there.

I’m thinking I’ll do my usual 125F/8H tonight, then re-bathe half of the bags to 125F and the other half to 130F. Make sense?

I’m also thinking a red wine/mushroom reduction.

We are making a birthday dinner for a very close friend, for whom this may - not certain, but significantly high probability - be her last birthday. SWMBO asked what she wanted, and K___ said either spaghetti carbonara, prime rib, or mussels in wine. So we’re making all three!

Oh, yum, John, to all three, but I'll pass on the sardine martini. Would that still have the olive? Happy birthday to your friend, and in spite of the health outlook, I'll wish for her to have more.

Yeah, I still want one of those chamber sealers, but I don't need one. I don't need one. No place to put it. I don't need one. (sigh)

Annie

no olive - garnish would be fish roe!

Toast your birthdays with pescatinis?

and crustaceantinis, and shellfishtinis

Still not sold on the gin-ness of it all, but I admit my fondness for coctel campechana includes the clamato in it. Come to think of it, shellfishiness sounds better in a bloody mary than a 'tini. :)

Right!? Clam, mussel, and octopus Bloody Mary? Call it potent cioppino in a glass. Vodka can be infused . . .