I learned of the problems with vacuum bagging soft baked goods like muffins. Maybe the squishies aren’t permanent.

This thing appeared in the kitchen. A mason jar vacuum sealer. Interesting!

Yes, freeze first.

I have the Vevor chamber sealer after years of failure and frustration with 3 different FoodSavers. I've only had it for a couple of months, so not a lot of experience yet. I did seal peaches and roasted poblanos and that worked well, but I froze some dinner rolls and sealed them and they still got smushed and did not pop back up, so I went back to a double wrap/bag system with those.

Elery even sealed a bag of water to see if he could, LOL, and he did. So far I'm impressed. My nephew brought a bunch of venison sausage over and sealed it and today I did some turkey "parts" from a holiday turkey that did not get used and was languishing in the freezer. Now I have packages of breast halves, thighs and legs/wings for future use.

This spring/summer when I start on processing chickens and garden vegetables, we'll see how that goes, but I like it well enough that I bought Elery a Vevor slicer for Christmas, the 10 inch one, so our bacon is no longer 5 or 6 inches long.

I hope you like yours. I haven't sealed and sous vide anything yet, but maybe in the future. I also have one of those small jar sealers. We grew so many beans last year that I froze, canned AND dehydrated them, and I sealed up the dried ones. Also dried apple slices, minced onion, garlic for powder and leeks. They are supposed to last longer if sealed instead of just kept in canning jars, so that will also be determined at a later date.

Annie

I don't like Food Savers, have had 2 different models. Neither of them sucked all the air out or didn't hold a sea.

I now have a cheap (around $50) NutriChef that has never given me any problems, plus it is very easy to operate!

I've only ever used a chamber one at worwork and they're great but very powerful!.

IME, my entry level Food Saver works great with their storage bag material with the diamond line channels, but it fails with the cooking rated bags I got for sous vide. Not that sous vide gets all that hot, but having to coax a barely adequate seal is no fun. So I got a different, supposedly better sealer, which, if anything, was worse at sealing. I was given an Anova, but haven't had a chance to play with it. Fun watching this thread.

My Food Saver works great, but it is an older model, not one of the new ones. I also just freeze. I am NOT interested at all in sous vide.

I'm not too thrilled wiith mine. I've had it for a few years, and I kind of have to fight with it. It often takes a number of tries before sealing, and the amount of vacuum is less than I wish it was. It's a Bonsen/kitchen, and seemed middle of the road when I bought it on-line. Wonder if I should give up on this one, or just put up with it. Hmmm.

My first FS was black and was fantastic. You had to rotate open to clean. Something broke and it would not open. I tried a new version and it would not seal.

I found mine on Ebay and ordered. Well, they sent a different one, purple instead of my black one. They did not have the one I ordered, so refunded the money and said keep it.

Been using the free one for several years now.

I think I have been using the Food Saver brand for over 25 years now and am on my second one for the last 6-7 years. I Iike this model so much I bought a backup that lives on the shelf. I spent this morning sealing up meats and salmon I found on sale. If it goes into the freezer, it gets sealed. I did notice a trend several years ago that machines bought on discount at places like Kohls or Target would not seal but those obtained directly from FS did just fine.

Just some tips: ALWAYS freeze first. Machine and bags stay cleaner. Wrap items in those thin plastic bags you use for produce. Again, bags stay cleaner. Reuse your bags after you give it a good washing. They are not cheap. Breads, muffins, pastries always get flattened. Don't bother. Sharp, boney things like chops can puncture a bag, so cushion with a paper towel.

FS for many years! Freeze first, then seal! The newest freshsaver is great, but the bags are expensive! So rewash! Recently got a mason jar vac sealer. Haven't tried it yet, but will be testing it out when I send my sister food (slab-O-soups from the FS and salads/fruits from the new mason jar vac)

@pkramer60 - Wow Peppi is that you?? I was thinking about you recently and couldn’t find anything going a ways back. If I’m right welcome back, and if I’m wrong please don’t mind me and carry on!

FAOS, it is me, Peppi. I pop over occasionally from Facebook see what is going on. I hope they were good thoughts!

I used my Anova chamber vac, to seal a bunch of ham for freezing and refrigerating. I think this machine works well, except that it shows fingerprints like crazy.

I used the thick Anova bags for the ham that will be in the freezer for quite a while, and some standard Ziplock bags for the ham that will merely be refrigerated.

Hmm, the standard ziplocks (from Ikea) did not hold vacuum very long. At all.

Yeah. They're not designed to, especially the discount ones. The zip seal is usually applied rather than molded, and there are air channels, though tiny, around the ridges. Whether that's impermeable enough for a particular purpose peobably depends on time and pressure.

The genius of Food Saver bags is the air channels which help draw the air out, which are then fused at the seal. This is also a weakness if the seal is being challenged.