Vacuum Sealer, Food Saver, Coupons and Saving Money.

jinman · Sep 21, 2012

nikdfish said:
You can wash & reuse the bags quite a few times either manually or inside-out in the dishwasher. We usually cut bags a bit long so they can be used more times before getting too short to be practical.

Nick, that's exactly what my wife does and it works well for getting your money's worth out of the bag rolls.

techwrtr2 · Sep 21, 2012

I vacuum packed a .22 rifle last night.

Depmandog · Sep 21, 2012

My nephew was stationed in Iraq a few years ago, we made him up a care package. He loves homemade "Famous Amos" chocolate chip cookies, so I had my wife make him up a big batch.

I originally planned to put the cookies into a container, but there wasn't enough room left in the box to fit a container - so I got out the food saver, and put in a layer of cookies, wax paper, another layer and so on - then vacuum packed the cookies. Haha.

3 1/2 weeks later, we get an email from him. Said it was the softest and best tasting pile of **** looking stuff he ever ate!!!

I don't think I will ever live that down!! It gets brought up every thanksgiving. I keep telling him - at least they were still fresh tasting

dmccarty · Sep 21, 2012

techwrtr2 said:
I vacuum packed a .22 rifle last night.

Did you bury it in a sono tube too? :laughing::laughing::laughing:

I most certainly never thought to seal a firearm.....

Which seems like a danged good idea!

Has anyone sealed a firearm before? I would think this would be a good way to store a firearm or anything you did not want to rust.

Later,
Dan

dmccarty · Sep 21, 2012

Depmandog said:
My nephew was stationed in Iraq a few years ago, we made him up a care package. He loves homemade "Famous Amos" chocolate chip cookies, so I had my wife make him up a big batch.

I originally planned to put the cookies into a container, but there wasn't enough room left in the box to fit a container - so I got out the food saver, and put in a layer of cookies, wax paper, another layer and so on - then vacuum packed the cookies. Haha.

3 1/2 weeks later, we get an email from him. Said it was the softest and best tasting pile of **** looking stuff he ever ate!!!

I don't think I will ever live that down!! It gets brought up every thanksgiving. I keep telling him - at least they were still fresh tasting

I could be mean but I wont be..... :laughing::laughing::laughing:

Since he served our country I will be nice. :laughing: You need to go to Spencer's Gifts, or someplace similar, and buy fake scat. :laughing::laughing::laughing: Seal said fake scat, hidden by his favorite cookies of course, in a Food Saver bag and present it to him as a gift.

Tell him you are sorry for the cookies that got messed up when he was in Iraq.... :laughing::laughing::laughing:

If you do this, he might not mention the first batch of cookies ever again. Or maybe he will.

Later,
Dan

dmccarty · Sep 21, 2012

The Food Saver arrived. First impression is that I am impressed. :thumbsup:

I read the instructions. Not well, but I did read them. I say not well because I did not quite seal the first couple of bags the right way. It worked but I needed to pay a bit more attention. Once I got passed my Duh Phase the sealer worked real well. Heck, it worked real well even when I was being a dummy.

The unit, a 3880, is very hefty and seems well made. The packaging was very well done. The instructions are adequate if the dummy reading said instructions pay's attention. :laughing: The design is good too. I was trying to find the attachment to seal jars and the assembly is nicely integrated into the machine. It is so well done I had to read the manual, again, to find it. The spill tray was easy to access as well.

I sealed a few things real quick and I was impressed. They sent me an extra roll of bags over what they said they would. One roll was interesting in that it had two bags side by side on the roll. This was perfect for sealing up some jerky I had made. I sealed up some dried fruit we had which worked perfectly. Then I sealed some dried strawberries and dried apples in mason jar with regular and wide mouth lids. I had to buy the adapters for both sizes but it worked easy peasey. :thumbsup: I have dried strawberries over the last few weeks so I am not quite sure how many I got in a jar but I would guess it was 4-6 pounds of wet strawberries. A couple of pounds of strawberries when dried will fit in a small zip lock bag. There were a few different apple varieties I had dried over the weeks. I would guess there I got at least 4 dried apples in a pint jar. We have a bunch of apples on the counter so I will be drying them this weekend and will get a better idea on how many fit in a jar.

I should have bought this months ago.... :laughing::laughing::laughing:

Later,
Dan

mvwicker · Sep 21, 2012

techwrtr2 said:
I vacuum packed a .22 rifle last night.

How about vacuum sealing pairs of clean socks and underwear for camping and hunting trips? That way you are guaranteed at least one clean, dry and bug-free layer, pretty much no matter what happens.

techwrtr2 · Sep 22, 2012

dmccarty said:
Did you bury it in a sono tube too? :laughing::laughing::laughing:

I most certainly never thought to seal a firearm.....

Which seems like a danged good idea!

Has anyone sealed a firearm before? I would think this would be a good way to store a firearm or anything you did not want to rust.

Later,
Dan

It can work pretty well. I have a .22 which belongs to my SIL. Did some minor repair/refinishing to it for her. But I have no idea when she'll pick it up, when they come to visit they frequently have zero room to take a rifle back. So clean/lube it well, put it in a long bag and suck out the air. I don't need to worry that it might rust on me while in storage.

I've done the same with other firearm related items that I want to preserve without a lot of effort.

The only two problems with sealing up something like this is the amount of bag required and the fact that you can't use open/close/reuse the bags easily. I consider it only viable for items that may be in storage for a period of years.

No reason you couldn't vacuum pack anything that won't easily crush and that you want to keep clean/dry for a long period. Clothing or meds might be a good possibility.

dmccarty · Sep 23, 2012

techwrtr2 said:
The only two problems with sealing up something like this is the amount of bag required and the fact that you can't use open/close/reuse the bags easily. I consider it only viable for items that may be in storage for a period of years.

No reason you couldn't vacuum pack anything that won't easily crush and that you want to keep clean/dry for a long period. Clothing or meds might be a good possibility.

There are some collectables that I have that are going to get sealed.

Piggly Wiggly had a truck load meat sale recently and we bought a bunch of meat cheap. We bought 25 pounds of bacon that came in five pound boxes. We froze the bacon and yesterday I went and sealed it all up. The bacon sealed in the bags takes up much less room in the freezer. I don't know how long the bags will protect the bacon but I think it would be far longer than we would keep the bacon.

I made my version of Johnny Cakes aka corn pancakes last night for dinner. The cakes had bacon and Jalapenos which was very good. Even plain they were really good. That stuff is peasant food for sure! It STICKS to your ribs. I just had a cup of coffee and a hand full of cereal for a snack this morning. :laughing: I made enough batter so we can have one or two more meals. Next time I am using smoked pork loin instead of bacon. :licking:

Sealing the bacon used up all of the bags we had so I guess we have to go buy a few rolls. Given food and now non food items we will be buying more bags than I would have thought. :laughing:

I used the sealer to vacuum some mason jars holding the corn meal. That worked real well too. I expected the corn mean to get sucked into the machine but the stuff did not move. The sealer is more useful than I thought.

Later,
Dan

sodamo · Sep 23, 2012

dmccarty said:
There are some collectables that I have that are going to get sealed.

Piggly Wiggly had a truck load meat sale recently and we bought a bunch of meat cheap. We bought 25 pounds of bacon that came in five pound boxes. We froze the bacon and yesterday I went and sealed it all up. The bacon sealed in the bags takes up much less room in the freezer. I don't know how long the bags will protect the bacon but I think it would be far longer than we would keep the bacon.

I made my version of Johnny Cakes aka corn pancakes last night for dinner. The cakes had bacon and Jalapenos which was very good. Even plain they were really good. That stuff is peasant food for sure! It STICKS to your ribs. I just had a cup of coffee and a hand full of cereal for a snack this morning. :laughing: I made enough batter so we can have one or two more meals. Next time I am using smoked pork loin instead of bacon. :licking:

Sealing the bacon used up all of the bags we had so I guess we have to go buy a few rolls. Given food and now non food items we will be buying more bags than I would have thought. :laughing:

I used the sealer to vacuum some mason jars holding the corn meal. That worked real well too. I expected the corn mean to get sucked into the machine but the stuff did not move. The sealer is more useful than I thought.

Later,
Dan