Need recommendations for food vacuum sealer

dirt ditch · Jun 15, 2014

My wife bought one 10-15 years ago and used the heck out of it. Last year the pump stopped working. Luckily my dad had just gave a Food Saver to her that he picked up for $5 at a second hand store. She is good about finding bags on clearance after gardening season. That adds a bit to the cost savings.

dmccarty · Jun 15, 2014

I am pretty sure we have a FoodSaver 3880 model that is at least 2-3 years old. I won't say we use it frequently but we do use it. So far, no problems.

We bought this model for the port and attachments that allow you to vacuum seal mason jars. Vacuum sealing is not preservation but we seal up dried foods that are preserved. Since we can reuse the jars/lids with the vacuum sealer we save money not having to use the bags.

The gadget that marinates food works which really surprised me.

I am pretty sure I started a discussion on vacuum sealer a few years ago that might be helpful to other readers. I also think I found a special on the Food Saver website that saved use quite a bit of money. One had to dig to find the "coupon" but it was there at the time.

Later,
Dan

Western · Jun 15, 2014

Foodsave still has a "package deal", but I found the sane "package" at Amazon for $49 cheaper? I ended up not going with Foodsaver though.

The one we got has 4 heat settings, so effectively we can use any bag. We did order several 100 packs of the qt size and a couple rolls, all 4ml.

Should be in this Friday, which is OK since I will be working in Houston all week, cant wait to give it a spin.

dmccarty · Jun 16, 2014

Western said:
Foodsave still has a "package deal", but I found the sane "package" at Amazon for $49 cheaper? I ended up not going with Foodsaver though.
...

One really has to shop and compare prices which is so easy to do on the Internet. When we bought the Food Saver and our dehydrator, the best prices were on the company's websites. Go Figure. :confused3::laughing: I checked Amazon, various retail stores, Cabella's etc but the best price was at the particular company that made the product. That really surprised me. At one point after buying one or both of the products I went back to find the special price we got and I could not find it.

It does pay to compare prices, have patience, and maybe a bit of luck. :laughing::laughing::laughing:

Later,
Dan

David P · Jun 16, 2014

My wife bought a couple of vacuum sealers but they kept breaking (under warranty but still) so she went another route and bought a Weston Pro-2200 (or 2300?). I know she didn't want to spend the extra $$ on the Weston but I haven't heard her complain about it since purchasing it a few years ago. It seems to do a really nice job sealing things. I get venison sticks made every year which she cuts in half and saves them in freezer bags sealed with the Weston unit. I've never noticed any of them breaking open and you can tell the vacuum gets all of the air out of the bag prior to sealing as the plasic looks like it's shrink-wrapped to the sticks. She uses it for blueberries, nuts, corn for the garden (I bought too much in 2012 and wasn't sure if it would still be good; planted it this year and looks like we had a 95% effective rate!). This may be one of those things that you buy once, cry once over.

thayerp81 · Jun 16, 2014

another vote for food saver

teejk · Jun 16, 2014

2LaneCruzer said:
I have a foodsaver; actually two of them. When I called the company for new gaskets, I ended up buying a new "gamesaver". I use mine probably once or twice a month, and go through several rolls of packaging during the year. When the sweet corn is harvested, I use it to put up a couple bushels at least...also lots of hamburger and other specials.

My only complaints are as follows: The packaging material is about $20 for two 11" X 16ft rolls...so if you're thinking of saving a lot of money, you have to factor this in. Secondly, it does not work well on wet foods. I have put the corn in the freezer overnight and package it the next day. This works very well, and the vacuum stays very well. Thirdly, I found that the package sometimes loses vacuum, so I always double seal mine. Lastly, mine is the model that sits flat. In order to get the package to seal more easily, you need to place the package on a book or some object that brings the bottom of the package up level with the lid...otherwise you have to use a bit more of the packaging material. They have an upright model, but have no knowledge of it one way or another. I am reasonably happy with mine, although sometimes I have to wait between packages for it to cool down.

Seems like we had a long thread on this subject a year or so ago?

http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/rural-living/280939-food-saver-vacuum-pack.html

We've owned two FoodSavers mostly for meat. We stopped using them because we found the vacuum process tended to draw out too much moisture from cuts and they ended up somewhat dry when cooked. That might be because the meat was already vacuum packed and then when I broke it down into individual cuts I vacuumed it again. So back to freezer wrap for me. It might be different for meat/game that was never vac-packed and of course veggies would be different. It does work great with pipe tobacco though!

Western · Jun 16, 2014

teejk, that may be a good point IDK, but it makes sense. I bet a guy could pre- marinate packaged meat and maybe restore some juices and flavor? Be interesting to try though.

sodamo · Jun 16, 2014

Western said:
teejk, that may be a good point IDK, but it makes sense. I bet a guy could pre- marinate packaged meat and maybe restore some juices and flavor? Be interesting to try though.

Preseasoning or adding a marinade and then vac sealing has worked great for me. I don't do it all the time and change up the mixture. I don't add a lot of marinade and am careful drawing the vacuum.

David Sent from my iPad Air using TractorByNet