Recommend a Vacuum Sealer

Terrys · Nov 28, 2014

I'm looking for a good vacuum sealer and have pretty much decided on the FoodSaver brand, based in large on discussions on sealers I've read here. Most of those posts are quite old and I'm wondering what you folks are using now, how you like it and what features you find most useful. I'd be using one for packing foods for the freezer, shorter term refridgerator storage, perhaps some marinating and occasionally packing some non-food items.

Let me know what you have - FoodSaver or not - and what you recommend.

Thanks!

Archilochus · Nov 28, 2014

I just packed a bunch of stuff with a Food-Saver that I borrowed from a friend. It works much better than some of the others I've used in the past (can't recall brands of those - but they had a 'horizontal' design, rather than the 'vertical' shape of the FS).

JayMcB · Nov 28, 2014

I have a 5 year old foodsaver and I have literally used it over 1,000 times to vacuum or seal. The only drawback was I wish it the element got hot enough to vacuum and seal mylar bags as well as the foodsaver bags

righteousbarbarian · Nov 28, 2014

I have a basic Foodsaver but I got it a long time ago and I'm not up on the current models. I hear good things about the FoodSaver GameSaver. I have found that the ones that lay flat on the counter are easier to use than the ones that are upright. Also, getting the mason jar adapters (there is a regular and wide mouthed) so that you can seal things in jars is SUPER useful.

If you have a bunch of money to spend you can get one with a chamber. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSB780W9BYY

FrugalFannie · Nov 29, 2014

Last year after moving we had lost 1 box (likely fell off the back of an overpacked pickup) and the old food saver vacuum sealer was one of the items that was in that box. After a little research I bought the Food Saver V3835. Mostly I like this one. It has the built in hose attachment for sealing up jars and I bought and have used more than I thought possible both sizes. It has the ability to manually control how much air you vacuum out as well as settings for moist food, etc. I think the only thing I don't like about it is how much bag material has to be in the machine to get it to vacuum and seal.

Terrys · Nov 29, 2014

Thanks to all for their input. After hours of reading and watching demo videos, I decided that a manual, horizontal unit would be best for my household, although I liked the looks and space saving features of the verticals, like PennyPincher's. I chose the FoodSaver Model FM2100 @ about $100 from Amazon, which was $20 less than on the FoodSaver site. I hope it works well.

Archilochus · Nov 29, 2014

Terrys said:
I chose the FoodSaver Model FM2100 @ about $100 from Amazon, which was $20 less than on the FoodSaver site. I hope it works well.

Please write up a review when you've used it a bit. After borrowing one for a while, I'm thinking to buy one too.

Royal · Nov 29, 2014

I had a FoodSaver V2840 that was a total POS. Worked maybe 10 times then needed to be stepped on to hold a seal soon after that the gasket seals and the hot strip peeled off. If you go back and read the Amazon reviews for it there's a ton of reports on the same thing. I'm not sure how the newer models perform but I'd read the hell out of the reviews first.

Friend of mine has the Cabelas Pro Series he likes a lot.

Martlet · Dec 13, 2015

Figured I'd resurrect an old thread rather than start new. I need a solid vacuum sealer for the homestead. I'll be dealing chickens, veggies, fruit, etc in both jars and bags. I'm looking at a few different machines. My biggest hang up at the moment is size. Is an 11" big enough to do a whole chicken or turkey? Any input since the last post?

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Terrys · Dec 13, 2015

My FoodSaver has performed well and I'm very pleased with it. I mostly use it for freezing meat in bags and occasionally for dry storage. Meats sealed are cut into two person portions, but I could see doing half chickens easily. I don't know about whole. I do not use the accessory hose feature for jars.

Martlet · Dec 13, 2015

Terrys said:
My FoodSaver has performed well and I'm very pleased with it. I mostly use it for freezing meat in bags and occasionally for dry storage. Meats sealed are cut into two person portions, but I could see doing half chickens easily. I don't know about whole. I do not use the accessory hose feature for jars.

I think I'm going to have to look into a commercial grade model.

FrugalFannie · Dec 13, 2015

Martlet said:
Figured I'd resurrect an old thread rather than start new. I need a solid vacuum sealer for the homestead. I'll be dealing chickens, veggies, fruit, etc in both jars and bags. I'm looking at a few different machines. My biggest hang up at the moment is size. Is an 11" big enough to do a whole chicken or turkey? Any input since the last post?

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Yes an 11" is likely big enough for chickens but not a turkey. Personally, if you are doing a lot, I would get a Cabela's "game" rated one. Higher quality. I do use my food saver extensively but if I had my own game I was hunting, I would go with something better like the cabelas.

ToddDubya · Dec 14, 2015

Terrys said:
My FoodSaver has performed well and I'm very pleased with it. I mostly use it for freezing meat in bags and occasionally for dry storage. Meats sealed are cut into two person portions, but I could see doing half chickens easily. I don't know about whole. I do not use the accessory hose feature for jars.

I've had mixed results with the jar sealer. I usually have to use two lids to get it to seal.

I have some of the containers that you can seal with the hose and they work great. I made guacamole to bring on a camping trip (camper camping) and it stayed fresh until we ate it. If you've ever made guac you know it starts to turn black pretty quickly when exposed to the air.

Wildweasel · Dec 27, 2015

If you do bulk purchasing of meats then any consumer grade food saver will overheat eventually and slow down the process. we buy meat around 40-60 lbs at a wack, so we went with a commercial grade cabelas cg15 (no longer offered) but it was in the 400 range and we got it for 299 on sale. this is a similar model- http://www.cabelas.com/product/home...nation=/category/Vacuum-Sealers/104668380.uts

The only issue we have had is in making bags from rolls in that it will overheat eventually. and you have to let it cool down. how I tell is if the bag seals too quick, or burns the seal. my model has adjustable heat setting and manual sealing option. (nice if you have a wet item and then you can seal before the liquid gets sucked into the chamber.

The big issue just like welders is duty cycle. the higher the duty cycle the more you can seal in a go and the more it costs. we have had great luck with ours, and noting goes into the deep freeze without being sealed.

For jars I just made a vaccu canner . see this link- http://vacucanner.com/index.html from one of our spare pressure canners some commonly available plumbing fittings a vac guage off amazon and a vac pump I had on hand. ( the pumps are available from $50 -100 on ebay or amazon) this allows bulk vac canning of dry goods, Beans pasta etc. you bring it to 22 hg and then quickly crack the ball vavle to full open. done takes a few minutes to seal a canner full.

Martlet · Dec 27, 2015

Thanks. I got the step down from that, I believe. It was a commercial use Weston. I'll report back how it works.

Wildweasel · Dec 27, 2015

the only thing to watch out for is making bags before doing a lot of sealing. so if you buy the rolls make the bags before shopping /harvesting . and you should have no issues.

Recommend a Vacuum Sealer

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