So, I'm generally a skeptical shopper - especially when it comes to supermarket gadgets. A long lost gift card and a trip to Price Chopper however, had me picking up a a Zip-Loc Vacuum Sealer kit. It was on sale and technically free, so I figured: "What the heck". I bought the kit with a few free bags included and a box of two quart and gallon vacuum bags. the whole kit-n-kaboodle was a little over 12-smackers. If you're not familiar with it, the Zip-Loc Vacuum Sealer, it's a syringe type device which when used with the special vacuum bags, manually draws the air out of what you're trying to seal up. I haven't read any reviews, so my experience is strictly my own.
My wife had picked several quarts of wild blueberries, (yum) - we prefer the small wild ones to the huge farm grown variety. Anyway, I filled a small vacuum bag with blueberries and proceeded to manually pump the air out of the bag and voila! It sealed perfectly - or so I thought. Within a few hours in the freezer, it came undone. Disappointed, I took the bag out and discovered that I way overfilled it - apparently, I paid no attenton to the directions, or the convenient fill-line they add to the bag...dummy. So, I tried again with fewer blueberries and it worked perfectly. Three days in the freezer and all three packages are still sealed. I also experimented with the gallon bags and sealed up some dried fruit, fresh lettuce from the garden, a first aid kit, fire starting supplies, ammo, batteries and some survival food, (Cliff bar, tuna packet, hard candy, Spam single serve, tea bag, sugar and rice). Works like a charm.
I'm sure a traditional vacuum sealer is more efficient, but the cheap and handy Zip-Loc system seems to do the trick.
My wife had picked several quarts of wild blueberries, (yum) - we prefer the small wild ones to the huge farm grown variety. Anyway, I filled a small vacuum bag with blueberries and proceeded to manually pump the air out of the bag and voila! It sealed perfectly - or so I thought. Within a few hours in the freezer, it came undone. Disappointed, I took the bag out and discovered that I way overfilled it - apparently, I paid no attenton to the directions, or the convenient fill-line they add to the bag...dummy. So, I tried again with fewer blueberries and it worked perfectly. Three days in the freezer and all three packages are still sealed. I also experimented with the gallon bags and sealed up some dried fruit, fresh lettuce from the garden, a first aid kit, fire starting supplies, ammo, batteries and some survival food, (Cliff bar, tuna packet, hard candy, Spam single serve, tea bag, sugar and rice). Works like a charm.
I'm sure a traditional vacuum sealer is more efficient, but the cheap and handy Zip-Loc system seems to do the trick.
