Vacuum Sealing Machines

[Gunny 1992]

I have a food saver brand and have had no problems.  I have owned the same unit since 2004.  I know because it was a wedding present and it outlasted the marriage.  It WILL seal bags with liquid with out a problem if you use the method others have said or what I do for large fish (salmon from Lake Huron) is fold up a small piece of paper towel and place inside the bag while you vacuum the bag.  The liquid gets absorbed by the towel and the seal is fine.  When you thaw and open, throw away the paper towel.  I have used it for the canning option, fish, venison, costco trips, the thing has not failed me yet.  Bag rolls a little pricey but NEVER had food go bad, freezer burn, yet!
   

[sbishop]

I run a foodsaver now for 3 years....got it on clearance at cabelas for $50...Its used weekly...i'd have to say they hold up pretty good. I get my bags from vacuum sealers unlimited, I always buy the premium bags...price is great too, service is excellent. I am a member of a smoking meat forum I get 10% discount...covers the cost of shipping most of the time.

Sbishop

[m wood]

 

  hey there Jason.  we're well into hunting season, did you find a sealer yet?  I also have found my foodsaver to be pretty handy.  I use it heavily for just one reason...

I did seal a big bag of turkey noodle soup for the in-laws the othr day.  I had my son hold it over the counter so I could keep the bag upright.  not real user friendly, but doable. 

It could be my imagination but i think it's not as strong as last year, vaccuum wise.  I was thinking of olive oil on the foam/rubber vaccuum seals in the off season. 

[LeeB]

The valves in the vacuum lines on these things are just simple flapper valves. They're just really small. It doesn't take much to keep them from sealing all the way. You can open them up and clean them out if you are careful and can still see well enough. Little bitty parts. Do it carefully to avoid drooping and losing something.

[Wudman]

I have a Rival "Seal a Meal".  Good machine and it has paid for itself many times over.  It came from WalMart I think.  No complaints.

Wudman

[Jason_AliceMae Farms]

Mark - I lost track of this post and missed your reply, sorry.  I have not picked one up yet but I do have my eye on a few of the food saver machines.  New truck batteries and tires got in the way so I am waiting to see if there are any good after Christmas sales.  Looks like you have done fairly well this hunting season.

I can't wait for the day I am living at my property full time so I can hunt out it my woods and enjoy it all the time!

[Raider Bill]

I've been looking for another myself. The 4840 is supposed to be the newest model. I saw it someplace else for $169.00 I believe.

http://www.amazon.com/Foodsaver-Appliance-Vacuum-Sealer-FSFSSL4840-000/dp/B00DI342IW?ref=bit_bds-p18_serp_ff_usnat_link&tag=bds-p18-serp-us-ff-20&ascsubtag=

[Yoopersaw]

Food Savers are okay for the occasional use.  They overheat way too much.  I've gone through at least 1 a year for many years.  A friend recommended this:   http://www.cabelas.com/catalog/search.cmd?form_state=searchForm&N=0&fsch=true&Ntk=AllProducts&Ntt=54-0710&WTz_l=Header%3BSearch-All+Products&x=22&y=8 and I bought it.  I will be using it tomorrow and be posting about it.

[Yoopersaw]

I spent the afternoon doing apples and bananas that were dehydrated, Salsa components that were dehydrated, and the Cabela's out performed the Food Saver beyond belief.  After doing the dry stuff, I packed ten 1 pound packages of homemade breakfast sausage.  So far, I'd give it a solid 10.  With every Foodsaver that I had, I dreaded the packaging since this would have taken several day instead of hours due to over heating problem. 8)

[Chuck White]

  hey there Jason.  we're well into hunting season, did you find a sealer yet?  I also have found my foodsaver to be pretty handy.  I use it heavily for just one reason...

I did seal a big bag of turkey noodle soup for the in-laws the othr day.  I had my son hold it over the counter so I could keep the bag upright.  not real user friendly, but doable. 

It could be my imagination but i think it's not as strong as last year, vaccuum wise.  I was thinking of olive oil on the foam/rubber vaccuum seals in the off season.

Mark, it makes the job much easier if you just stand the vacuum bag of liquid up in freezer and once they are frozen, you can easily vacuum seal them without all the hastle.

[Windy_Acres]

Here's a different opinion:
You pay for what you get.
I am on my second Food Saver and am no longer a fan of them. While the cost of the Food Saver is reasonable, the limited abilities of the machine make it too much of a hassle. Sealing a lot of fish becomes labor intensive when you have to either pre-freeze the fillets or dry them off as much as possible before sealing. The bags don't hold up as long either. Most do but some lose their seal over time. I burned out the first one sealing fish from multi-day trips and probably over-used the Food Saver. The one I have now won't last too much longer, it's having trouble pulling a vacuum. Too much sealing in too short a time, at least that's my guess.
If, and it's a big IF, I do decide to buy another sealer it will be a chamber sealer. A couple of friends have them and they're impressive but pricey.
One of the benefits in buying a chamber sealer is the ability to use a retort bag. As far as I know, Food Saver doesn't have the capability to seal the retort bags.
Chamber sealers are not cheap but if you plan on doing a lot of vacuum sealing, it would be worth it. The bags are much less expensive, you can seal multiple bags without regard to content. Soups, stew, meat, fish, dry goods it doesn't matter. The vacuum is pulled in the chamber and not in the bag. 

Once again, you pay for what you get.

check out vacuumsealersunlimited.com   not a recommendation, just for research.

The one that I keep reading about in the fishing forum is the ARY VP215, it's ~$1100.00

I get the impression from this thread that either you guys dont bag much, or you have never seen, heard of, understand a chamber vac.

But allow me to put an analogy out there for the inquisitive, that has had no exposure, much like myself at one point.

The difference between a food saver (pick youre model, we went through 3), and comparing to a chamber vac, is akin to comparing a 14" Remington ELECTRIC chain saw, and a Husqvarna 372 w/ 24" bar, or lets say a .22LR rimfire, and a .44mag, both handguns, both come in revolvers, both shoot bullets, but one will do things the other can even consider.

Honestly, the two should not even be compared. We "burned up" 3 food savers, and given the price of the bags, compared to the chamber vac, the thing almost pays for it self, if you really bag allot of food.

We kinda homestead and buy next to nothing at the grocery store, garden is over an acre, orchard, and 5 sources of protein on hoof. 3 chest freezers, the biggest ones they sell for residential use, all so full, you can barely close the lids. Suffice it to say, we bag some food.

If it was not mentioned, the chamber vac we bought, has 2 sealing bars, that is to say, it seals the bag TWICE, It also does liquids without having to perform circus tricks. That, and better half absolutely loves the thing, due to the time it saves, by doing it right the first time, she is ecstatic with the thing (she does not get excited about much). It was $500, was not purchased from Amazon, but here a link showing the model.

http://www.amazon.com/VacMaster-Portable-Chamber-Vacuum-Sealer/dp/B003YE8FG0

If you use yours once a year for lets say 20 bags, the food savers are fine (garbage in comparison, but priced accordingly), if you do it regularly, your cheating yourself.

[beenthere]

I get the impression from this thread that either you guys dont bag much, or you have never seen, heard of, understand a chamber vac.

And Windy_acres, I thought with that intro, you would explain a chamber vac so that we would understand it.
How about it, would you do that for us?   8)

[Jason_AliceMae Farms]

Windy - I too would like to hear more about your chamber vac.  I have come across them while I have been looking around but I would quickly stop looking at them due to the price tag.  I do not seal nearly as much as you right now but that is my goal over the next few years.   I don't know anyone that has/had a chamber vac so first hand information on them is limited.

[Windy_Acres]

You bag your food or liquid, you open the chamber, lay the product in horziontally. The open end of the bag, goes into two "pins" that pierce the bag north of the up coming seal. Via gravity, this keeps your liquid in the bag, because the height of the pins is higher than your food, even though its horizontal.

You close the lid, set the timer for how long you want the pump to run (how tight you want the seal), and the pump pulls all the air out of the chamber, that would include the bag as well.

When the time runs out, the sealing bar heats up, and seals the bag. A couple seconds go by, and a valve then relieves the vacuum, allow atmospheric pressure back in the chamber. At that point, your bag shrivels up to the contour of the contents. You open the chamber lid, removed the bag, and start over with the next bag.

I can take some pics of the process if you guys would like to see it. I could do a video, but Im guessing there is already one on youtube.

Ok, I just went and looked, here is the exact model we have..

Ok, I guess I cant post links. So go to youtube and search for "vacmaster vp112" and watch the first return, its an 8 minute video, pretty much covers everything.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vi5WMRM4aSQ

[Windy_Acres]

Windy - I too would like to hear more about your chamber vac.  I have come across them while I have been looking around but I would quickly stop looking at them due to the price tag.  I do not seal nearly as much as you right now but that is my goal over the next few years.   I don't know anyone that has/had a chamber vac so first hand information on them is limited.

After our 3rd food saver, bought the farm, I said to the girl friend, "time to find something a little more substantial". Prior to that point, I had not heard the term "chamber vac".

After researching it (mostly via forums), and factoring in bag costs, in hind sight we realized the first 3 food savers where a real bad idea. But the key is, you have to be using the thing, to pay for itself, for the casual user, its probably not worth it, but it is built a brick poop house comparatively and works much better. Weve only had our since this summer, so we dont have a real track record with it, although she pulled a bunch of meat out of the freezer and resealed it, because the food saver bags where failing on certain items.

That is probably where this thing really shines, the bags not breaking their seals and allowing freezer burn you dont know about until its too late.

Weve got enough carnivores running around that nothing goes to waste, but its a shame to loose good meat to freezer burn.

[beenthere]

Thanks for filling us in and including the video.

[Windy_Acres]

no problem, it was short sighted of me not to share more, being that they are not common, that an intro to them would have been a good idea.