Vacuum sealer recommendations?

I've been thinking about getting a vacuum sealer for a few months and the thread on cooking sous vide reminded me about it. I'd like to get some recommendations on sizes, brands and models.

I will be using it mostly for freezing. I for myself and often need to break down big cuts of meat or fish into more manageable portions. I probably would also end up trying sous vide, as well.

Any thoughts?

I do not know the model numbers, but I have both a Rival "Seal A Meal," and a Tilia "Food Saver." The Tilia works much better. Right off the bat, the Rival was very tempermental with bag placement, and the bag needed to be placed perfectly for decent operation (even then, there were still a few tiny but visible air pockets.) The Tilia was an absolute snap the first time I tried it, and seemed to work perfectly even if the bag was not placed perfectly into the slot for sealing. One thing you might want to research if you're going to be using it a LOT is the price of bags. One drawback of the tilia products is supposed to be that you can only use their bags. I generally only use mine for fish when I go on charters, and bring home tens of pounds of filets. It does wonders for keeping them fresh tasting even after being frozen for a year.

I've had excellent results with the Tilia-foodsaver and some attempts at sealed 'poaching'
I got mine at Costso - V2490. It is a model that's not available elsewhere - possibly as it has additional features and/or accessories. A few weeks after I got it, they ran a special and were good enough to credit me the difference. I think I ended up paying something like 120 for it.

edited to add model no.

I have a "Foodsaver 1075" that is 5-6 years old. I was thinking about upgrading, and my neighbor borrowed mine. He said mine was better than anything he had used. He threw his out he was so POed at it.

So I keep using it, and it keeps sealing. As far as "funtionality", I think simpler is better and I rarely do anything other than seal bags. I do use the rolls of material as opposed to presized and often make some interesting sized bags...my wife says "Where are those small bags you use?" ...closely guarded kitchen secret.

I think ours was a Costco buy, but they did not have this model currently. One (suprising to me anyway) place I have seen the model is in a Tuesday Morning store in Lake Zurich... I assume they are in some of the others.

I have the FoodSaver V2440, and it sucks...in a good way! (Get it? It sucks...it's a vacuum-sealer. Ha ha ha. )

I use it all the time, but I just discovered another reason to love it--the canister/tube feature. It comes with a port and tube, and FoodSaver makes these vacuum-sealing wine stoppers...so you can "save" unfinished bottles of wine for longer than a few days.

You can find bargains on bags if you look. I've seen 'em marked down at Cabelo's, but the FoodSaver site also has occasional sales.

There was also a video on "flash pickling" in the NYTimes online recently...some guy from the French Culinary Institute made a "martini" in a slice of cucumber. Don't know if that's possible with the FoodSaver, but I'm damn sure gonna find out.

had mine for a few years now, and I haven't even tried the tube/container thingy yet. Lol. Not sure I could even find them again at this point.

I suggest that whatever model you get, make sure it has a 'manual' sealing function-- that is, you can seal without having to apply vacuum. That way you can seal liquids without having the liquid sucked into the pump.

Thanks for all the recommendations. I think I will swing by Costco to see what they have this weekend.

benscanlon wrote:Thanks for all the recommendations. I think I will swing by Costco to see what they have this weekend.

While you are there make sure you buy a giant package of ground beef and a 6 pack of > 1lb steaks so you can give it a test run

Oh and get a WSM as well. Not sure why they don't just put one in the FoodSaver package, they are a marriage on the level of peanut butter and jelly.

Jamie

I have also been in the market for one after getting my WSM Smoker this Christmas. Kohls has the 825 with the cutter and roll holder and 3 canisters for about 1/2 off $79.99 (reg $199.99)through Sat. the 26th. Its the same one walmart has for $149.99. Got one Monday and put out a pile of Chopped Pork, it worked great.

Foodsaver also has attachments for vacuum sealing canning freezer jars which can then be frozen. This is more convenient for some things.

Seller sweet attack on Ebay sells a Foodsaver compatible bag in bulk amounts for half the price of the normal bags. People on the Foodsaver Yahoo group swear by them. I'll have to try them because I have not had very good luck with the genuine Foodsaver bags which get brittle and punctured in the freezer and thus lose their seal.

imsscott wrote:Foodsaver also has attachments for vacuum sealing canning freezer jars which can then be frozen. This is more convenient for some things.

Seller sweet attack on Ebay sells a Foodsaver compatible bag in bulk amounts for half the price of the normal bags. People on the Foodsaver Yahoo group swear by them. I'll have to try them because I have not had very good luck with the genuine Foodsaver bags which get brittle and punctured in the freezer and thus lose their seal.

Do you have a link to that seller? I can't find it.

Abouna wrote:

imsscott wrote:Foodsaver also has attachments for vacuum sealing canning freezer jars which can then be frozen. This is more convenient for some things.

Seller sweet attack on Ebay sells a Foodsaver compatible bag in bulk amounts for half the price of the normal bags. People on the Foodsaver Yahoo group swear by them. I'll have to try them because I have not had very good luck with the genuine Foodsaver bags which get brittle and punctured in the freezer and thus lose their seal.

Do you have a link to that seller? I can't find it.

Here you go: http://myworld.ebay.com/thesweetattack/

Food savers (vacuum)

Has anyone purchased one of these models where you can vacuum out the air of a plastic bag to keep food fresher longer?

http://www.oliso.com/frisper/index.php

If not, can you recommend another model. I am looking to purchase a food saver and dont know what is good and what is crap.

Marc

I bought the Reynolds Vacum System ($9.95 in supermarket about $3.00 at Costco) and love it. I have been using it to package meats I get at Costco and have used it for cheese that I freeze. All come out like I just bought it.
Paulette

I was given a Frisper, and I have to say: it sucks. And not in the way it's meant to. It seems like a handy alternative to the bulky FoodSaver, but the "reusable" bags are not so much, and mine stopped sucking after less than 10 uses. This could be user-error, but I've tried to get it working again and again with no luck. The puncture-lock grabs, but the motor never cuts off once it's engaged.

If you want a reliable vacuum-saver, the FoodSaver is a proven dynamo. I've had the same one for over 2 years, and it's never failed. It's great for what it's designed to do (maintaining quality in sealed up leftovers, uber-packs of chicken breasts, etc.), but I've really enjoyed noodling around with other vacuum-sealing projects, like "flash pickling" and sous vide. I also like the wine saver corks.

My brother was showing his FoodSaver to a neighbor, explaining how versatile it is. He grabbed his shotgun, cut a bag long enough and preceded to vacu-seal the gun…LOL. We all had a good laugh over it, and the neighbor went out the next day about bought one. I’ve had mine for several years and I love it. I live alone so I can buy chicken breasts or filets in bulk and seal them up for use later. My Mom also lives alone and this past July was diagnosed with lung cancer. I was trying to think of something I could do to make life easier for her, so I thought cooking for her would be perfect. I cook a lot of comfort foods then refrigerate, and seal them up. That way, all she has to do it thaw what she wants, heat it up, and she has lunch or dinner. The food will last forever because it’s all cooked so she doesn’t feel like she has to eat it before it goes bad.

FoodSaver has the FoodSaver V2860 Vacuum Sealer Kit for $44 with code K8FP34. Spending an additional $4 more will get you free shipping. The 11' roll refill is $10. Otherwise, shipping starts at $10.

http://www.foodsaver.com/Product.aspx?i ... 87&pid=278

MikeW665 wrote:My brother was showing his FoodSaver to a neighbor, explaining how versatile it is. He grabbed his shotgun, cut a bag long enough and preceded to vacu-seal the gun…LOL. We all had a good laugh over it, and the neighbor went out the next day about bought one.

Mike,

Haven't vacsealed a shotgun, but when I first got my Tilia Foodsaver I did go a little vacseal nutty.




I'm on my second Tilia FoodSaver in 7-8 years and find it very useful.

Enjoy,
Gary

G Wiv wrote:

MikeW665 wrote:My brother was showing his FoodSaver to a neighbor, explaining how versatile it is. He grabbed his shotgun, cut a bag long enough and preceded to vacu-seal the gun…LOL. We all had a good laugh over it, and the neighbor went out the next day about bought one.

Mike,

Haven't vacsealed a shotgun, but when I first got my Tilia Foodsaver I did go a little vacseal nutty.




I'm on my second Tilia FoodSaver in 7-8 years and find it very useful.

Enjoy,
Gary

When a foodie gets a new kitchen toy......He/She is COMPELLED to try it out.

paulette wrote:I bought the Reynolds Vacum System ($9.95 in supermarket about $3.00 at Costco) and love it. I have been using it to package meats I get at Costco and have used it for cheese that I freeze. All come out like I just bought it.
Paulette

I own and love a FoodSaver I have had for years, but I too went out and grabbed a Reynold's HandiVac System (didn't see them at CostCo though, was this recent?).

I use FoodSaver for things I freeze and want to boil in the bag to heat them up (stews, soups, meals, etc). I use the Reynolds for things I reuse (hops, brown sugar, etc).

I really like that the Reynolds are just regular old bags that open at the top. While you can reseal the FoodSaver bags, I find that you lose a lot of bag in the process. When I need hops, I just open the bag from freezer, take what I need and then grab the Vac Sealer from drawer and in 10 seconds it is back in the freezer.

Well worth the $10.

Jamie

gleam wrote:FoodSaver has the FoodSaver V2860 Vacuum Sealer Kit for $44 with code K8FP34. Spending an additional $4 more will get you free shipping. The 11' roll refill is $10. Otherwise, shipping starts at $10.

http://www.foodsaver.com/Product.aspx?i ... 87&pid=278

Unfortunately, the website is showing this as "out of stock" now.

Just a pleasant update, I ordered the Foodsaver V2860 from the earlier post with the coupon code. They were out of stock but I already have an older one so it was no big deal. I was checking status on my order and I see they cancelled the order for the V2860, and substituted the V3840 http://www.foodsaver.com/Product.aspx?id=s&cid=0&pid=243 SCORE ! !

Wow! Now that is a nice upgrade. Still for that same ridiculously low price?

gleam wrote:Wow! Now that is a nice upgrade. Still for that same ridiculously low price?

Yep....$43.62 plus S&H and tax, but even so, the total is $62.96 rather than $173.97 plus S&H and tax. It's nice to be in the right place at the right time for a change.

Kohls.com has the FoodSaver v2830 Vacuum Packaging System for $58.99

If you use a Kohl's credit card, save 15% with coupon: MVCFIFTEEN
Without Kohl's credit card, save 10% with coupon: THANKS9710

Free shipping code: MVC6687

Right now, Kohl's is also having their spend $50 and receive $10 coupon for later use. After the 15% discount, this item is $50.14 and qualifies to receive the coupon.

via slickdeals

I do have to say that I have not used my FoodSaver since I grabbed my Reynold's HandiVac. For basic vac sealing stuff the Reynolds does work well and I like not having to cut bags.

gleam wrote:Kohls.com has the FoodSaver v2830 Vacuum Packaging System for $58.99

Kohl's wrote:We're sorry, this item is no longer available.

Shame, that was a good deal.

FoodSaver has the FoodSaver Super Saver Bundle for $66 - $46 Code S9FEAAA = $20 with free shipping.

Includes:

* 1x 1.5qt Rectangular Canister
* 1x 3.25 qt Round Canister
* 1x 2.5qt Round Canister
* 1x 25oz Round Canister
* 3x 25oz Lunch and Leftover Container
* 2x 11"x8' Roll


linkypoo

Foodsaver has the FOODSAVER® w/SmartSeal™ Technology VACUUM SEALER KIT for $64.04 in the cart with free shipping. Use coupon code 99FEAAA if it doesn't show up.

Looks like a great deal on a great model. This deal is for today only.

link

FoodSaver® Vacuum Sealing System with SmartSeal™ Technology is a hands-free, vacuum packaging and marinating dynamo in a space-saving, upright design. Protect and preserve moist, dry and delicate food safely in canisters or bags. The Kit includes more than $44 in upgrades including the Starter Kit of FoodSaver® Rolls, the Marinator, a built-in roll holder, progress lights, cutter and bag opener, liquid detection to prevent spills, a hose reel and a marinate mode that infuses food with flavor in just minutes.

Features

* CrushFree™ Instant Seal
* Canister Mode
* Space-saving Upright Design
* Auto Liquid Detection
* Marinate Mode
* 2 Vacuum Speeds
* Integrated Bag Opener
* Automatic Bag Detection