Anyone using a food saver or other brand?

John
I've got a Food Saver VAC 820 I bought at Walmart A couple of years ago. They have since come out with better models. I use mine a lot and I would suggest one that has a well to put the roll in as you pull it out. Also it needs a built in roll cutter IMHO. Regardless they are invaluable if you smoke ahead.
BG

I have had a Tilia Foodsaver for 4 years or so that I bought on ebay from a gal in Florida. Great piece of equipment. I buy Fontanella cheese in 10 pound wheels, cut it up and vacuum pack and freeze it, now I freeze pulled pork in the bags. Great item!

I have the Foodsaver that is sold at Costco.. kind of a big kit. I like it.. but there are some times when there are poor seals.. probably due to my errors in keeping the sealing surfaces clean after putting food in it.

I found another more commercial type vacuum sealer but lost the link to it.. If I find it, I'll relay it to you. It is a stainless steel one that is made in Italy and there is an outfit in Sacramento that handles refurbished ones for about $170 or so.. It really looked good to me.

Just found it.. here is the link...

http://www.vacuum-sealer-bags.com/vacuum_sealers.htm

Do a Cookshack search for food sealers. There has been a lot of talk regarding these things in the, seems a major consideration is the cost of bags.

I use and love my Tilia Foodsaver. LJ is right bags are costly, but you can wash and reuse them. They say not to reuse them when meat has been stored in them, and I dont if it was raw meat being packaged, but for cooked Q and the like I will reuse. Just be thorough in the washing.
I have the model V845, it has the roll holder and bag cutter that BikerGar mentioned. It cost $129.99

I use the midlevel Foodsaver and it does great.

Be sure to get one that has the port and hose to seal bottles,jars,canisters.

The midlevel also has the manual switch,which gives more versatility.

Here is another unit that showed recently.

Several cooks,including our teammate, have bought them.

http://www.vacuum-sealer-bags.com/index.htm

quote:

Originally posted by Smokenque:
[QB] I have the Foodsaver that is sold at Costco.. kind of a big kit. I like it.. but there are some times when there are poor seals.. probably due to my errors in keeping the sealing surfaces clean after putting food in it.

I roll the top of the bag down into a cuff while I am filling the bags, that keeps it clean and gives you a good seal everytime.

[/QUOTE]I roll the top of the bag down into a cuff while I am filling the bags, that keeps it clean and gives you a good seal everytime. [/QB][/QUOTE]

Great idea, Thanks.

BG

I've been using the Black & Decker from Wal-Mart for a couple years. No problems, great unit but I can't compare it to other food savers because it's the only one I've ever used.

QUOTE]I roll the top of the bag down into a cuff while I am filling the bags, that keeps it clean and gives you a good seal everytime. [/QB][/QUOTE]

What a great idea. Why didn't I think of that!?

My Foodsaver does not have a well, but I picked up a "roll holder" at Wal-Mart. You put in the roll of plastic, pull out how much you want, and it has a blade to cut it nice and straight.

Donna

I have both a Foodsaver and a Simbo sealers. They use different bags but their principals & operations are basically the same. The Simbo seems to seal bags better first try whereas the FS I was resealing bags often. But the FS has a tube attachment that lets me vacuum seal mason jars. I also have the attachment for doing quick meat marinades. Do a search for more info on bag costs and locations to get them.

Bob

A friend of mine highly recommends the VacUpack sealer as shown here on EBay. Anybody out there familiar with this unit and, if so, any comments?

Thank guys and gals!

I have a Tilia Food Saver 1075 that was received as a gift. Overall the unit works great. The few times I have had a package that didn't seal well is because I had allowed a crumb or something to get in the way of the seal strip or a wrinkle occured during the sealing process.

Today we are vacuum sealing asparagus which we got on sale for $.99/lb. We bought 12 lbs., parboiled it and are putting it in 1/2lb packages and into the freezer. We do this all year on what ever comes in season and goes on sale. Also pulled pork, brisket etc. which I smoke.

Don't know how I managed to get along without one.

Cy I also have a 1075 and love it! We packaged some Utah Sweet corn last August, had some the other night and it was as good as the day it was picked. What a treat in the middle of a snowy winter. What I didn't realize at first was that there is a lower rubber sealing ring (obvious) and an upper sealing ring (not so obvious) and I didn't know that they pop out easily for cleaning. A little soap & water, rinse well, dry, and problem solved.
CB

Here is a really affordable vacume sealer at your local walmart ,very nice looking, uses all food saver bags as well as its own rools from black n decker. only $69.99.
http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.gsp?product_id=2299660

John,

Everyone I know who has a Foodsaver loves 'em ... except for the high cost of the bags.

Many of us in this forum, including me, have a Sinbo sealer because you can buy small and medium sized vacuum bags for as little as $0.02-$0.04 each. What do Foodsaver bags cost, $0.30 each and up? The cost of the bags add up quickly if you plan to use your sealer a lot. You can read more about the Sinbo on this previous thread. They cost about $75 if you get them on Ebay, but they'll pay for themselves in the lower cost of the bags.

have used seal-a-meal 4 yrs from wall mart but just got one from HSN 4 half the price.

the sealameal units dont last long ..i have gone thru 3 in last 5 yrs.
this new one is a rival vs110. hope it's better than seal-a-meal

I have a foodsaver 825 and don't know how I ever got along without it. I found that the Black and Decker bags work fine with it and a little cheaper. The black and Decker bags are along side the Foodsaver bags at Wallmart.

Will the Black and Decker work with the $0.02-$0.4 bags, if so it seems to be the best deal out there.

I have the costco foodsaver, but I purchased the separate sealers for mason glass jars. Not the ones that you stick on the top of the jar, but the ones that use the real lids. Maybe because I'm cheap and I hate to spend the money on something you toss after one use, and I have little success reusing the bags.

Anyway, I use the jar sealing things much more, especially for anything that has liquid in it. Like your secret recipe sauces will keep a long time. Some narrow mouth mason jars have rims that won't vaccuum seal properly, but I only use those with things I give away. And I buy the narrow mouth jars in thrift stores. The wide mouth jars I bought from one cup to two quarts never have been a problem getting a lasting seal, provided the jar rim was clean when I started and I pre soaked the lids in hot water for a while. And yes I do reuse the lid a number of times, provided you are careful removing and not bending the lid.

JOHN JUST USED MY NEW RIVAL S150 AND IT IS 10 TIMES BETTER THAN ANY UNIT I HAVE USED BEFOR.
IT HAS A SEPRET BUTTON TO SEAL AND ONE TO VACUM.
THE BAGS ARE STORED IN THE UNIT ALONG WITH A CUTTING BLADE ON THE UNIT.
I BOUGHT IT FROM HOME SHOPING NETWORK ALONG WITH A SLEW OF EXTRA BAGS FOR 75.00
THE HSN#IS 693914 IF YOUR INTERESTED.
TEL.PH.1-800-284-3100 OR WWW.HSN.COM

HOPE THIS HELPS JACK FOLEY

To answer LJ's question, the 2-4 cent bags are plain commercial vacuum bags like food manufacturers use ... not the channel or patterned bags that Foodsavers use. I'm not sure what the B&D sealers use, but I'm guessing they can only use the channel bags like Foodsaver.

The Sinbo sealer is the only model I know of for home use that uses regular, plain vacuum bags, which is why the bags only cost 2 to 4 cents each. Also, you can use it to reseal any commercial vacuum bag ... such as when you buy a two pack of pork butts and want to smoke one now and vacuum pack and freeze the other for later use. You can vacuum and reseal the original cryovac bag that the pork butts came in. Or if you buy a big hunk of cheese, and want to freeze half of it for later use, you can revacuum pack and seal it in its original packaging.

One drawback of the Sinbo sealer is that it does not have a jar attachment like the Foodsaver.