Anyone here use a food saver system?

[Scoop]

I've seen 3 to 4 different brand named systems. Of course Food Saver is the best known named system and costs a lot, too. I saw a Deni system for $30.00. Any ideas for me to consider? I can't invest over $50.00 in this right now, even that is a stretch. I want to store dry things like flour and rice mostly in an airtight way.

 

[HogbackMtnChickns]

Hi Scoop. I have an older Food Saver (bought it 5-6 yrs ago). It works well for dry food, and food that is already frozen, but does not work well for wet food - cut up peaches, etc. The moisture gets sucked into the seal while it is vacuuming out the air, and the seal fails. The bags are expensive - even the rolls, although you can buy those at Costco if you have one nearby. Do not use the cheap brand bags - worse than useless.

I don't know about the other brands of machines.

I am hit and miss with my food saver. Sometimes I use it a lot, then I will put it away and forget about it for a while. Generally, I think the food saver works better than just using freezer bags and a cheap plastic straw, but not a whole lot better. Freezer bags are definitely less of a production.

Good luck.

 

[A.T. Hagan]

Most any of the FoodSaver models or the Magicvac Maxima. None of the other homeowner vacuum sealer brands are very good in my opinion.

I use a Magicvac myself. My old model 750 FoodSaver is now my backup.

 

[caspernc]

I love my Food Saver. And when I looked at the price of the other systems yeah< I'll stick my soups in the freezer for 30 mintill it gets firmer and then seal it. EVERYTHING gets sealed here. Even the crackers

.

 

[Terri O]

I agree about the moist stuff wrecking the seal. What I do is press the seal button again and sometimes it works to seal it up. Another thing I like to do is reseal chip bags and stuff. My family thinks they are starving if they dont have a dozen bags of snacks open at one time so I have found that you can reseal most of them with the food saver! No stale snacks! Terri O

 

[HogbackMtnChickns]

Cute dog, Terri O. Reminds me of my girl.

 

[aprhardy]

I love our Foodsaver, especially for seasoning meats before freezing! Its amazing the taste of any kind of meat after a light sprinkle with some Mrs. Dash then vacuum sealed and frozen. YUM YUM!

As someone mentioned above, with liquids such as soup, or peaches, or anything of the such, freeze first then vacuum seal. I recently did peaches and froze them on a cookie sheet covered in wax paper, then put them in bags to be sealed. Sure helps when you buy in bulk to be able to separate into smaller portions.
I wish you the best of luck!

 

[machodoc]

We got ourselves a FoodSaver as an early Christmas present ... and we really do like it.

The bags are pricey, though, so I liked one suggestion that I saw. The person said that they make their bags a few inches LONGER than what they need, fold the excess underneath and out of the way, then re-use the bags for smaller and smaller items over time. That makes sense to me.

I'm also tempted to see if there's not some way that the triggering device for the sealer to be activated without having to put so much of the bag into the machine. Call me a cynic, but there sure seems to be a lot of wasted material left out past where the seal takes place ... and who could imagine a big company designing a machine so that people will have to use as much of (their) supplies for that machine as possible? Surely not in modern America, right? (Oh ... the thing's probably made in China ... foolish me.)

While it does a great job sealing up things like dried beans, I'm not inclined to spend the money on bags for that (unless I'm packing them to take camping, or something of that sort). Dried beans shouldn't need to be vacuum sealed unless someone's preparing them for their doomsday shelter. Storage in something like a Rubbermaid container--one that seals tightly--is probably just as good and more cost effective over time. Maybe that's not the best idea if you live in a really humid environment, but I suspect that most of us aren't in the tropics. Just one opinion, of course!

As for sealing up stuff that's moist, but not liquid (like meats), we use the type of paper towels that allow you to tear off a small sheet, fold it up into a strip about the width of the bag, then put that in after we put in the meat. When moisture is sucked away from the meat it hits the paper towel barrier and is absorbed. Never had a problem with sealing ... yet ... from moisture, and we've bagged up a whole lot of chicken for the freezer.

 

[AkTomboy]

I have a foodsaver and Love it! I process all of our own meat from moose ~ bear ~ caribou ~ chickens whatever I love it, it does have a liquid setting so that is nice when I premake our food for long hunting trips but you can freeze it as they said. A good place to look for great deals on them is Ebay, you can get new and used ones for great prices. It is well worth the investment, but remember you will be having to spend money on the bags or containers as well.