Vacuum Sealer

[Martlet]

I'm looking for a solid vacuum sealer for chicken and general farm processing. Reviews seem mixed on most. I've never used one before, so I'm not sure what features I should be looking for.

I think an 11 inch sealer may be to small?

Input and suggestions appreciated.


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[Ridgerunner]

I don’t use my vacuum sealer for fresh chicken meat, mainly for vegetables. If you cut the chickens into serving pieces then the 11” should work, especially if you get the roll and cut it to the length you want. I have not tried to get a whole carcass in an 11” bag but I could see where that might be a challenge.

I have a Foodsaver brand that can handle an 11” bag but I just buy the 8” rolls and use those. I just cut them to length. For what I freeze the 11” bags were a waste. It’s amazing how long food stays fresh in the freezer with no ice crystals or freezer burn.

One of the problems you have with these is that they suck moisture out of the bag when they pull the vacuum. If the bag is wet where it is supposed to seal, it will not seal. Practically everything I seal has enough moisture in it that you cannot seal it. The way I get around that is to fill the bag and freeze it overnight, then seal it the next day. I only work with two or three bags at a time so it doesn’t thaw enough to release moisture during the vacuum process. Mine has a moist button and a dry button. I don’t know what difference they make. When I push the moist button it still sucks enough moisture out that the bag won’t seal. To me that is not a great feature.

You can get attachments to some to seal canning jars or other things. I don’t bother. The only features I use is to seal on the vacuum setting and to seal without a vacuum. There are a few other buttons on there but they are never pushed. There is an attachment in the vacuum chamber that catches any liquid that is sucked out of the produce. Since that is removable that makes it easier to clean.

I cut my chicken into serving pieces and double wrap that in freezer paper using freezer tape. I find if I single wrap it bones can poke a hole in it. Double wrapping gets around that. I save parts of the carcass for broth and put that in zip loc type bags. There are two problems with that. A zip loc does not keep it fresh that long, ice crystals will form, freezer burn if you leave it a long time. Vacuum sealing will take care of that. But those bones have sharp ends. It’s really easy for those bones to poke a hole in that zip loc bag, not so much when you first freeze it but later when you toss things around searching for something in the freezer. I don’t think the vacuum bags would be as bad as zip loc’s about that, but it might be something to watch out for.

 

[Angry Cupcake]

We recently slaughtered 6 chickens. I left them whole and used an 11 inch roll to vac seal them. I have a Foodsaver sealer and didn't have any issues with moisture, fit, or sealing. The birds ranged in weight from 5 1/4lbs. to 7lbs. each. I have used freezer paper in the past and still dealt with burn issues after a period of time. Basically, it all comes down to personal preference.

 

[kardar2]

Angry cupcake is right Foods aver makes the bags with moisture blocker. And the machine has a setting for moisture and dry foods. We have the food saver with the pulse so you control it so if you wand to freeze muffins we buy the Costco muffins and freeze them. If you use a regular vacuum sealer they will smash delicate things. Plus if you go to Foodsaver.Com they will let you make payments. I bought ours that way. We bought the marinate bowl to which is really nice. Did you watch YouTube videos? Food saver has some videos on their site.

 

[wyoDreamer]

I have had a couple of vacuum sealers. The first was a cheap Foodsaver that I had 15 years ago. My husband replaced that one with a GameSaver, also a Foodsaver brand, but it had 2 vacuum pumps so it had a stronger vacuum and worked faster. I wore that one out and bought a cheap one to replace it until I could afford another good one. The one I have now is a Cabela brand vacuum sealer. The machine is good, but is very sensitive to moisture, I recommend the freeze it before sealing it method if you have the time to do that. The Cabela rolls are thicker and more expensive than the food saver bags, but they do seem to work a touch better if you can get them sealed. The Cabela machine seals the Foodsaver bags just fine.

 

[Angry Cupcake]

In order to save a lot of money I buy my 8" and 11" rolls in 50' lengths on ebay. I bought a 2 pack that included 1 of each for $24. They are thicker than regular Foodsaver and work great. Compared to the brand name I saved a ton and I can make bags in any size that I need.

 

[BBQJOE]

Protip: When sealing a bag that has moisture, place a folded paper towel above the meat before sealing. That way the juices won't make it to the seal.

 

[flyin-lowe]

I too purchased two rolls of aftermarket "bags" from Ebay. They were a lot less money and work just as good or better.