Vacuum sealers

Canugghead

vp215 is a higher end model with oil rotary pump.

Comparing apple to apple:

webstaurant price - $869

vacuum sealer unlimited price - $1099

PNWFoodie

+1 on the chamber vac. I love mine and it's kept things safe in the freezer for years!

ElCapitan

I'm a nob here, why are you guys going all in on food sealers?  What's the benefit?  Do you cook so much that you save a ton later?  Does sealing it make it last longer?  I give most of my leftovers to my dogs but maybe I should put them on a diet.

4Runner

@Elcapitan - yes, food will last longer.  Some buy in bulk and store in a dedicated freezer.  Also, some will vacuum seal as part of the Sous Vide process.  I think it is more organized and can actually save space too.  

horseflesh

ElCapitan said:

I'm a nob here, why are you guys going all in on food sealers?  What's the benefit?  Do you cook so much that you save a ton later?  Does sealing it make it last longer?  I give most of my leftovers to my dogs but maybe I should put them on a diet.

The way we shop and cook, it has been hugely useful but it certainly isn't for everyone. 

I found I waste a lot less food when I can vac seal leftovers. There are only 2 of us and if I cook a Costco-sized piece of something, there will be more leftovers than main course. Giving all that to the dogs would make for some fat, spoiled dogs. BGE leftovers that have been sealed and gently reheated sous vide are about as good as they day they were made. 

Vac sealing also great for extending the fridge life of things like hard cheese, bacon, and other raw meats. I put a giant Costco block of cheese in a gallon sealer bag, and re-seal the bag over and over... the cheese stays perfect for weeks that way. 

I have over a dozen pieces of cold-smoked cheese in the fridge right now... I am learning how to do that, and sealed a bunch of experiments to let them age. (Cold-smoked cheese needs to age for at least a week and ideally several, they say.)

If I make a big batch of BGE smoked salmon, most of which I end up giving away, I vac seal each piece. They will keep for a couple of months that way, maybe longer. 

Sometimes, we buy something in bulk, like a box of frozen cheese sticks from the restaurant supply store. They come packaged in a flimsy bag, and we don't use them fast enough to keep them from getting freezer burn. I will repack them in bags of a dozen and they keep forever. 

We homebrew beer, and I can store extra hops in the freezer without losing their punch if I seal them. 

Now that I do SV cooking, I can get season and seal a pile of meats and put them in the freezer. Making dinner is then super easy. She puts the meat in the water bath while I am at work, and when I get home I sear it on the BGE. 

Lastly there are some cook cooking tricks you can do, like making infused fruits and compressed watermelon. When I make French fries, I infuse extra potato starch into the fries by compressing them, then I vacuum-dry them before frying. 

If you don't mess with leftovers, don't cook big quantities for later use, don't buy ingredients in large quantities or far ahead of time, and don't care about stupid cooking tricks, then a sealer won't be of much use to you.