OT - Food Saver advice

mEGG_My_Day

I have never used a food saver, but I'm in the market.  Any of y'all have experience or opinions on the one below.  It's $50 off at Costco and I'm thinking of pulling the trigger - thanks in advance. 

Lmidkiff

FoodSavers are a must. I have used them for many years and couldn’t live without one. 

GrateEggspectations

I think this is the one we purchased months ago at Costco. Very simple to operate. 

Obviously, they’re great for storing food in the freezer (we often buy large quantities of meat and portion out for the freezer) and for cooking sous vide. 

So what I’m saying is that once you buy this you’ll have sufficient justification to purchase a sous vide circulator. 

billt01

I bought the Food Saver Game Saver, mostly because it is quicker between cycles and can do bigger cuts. Only issue with it, is you lose more of your bag to use this one from the previous one I owned.

lkapigian

mEGG_My_Day said:

I have never used a food saver, but I'm in the market.  Any of y'all have experience or opinions on the one below.  It's $50 off at Costco and I'm thinking of pulling the trigger - thanks in advance. 

I have this one, hundreds of seals no issues 

bgebrent

Pull the trigger.  You won't regret it and will soon wonder how you got along without one.

mEGG_My_Day

GrateEggspectations said:

I think this is the one we purchased months ago at Costco. Very simple to operate. 

Obviously, they’re great for storing food in the freezer (we often buy large quantities of meat and portion out for the freezer) and for cooking sous vide. 

So what I’m saying is that once you buy this you’ll have sufficient justification to purchase a sous vide circulator. 

This is how these things work .. I buy this food saver,  then I get a sous vide.  Now I need and buy new containers to sous vide in.  I run out of storage in my kitchen, so I need new kitchen cabinets.  Oh I forgot that my freezer is packed, so I need another freezer to put in
the basemen .  This thing is gonna cost me big $$$$$.

mEGG_My_Day

Thanks all - looks like I'm off to Costco 

Dobie

I have this one, buy it.

CarolinaCrazy

I love mine. But you can't use them on Wine as they are showing in the picture!
Buy the bags by the roll on Amazon. Much cheaper than the FoodSaver bags.

thetrim

My food saver has not been sucking that well lately (Unlike the UK basketball team).  Anyway, I've been doing the fluid displacement method for SV items.  Might need to look at a new vacuum sealer soon.  I've heard good things of the NutriChef brand.

milesvdustin

I have the gamesaver one. Doesnt have the auto seal feature but its just a button press. Future sealer will be a vacmaster chamber sealer when/if this one ever dies

vb4677

Get one with the attachment hose. I use mine to marinate meat for jerky and Asian food in 1/2 gal Mason jars.

jeponline

I just picked this one up yesterday, couldn't pass up the deal.  It's also worth noting that Target currently has the Foodsaver bags and containers on sale, so I picked up some of those as well.

mEGG_My_Day

jeponline said:

I just picked this one up yesterday, couldn't pass up the deal.  It's also worth noting that Target currently has the Foodsaver bags and containers on sale, so I picked up some of those as well.

Thanks for the 'heads up' on Target.

mEGG_My_Day

CarolinaCrazy said:

I love mine. But you can't use them on Wine as they are showing in the picture!
Buy the bags by the roll on Amazon. Much cheaper than the FoodSaver bags.

The Wine thing isn't a problem - when we open a bottle in this house, we drink it .. all.

GrateEggspectations

mEGG_My_Day said:

GrateEggspectations said:

I think this is the one we purchased months ago at Costco. Very simple to operate. 

Obviously, they’re great for storing food in the freezer (we often buy large quantities of meat and portion out for the freezer) and for cooking sous vide. 

So what I’m saying is that once you buy this you’ll have sufficient justification to purchase a sous vide circulator. 

This is how these things work .. I buy this food saver,  then I get a sous vide.  Now I need and buy new containers to sous vide in.  I run out of storage in my kitchen, so I need new kitchen cabinets.  Oh I forgot that my freezer is packed, so I need another freezer to put in
the basemen .  This thing is gonna cost me big $$$$$.

Forget containers. You can buy a Yeti to use the sous vide in - there are insulating balls you can buy to layer on top of any open container for sous vide. Then use the Yeti as justification to buy a new truck you can haul it with. Then use the truck as justification for a bigger house with more ample parking. 

Believe it or not, I’ve had some practice applying such logic. 

Shiff

I have this same one and it works very well.  I buy my bags on Amazon - FoodVacBags brand. They have rolls and individual bags.  All excellent quality and significantly cheaper than Foodsaver bags.

RRP

thetrim said:

My food saver has not been sucking that well lately (Unlike the UK basketball team).  Anyway, I've been doing the fluid displacement method for SV items.  Might need to look at a new vacuum sealer soon.  I've heard good things of the NutriChef brand.

Have you closely examined the gasket that typically is on the top section and hard to see without turning it over. My FS is 15 years old and still working fine. At one time though some juice must have escaped and when it dried it stuck to  bottom just enough to lift the gasket out of the track it was glued to. Then the gasket was hanging down not letting the gasket press on the bag to seal it. I repaired it using simple rubber cement.

RRP

To the OP: here's a little trick for using your new FS to seal soups. The secret is in keeping the top walls of the bags clean while filling. Take a disposable plastic glass and cut the bottom out of it. Insert into the bag, pour in your soup. Then fold over the top and clamp with a strong bag clip. Place soup into your freezer and after frozen seal with your new FS.

mEGG_My_Day

  

Forget containers. You can buy a Yeti to use the sous vide in - there are insulating balls you can buy to layer on top of any open container for sous vide. Then use the Yeti as justification to buy a new truck you can haul it with. Then use the truck as justification for a bigger house with more ample parking. 

Believe it or not, I’ve had some practice applying such logic. 

And I was thinking of downsizing - stupid me 

mEGG_My_Day

@RRP - Thanks for the tip.

RRP

It might be too late to mention this for you, but maybe this thread will see the light of day some other time. FS as well as other sealers seem to follow the same pattern - which is the more expensive they are the bigger their footprint! IOW they take more space on your counter. That means that you may find that unless you have lots of counter then you will need a spot to store it! That also means the more of a "pita" then you won't bother to get it out and use it!

dsrguns

I had a basic foodsaver that lasted six years with no complaints except for the cost of the bags and rolls. It was used hard and finally gave up so I cashed in my credit card points for an Ary Vacmaster. This thing is a tank weighing over 80#. The bags are very inexpensive at about $40-$75 per 1,000 (depnding on the size). It also will seal liquids. Definitely not something to be moved around frequently but I had a Butcher's block that wasn't being used so....

55drum

 for an Ary Vacmaster. 

Same here...we used a FS for years and it worked ok but would always overheat after a 1/2 hr of use...we'd then have to let it cool off...also the sealing bar was forever getting gunk in it which had to be cleaned or no sealing would take place plus the cost of the bags....generic ones didn't work as well for us

The VM 215 however is just awesome...seals every time never overheats....I keep it on an old planer stand in the workroom since thats where our big freezer is...just roll it to the bench and I'm ready to go......I really like the adjustable seal time...most items I do @ 30 sec but for delicate stuff (fruit, veg cake) I reduce to 10 sec so it doesn't get crushed....bought 3000 4 ply bags (3 diff sizes) for $211.00

As a performance test...bought a 40lb case of wings at RD...bagged them in 10 & 15 bag count whole operation from start to finish took just under 1 hr..not one hiccup ....
Forgot to mention this thing is really quiet...my freezer makes more noise...

BTW never try to seal anything with hot/warm liquids....