I purchase quite a bit of food products from Costco. I have a VacMaster, chamber type, cryopac machine. This is an industrial vacuum sealer that will probably last my lifetime. They work daily, all day, in meat markets and other commercial food preparation locations. The bags come precut and are very cheap. The bags alone probably will pay for the machine in a rather short time based on use. I prefer to cut my steaks, I then cyropac them in eaches. They keep perfectly. Costco packs whole chickens in packs of two. I cryopac the chickens in eaches then I only have to thaw one at a time. The remaining chicken never freezer burns. Much of their bulk shrimp, scallops, etc. do not reseal well and develop ice crystals after opening. I either cryopac the whole remaining bag or break the product down into more useable amounts. I break down the large packages of prepared soups into smaller packages, then I have to only open a smaller package when needed. If I need a greater volume, I just open two or three packages. Any food product that is of a liquid or flexible nature,gravy, corn,wine, soup, goulash, stew, etc. when laid on a cookie sheet or similar items freezes flat and is easily stacked in the freezer, thus saving a great deal of space. IMHO Costco has some good values. The big problem seems to the the very large initial quantities. If one can break these quantities down it makes the trip to Costco much more practical. By the way Costco sells a vacuum sealer called a "Food Saver". It is cheap but doesn't last very long, cannot be repaired, cannot handle liquids and the bags are VERY expensive. I hope this helps