The Food Saver/Vacuum Sealer Topic, 2011 to Present

[gfweb]

If you store spices in an evacuated jar, the volatile flavors will end up in the “headspace”. Better to store in a vac sealed bag. 

 

Its like what would happen to soda if you put it in a vacuum jar. All the carbonation will turn into gas and go out of the liquid.  

Edited January 30, 2019 by gfweb (log)

[scubadoo97]

True gfweb

 

still using a vac sealer but now have a place for a chamber vac.  Time to upgrade 

 

[Jacksoup]

I have a crappy Hamilton Beach vacuum sealer.  It was free to me thru a rewards program at work.  It’s sporadically functional.  What should I get to replace it?  Wish I felt I could spend the money on a chamber vac, but right now, no.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

1 hour ago, Jacksoup said:

I have a crappy Hamilton Beach vacuum sealer.  It was free to me thru a rewards program at work.  It’s sporadically functional.  What should I get to replace it?  Wish I felt I could spend the money on a chamber vac, but right now, no.

 

You're not getting a stimulus check??  Mine came this morning.  A chamber vacuum sealer is a wondrous thing.  Perhaps not up there with a rotor-stator homogenizer, a blast freezer, or an Anova Precision Oven, but still.

 

[MokaPot]

@Jacksoup A friend let me borrow her Food Saver. I tested it out on cheese only (Kerrygold Dubliner, which is sort of a hybrid of cheddar & Parmesan). (The cheese exuded some liquid within the bag, though, which is supposedly a common thing.)

 

Anyway, the point is that the suction was good, the seal was solid / secure, & the Food Saver was easy to use. IMO, the price is reasonable, too.

[rotuts]

my CVS is worth its weight in Gold

 

and its pretty heavy.

[chromedome]

My parents' FoodSaver came to me when my father died a few years ago. I don't use it a lot, but I *do* use it pretty consistently. For soups and such, I'll often freeze them in a container and then vac-seal them once they're frozen (to save space, extend storage life, and get my containers back into circulation). I also take meats, fish, poultry etc out of their styrofoam trays and vac-seal them for the freezer.

Chamber sealers do things a FoodSaver can't, I guess, but it's certainly all I need at present. If this one crapped out, I'd probably buy another.

[Jacksoup]

Thanks all.  I bought a FoodSaver.   I just can’t justify the $$ or space for a chamber vac.  Amazon had none available yesterday but had a couple of choices today.  

[rotuts]

@Jacksoup 

 

its a decent start and may be all you need.

 

be careful w water and water vapor , as that will ruin the pump.

[Porthos]

I've owned 2 foodSavers. I didn't use them that much because: 1) they weighed a lot for what they were, and 2) they were way too fiddly for my tastes. I bought this vacuum sealer some months ago and have been very happy with it. Much lighter and not fiddly. For me fiddly was having to carefully get the nozzle into the bag and not have it shift while closing the machine. This doesn't have a nozzle, just the channel you put the bag top into.

 

3 hours ago, chromedome said:

For soups and such, I'll often freeze them in a container and then vac-seal them once they're frozen (to save space, extend storage life, and get my containers back into circulation).

That's a great tip. Thank you.

[chromedome]

Your experience doesn't sound at all like my FoodSaver (which itself is at least 4-5 years old now).

I just slide the open end of the bag into the front of the machine, and it does the rest. Probably pretty much like the one you're using. I have the option of doing things manually for tricky items like baked goods, where a full vacuum would just smoosh them. Also there's some sort of nozzle for getting a vacuum in a rigid container, though I've never used that.

[Porthos]

@chromedome Both of mine were older. I was pleased when the last one failed, giving me an excuse to buy something else.

[Jacksoup]

@rotuts it is probably all I need, my uses are comparable to what @chromedome mentioned.  We’ll see. Anything is better than the useless thing I have now.

[Dr. Teeth]

Sorry if I'm late to the thread.  I've had a 5800 series FoodSaver for the past 3 1/2 years.   It's one of maybe 5 cooking related items I own that if it got lost/stolen/broken I would just buy another without looking at the other options. Only complaint that I have is that it's larger than most of the other models, about the size of a large toaster oven, so it doesn't sit on the counter and goes back to the basement between uses. 

 

I use it for soups, big packages of meat from the store and venison.  Works great for all those things.   I just had a package of pork shoulder chunks from 2018 that gotten lost in the bottom of the freezer.   They were great.   I put them in a sunday sauce and I never would have known they were a couple of years old.