Vacuum Sealers?

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Sephora

Washing Up
Joined
Aug 24, 2006
Messages
173
Location
North Carolina
Does anyone own one and use it? I throw so much away and a neighbor has one and swears by it for saving things like cheese and freezing meat. Do you have to buy an expensive one or is the $40 Seal a Meal from GE good enough?
 
Sephora, you can get the $40 one, but eventually you'll regret it. I've been using the FoodSaver Pro II for about 10 years now. I recently replaced the seals for $1 and it works like new. If you go to www.foodsaver.com they have three different models on sale for less than $100 [quite a bit less]. If something goes wrong with their machine, they will repair or replace at their option. They no longer make the Pro II, but have replaced it with the Pro III for about $300. They are worth every penny you pay, ask anyone that owns one.

The nice thing about them is that you can package leftovers and when you want to use them, you plunk the frozen bag into some boiling/simmering water and the food gently heats, cut the bag open, dump the stuff out, wash the bag and use it again.
 
I don't own one, but have thought about it - mainly for lettuce and salad. Recently I saw one on one of the shopping channels (don't recall the price or brand - it was the Special of the Day), where you could dry seal or wet seal. i.e. If you wanted to pour a marinade in with chicken etc. - it takes 20 mins; or if you wanted to seal anything with a sauce, pasta, etc. I'm still contemplating if I should go for it.

Edited to add: The wet seal also appealed to me, because you can seal up a (pasta) salad with the dressing and take it with you.
 
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Sephora, the brand may have been Rival.

Btw, your kitty looks like she needs some help getting out of the litterbox :LOL: Cute avatar.
 
My wife and I decided to pick up the Black & Decker FreshSaver for about $60.00 two years ago. The original reason for the purchase was to take the meat we smoked and cut the left overs into Sandwich meat. And then freeze it..

I must admit, we absolutely LOVE having it around. We use it slightly different than most people and actually freeze already cooked meats. Most commonly, grilled Chicken Breasts and Hamburger. Then when we want to use one of the two and are in a hurry, we merely drop the bag into boiling water for 5 minutes.. Then, we can use it for whatever we want.

It's great for fast meals during the week or even better for camping. I buy the hamburger and chicken when it's on sale.. So I save money, and it's super convienent.

I have a bunch of other uses, but I won't bore you unless you want more ideas..

I do really suggest you get one. They make most everything last longer. We use the canisters for Lettuce and Berries..

It's very handy..

-Brad
 
I love mine and use it regularly, for freezing meats (mo more freezer burn) to cheese, and fruits and veggies.

I stored an avacado for 2 weeks and it was perfect. Tip on storing avacados - peel and core avacado and slice, place in bag and seal... makes perfect for guacamole!

You wont regret that you got one.
 
Like bjcotton, I have the FoodSaver Pro II made by Tillia. I can not say enough good things about it. I got mine on eBay new and in the box for about half price. I am sure I have made my money back on all the food I no longer have to throw out.

This is one case where I feel you get what you pay for. The cheaper brands do not work very well from what I have heard. The one exception seems to be Black and Decker. I have heard OK reviews on theirs. When they work then they work well. Some people have a lot of trouble with them though.
 
I did some checking, thanks to you all here, and found that the Seal a Meal that I was looking at has vasty different ratings. People either love it or hate it and there is enough "hate it" for me to get a Food Saver through the site or watch for an infomercial this weekend. They seem to be having specials and it looks like I could get one for around $60 right now. I could live with paying that.
 
bjcotton said:
Sephora, you can get the $40 one, but eventually you'll regret it. I've been using the FoodSaver Pro II for about 10 years now. I recently replaced the seals for $1 and it works like new. If you go to www.foodsaver.com they have three different models on sale for less than $100 [quite a bit less]. If something goes wrong with their machine, they will repair or replace at their option. They no longer make the Pro II, but have replaced it with the Pro III for about $300. They are worth every penny you pay, ask anyone that owns one.

The nice thing about them is that you can package leftovers and when you want to use them, you plunk the frozen bag into some boiling/simmering water and the food gently heats, cut the bag open, dump the stuff out, wash the bag and use it again.



I owned the Foodsaver 550, and yes, eventually, I DID regret it! It crapped out in three years!! And I paid $200.00 for it!

The vacuum bags would somehow work themselves loose and the food would slide all in the bag because damaging air got in.

Come to find out that the electric heater strip had stopped working, so I threw it out and bought a Kenmore!


~Corey123.
 
I've also been thinking about purchasing one of these vacuum food sealers for some time now.

Just visited the FoodSaver website link provided above & while informative, also found it rather overwhelming. Has anyone here used any of their lower-priced &/or sale models with success? They currently have several models from between $70 - $150 or so, & since I've never used one before, it's difficult to compare the features competently.
 

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