Corey
People on Chowhound rave about this thing. But when I asked about it at my Stop and Shop they looked at me like I had 2 heads (i do, but they didn't have to stare ...
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Where have you seen them?
Sorry about that. I should have said exactly where. Seems as though most of the supermarket chains aren't hip to this revolutionary new gadget yet.
Try one of the Shaw's supermarkets. That's where I got mine from in my area, along with the bags. They're in the food wraps / food storage bags section.
Pacanis;
The FS bags themselves stay sealed. But for some unknown baffling reason (and still unexplainable), the bags just flat out lose their air-tight sealings and the food that you've packaged in them starts to move around inside the bag. As though you've sealed the bag but didn't vacuum seal it at all.
I made sure that they were very tight around the food before placing them in the freezer, but later on, the tightness is completely gone from the bag!
One answer could be that the heating strip may have started to fail prematurely.
When I had the Tilia 550, the vacuum seal worked, but the heat strip just wouldn't seal the bag. I only had that machine for three years, and even before that, I've had a hard time getting the thing to work properly, yet I did everything by the book.
Now, I suspect that the same thing is happening all over again with the Kenmore unit. So I think that the heat strip is the culprit. Either it just won't work, or the thing STARTS to seal the bags but doesn't complete the job, hence the bags working themselves loose and breaking the air-tight vacuum seal in the freezer.
Callisto in NC;
Yes. I listen mainly for the sound of the unit. It starts off with a slight labor,
then there is a sudden increase in the pitch of the motor. You will then see the bag begin to shrink and draw up around the food. Soon as I hear the motor begin to labor again, I release the on button.
Hey, I even went on a vacuum sealing spree just a while ago, sealing up frozen vaggies and even two larg muffins that were already frozen but not ruined yet. This little thing is amazing!
I went online to try to find it at Target, but all I got was the run-around.
ATTENTION, EVERYONE:
For those of you who don't already know, if you decide to get the machine, please use only the bags that are made for use with the machine.
Do NOT try to use Tilia, Kenmore, Glad, Ziplock nor the stores' own brand. They will not work. Hence the patent pending being filed to discourage companies from infringing on the copyright.