Mylar vacuum bag question

[grumpyoldman]

is there any advantage of using mylar vacuum bags ? i watched a video and saw a guy vac . seal a 5 lb chicken in one so i was wondering if they are better in some way

 

[Andy M.]

is there any advantage of using mylar vacuum bags ? i watched a video and saw a guy vac . seal a 5 lb chicken in one so i was wondering if they are better in some way

No clue. I've never vacuumed a whole chicken, they come vacuum sealed in heavy plastic from the store. I just use the rolls of plastic in two different sizes.

 

[grumpyoldman]

i looked at them on Amazon and they come in several sizes so i guess people use them for other things as well , they are priced about the same as plastic bags , i don't think i would like not being able to see inside the bags tho

 

[Andy M.]

Try vac sealing a 5 pound chicken and see if it works with the plastic bags. It may not be a problem.

 

[grumpyoldman]

its not that i need to vac seal a 5 lb chicken that was just what i saw on the video , and wondered if mylar was a better bag

 

[blissful]

Everyone that uses mylar says they are a better bag than just plastic. Every ad for mylar says they are a better bag than just plastic.
I still ask-do I really need a better one when my plastic vacuum sealed bags work great (for meat when we used it for that), for nuts or seeds. I don't buy mylar bags but they might make longer term dry storage better, I just don't want anything older than 5 years to go into my stomach.

 

[grumpyoldman]

you might be on to something , thanks

 

[caseydog]

is there any advantage of using mylar vacuum bags ? i watched a video and saw a guy vac . seal a 5 lb chicken in one so i was wondering if they are better in some way

I can't think of any reason they would be better. Are they cheaper?

The whole purpose of vacuum sealing is to remove all air. Plain old food safe plastic vacuum bags have worked for me for almost thirty years. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

CD

 

[taxlady]

I am under the impression that they are better for long term storage. But, I believe that is mostly for dehydrated or freeze dried food, not frozen food. I know that mylar holds helium better than latex does, so maybe it keeps air out better than plastic does.

 

[FrankZ]

I understand that mylar bags are harder to seal and not all units can handle sealing them, especially on thicker bags.

I see them mostly marketed towards freeze dried stuff, but I assume they would work in freezers too. They cannot be used for canning, you need to use retort bags for that.