Foodsaver - I want one but...

With it just being me, my wife, and a 6 year old, a WSM full of bbq leaves a lot of leftovers. I'd like to get a Foodsaver, but I read a lot of bad reviews on them. They work only sometimes, they don't seal well, the vacuum doesn't work all the time, etc.

What gives? Is there a model that's more reliable than others?

i have model V2220 and it works well. Had it 2 years with no problems.
my freezer is full and it's bigger than my stomach.
and my stomach is big.

be careful now....

I have a cheap/affordable Seal-a-Meal vs108 (I think I paid $40 for it) and it works great, never an issue.

Is just sucking the air out of a traditional ziplock just bad form or not enough evacuation or what?

I have both one of the older Foodsaver models and a relatively recent version with a two-stage vacuum. Both have no problems sealing the bags as long as the seal zone is free of liquid or material. This mainly just requires enough free space in the bag between the goods and the seal zone (some models require more space than others).

I have been able to locate decent prices on the roll material that I tend to just use it one time rather than trying to reseal a bag again. The Foodsaver marketing likes to promote resealing a bag but that requires leaving extra length initially. I prefer to just portion items into single use bags rather than trying to reseal them.

Originally posted by Joe Preiser:
I have both one of the older Foodsaver models and a relatively recent version with a two-stage vacuum. Both have no problems sealing the bags as long as the seal zone is free of liquid or material. This mainly just requires enough free space in the bag between the goods and the seal zone (some models require more space than others).

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I have been able to locate decent prices on the roll material that I tend to just use it one time rather than trying to reseal a bag again. The Foodsaver marketing likes to promote resealing a bag but that requires leaving extra length initially. I prefer to just portion items into single use bags rather than trying to reseal them.

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If you fold a paper towel and place it in the bag below where the seal will be when you draw a vacuum the moisture gets trapped in the towel.
Leave just enough room to get 1 more seal on some of your bags you can open them and add a some marinade them re seal the bag under vacuum, the pours of the protein in question will open when in a vacuum and allow your marinade to penetrate deeply in a short time.A two hour marinade under vacuum is like 24 hrs the normal way.

My wife gave me one about four years ago and I use it a LOT! I have had problems with sealing but found it was my fault, I wasn't allowing the heating element enough time to cool sufficiently between bags.

I go to Costco about once a month to stock up which gives me about two hours of sealing to do. Only a hand full of times has a seal given up allowing air to get inside the bag. Again, it was my fault for trying to go to quickly.

Overall the one I have, VAC 1200, has been a sturdy performer, one that I will use until it falls apart completely.

There are sealers that work and are designed a lot better than FS. FS does make double pump versions that are built better and more reliable. You can find those models at Cabelas or Bass Pro. More expensive though, of course.

There are semi commercial heavier duty units out there that are repairable have heavy duty and wider seal bars (1/4 inch seal band) that work great but cost a good bit more $$. There are even ones that are designed so that you don't have to worry at all about liquid intrusion into the vac chamber. You really don't need to fiddle with them to get a good seal, and there is minimal to no wait time between sealing. I.E., fan cooled. I have one now for several years. Takes up to 15" wide bags. A real work horse and have yet to have a problem. I can seal two of the narrower bags at one time.

Save money and buy bags in lots of 100 or roll stock rather than buying bags at the department stores to save $$.

Most if not all FS are not repairable/can't get parts for them. You simply buy another one if they break.

Sucking air out of the bag is not the same You really need to get down into the mid to low 20's as far as Hg/Vacuum

I have three of them and they all work great.
If people are having problems with them sealing then they aren't using the good "foodsaver" brand bags and they aren't making sure to not get any fat or liquid at the top of the bag before sealing.
If I'm going to be sealing something with liquid in it I will set it in the bag and put in the freezer for a while before sealing.
We just butchered 6 hogs (1500lbs of pork) 2 weeks ago and used 4 foodsavers after cutting it all up and didn't have any bags that didn't seal.

I was looking into this recently and I think some of the bad reviews are user error, but also the stand-up ones seem more error prone than the horizontal ones. I'm not sure if it's a design issue or what but some people do have problems with them.

The only issue I have with my big foodsaver is that it is a big foodsaver. I usually keep it in its box down in the basement except for the day after smoking. It just takes up a lot of room. My wife bought a small foodsaver unit for me for Christmas (It was under the tree and was signed "From Kevin K.") and it uses bags that are like ziplocks with a little oval place to suck the air out. It works great for lunch meat, etc. that I'm not freezing. I think she said it came from QVC.

R

Sounds like either the Foodsaver Mealsaver or Freshsaver. I use a similar setup from Ziplock. Zip-top bags with a one-way valve and a pump. The Ziplock brang used a manual pump similar to the VacuVin wine saver pump.

I have two Foodsaver sealers. The older one is one of the original models. It has only one pump speed and adjustable sealer time. The newer one has some of the features of the current models but is 2-3 years old. Both work great but I do find the sleaker, less industrial case design of the newer model requires more bag length.

Originally posted by BradP "p-nut":
I have three of them and they all work great.
If people are having problems with them sealing then they aren't using the good "food saver" brand bags and they aren't making sure to not get any fat or liquid at the top of the bag before sealing.
If I'm going to be sealing something with liquid in it I will set it in the bag and put in the freezer for a while before sealing.
We just butchered 6 hogs (1500lbs of pork) 2 weeks ago and used 4 food savers after cutting it all up and didn't have any bags that didn't seal.

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If we want to keep the discussion around FS products this is true. You need to understand proper use and the little "nits" about it. Not a big deal. Pre-freezing is important for soft/liquid items for sure.

That said there are higher quality solutions if you are looking for that which make frequent use, higher volume simple and easy - even with all the proper use and user error issues considered. That's always important to know and that info is out there in terms of proper and creative use for vac sealers.

The heavier duty (even FS models) will certainly be bigger and therefor less counter top home design friendly So if you want something to set on the top of the counter and leave it there you are definitely better with a consumer model FS. They are more stylish and look better. Some even come with rollers built in to take the FS bag rolls - very convenient.

Sorry, IMHO FS brand bags are not the best. They are the best if you are using a FS lower end product. If the band heater is heavier duty it will have no problem with the heavier mesh bags. My father uses mesh bags on his FS and they work fine.

The mesh bags are better and you can reuse them with better success. Even so you can by FS brand bags in bulk a lot cheaper if you stay way from the department stores. The bulk bag supplier I use also sells the FS bags and roll material cheaper than the typical retail outlets.

I bought my parents a high end FS that they love. Gamesaver Turbo, something like that. It's nice. But - you know I just opened up a bag of meat sticks my Dad left for me just yesterday. The width of the seal is anemic by comparison to the vac sealer I have. And his FS is a nice one, not knocking it. But the wider the seal, the wider the vacuum chamber seal.

Meaning on mine since the sealing band is 1/4 inch I don't have to even think about holding the door down, sometimes might have to lightly touch it but never have to hold down on it or anything like that.

The wider the seal the better you are, in that it is less susceptible to water or air intrusion during sealing. You have to fiddle more and be more concerned the smaller that seal band gets and the smaller that vac pump gets (dual pumps are best) And the heavier the vac pumps and the better cooled they are the easier the sealer will be to use.

You will be more likely to pull it out without even thinking and not be considering or thinking about all the nits and proper use and holding the seal bar down, and waiting for cooling, etc. Not knocking FS at all its just a fact to consider.

Do you have a KA mixer? Then you know what I mean. There are sealers out there that are that level of quality for consumer use. Not for everyone, but worthy of mention. That's probably the best analogy I can put on it.

If you are a hunter/fisherman for example and are doing a lot of packing look around.

Just for background info. HTH

I have a FS v825 and works great when it wants to.I am not sure if it is me or the machine.I think it might be me after reading alittle info.I will always have one.

Originally posted by JasonJ:
With it just being me, my wife, and a 6 year old, a WSM full of bbq leaves a lot of leftovers. I'd like to get a Foodsaver, but I read a lot of bad reviews on them. They work only sometimes, they don't seal well, the vacuum doesn't work all the time, etc.

What gives? Is there a model that's more reliable than others?

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Don't seal well? That's news to me. I have the newest version and it works great!

Just got a new FS V2840 for Christmas, and I'm loving it. Only problem so far is when a bag wouldn't vacuum, and it turned out that I didn't seal the other end properly.

After reading a thread here on them I used some aluminum pans for PP, and then sealed them. Don't think I'll do that again as the risk of puncture is too great.

Jason I don't know how you can do bbq without a Foodsaver. The biggest issue with them not sealing is usually operator error. Get any moisure on the edge before sealing and the seal will likely fail. I always wipe the edge before sealing. Then I move it back a half inch and seal it again. If the product I saving has moisture I will roll a paper towel up and put it in the bag and then vacuum and seal. The moisture goes into the paper towel and not the seal Looks funky but it doesn't hurt anything. GET ONE YOU WON'T REGRET IT IF USED CORRECTLY. PS watch Amazon they have good deals once and a while also the Foodsaver website too.

I have the V3825 and love it.

Is there "excess" bag material? sure, but I don't really care, as I don't think it's that much of a sunk cost compared to the cost of freezer burn. People who say that the machine doesn't "recognize" when they put a bag in don't know how to use the machine. They simply don't put the bag in far enough.

I have had a FoodSaver 35-0700 for around 10 years now. Bought it from a garage sale for $10, brand new. I have never had a bad seal.

For the last couple of years I have been using ZipVac Universal bags. I pick these up at Menard's for $4.99 a box (about half what FoodSaver bags are around here.) They seem thicker to me, have a large label area and are made in the USA.

Originally posted by LarryR:
I have a cheap/affordable Seal-a-Meal vs108 (I think I paid $40 for it) and it works great, never an issue.

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I got a seal a meal from a friend at work they were going to toss. I love it it works great. Can you use the FoodSaver brand bags in it?