foodsaver?

Hey guys, I'm thinking about getting a foodsaver but I've never used one and know NOTHING about them. Here's what I want to do, we buy ground beef at Sam's and I want to split it up into 1lb portions, vacuum seal them and freeze them. I'd like to be able to do the same with other meats. I'm also gonna want to vacuum seal ribs that I've smoked. Which unit is best and how do I determine which bags I need? Thanks for your input. Joe

The unit
IMHO, the manual units are better than the automatic ones. I spent a fair amount of time researching and I noticed that the reviews for the automatic ones had a significant number of bad reviews, but almost all of the manual ones had a far higher number of good reviews. So for the extra step or two of motion, I opted for 3240 manual unit and lucked into catching it on sale at Target.

The bags
I don't buy the pre-formed bags anymore. Instead, I buy the rolls and have gotten pretty good at judging how big/small to make the bags as to have minimal waste. Just takes a little practice. I watch for sales and purchase ahead. There are several vendors on eBay that are a little bit cheaper. Just search on 'Foodsaver Bags'.

Useage
Sounds to me like what you're wanting it for is perfect. I've found that when you're bagging up raw meat, it's good to put it in the freezer until it's just firm, not frozen. It tends to help keep any liquids out of the machine. Get in the habit of labeling & dating the bag with a sharpie before putting it in the freezer. After a month, you're not going to remember what it is or when you put it in there. You will probably want to use the oldest stuff first, although I've had steaks frozen for months and come out as good as the day it went in there.

Russ

Thank you Russ. You answered all my questions at once lol. I appreciate you taking the time to help me. Have a great day.

Imho, the deal Costco has going on the 4880 kit is hard to beat. I like the autos as you can still run them manually too. I'll run the vacuum on juicy meats such as pulled pork just to the point that the juice starts leaching towards the seal.

I'll echo Scott's thoughts. I picked one of these up and got it at the sale price. Really it's very easy to use and reading the manual is a good idea - something I'm not prone to do. They seem to go on sale at Costco a couple times a year.