Food Vacuum machine - anyone have suggestions ?

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I was over at Costco today and to my shock and disappointment, they had a food sealer there, but it was......

$179.99 ! - I looked the machine over, and quickly realized I wouldn't be buying one at that price. Bags for it are $39.99 for a box of 4, 2 rolls of 8inch bags, and 2 rolls of 11 inch bags. The brand of machine is called "Food Saver" and the maker is "Tilia " it's the model VAC750.

Anyway I think I was thinking the machine would be $49.99 but just was in shock to see something so expensive.

I'd love to hear about your machine and how much you paid for it, - I believe ordering internationally for this vacuum bag sealer for food is going to be worth it in this case.

thanks in advance,
Mark
 
The model VAC550 is the more popularly priced one, but still goes for around $129 American. Look around before you buy-- if you ever decide to-- various packages are sold by different vendors that include more-- or less-- accessories.

You could always try the poor man's vac sealer: take a Ziplock bag; fill the kitchen sink with water; put meat in the bag; submerge all but the zipper-- forcing out the majority of the air; zip closed. Not the quality of freezer bag as Foodsaver or a true vacuum, but, in a pinch...
 
Not to sound like the commercial for the thing, but the foodsaver will pay for itself due to the savings in buying meat in bulk and slicing it up yourself (helps to have an electric knife)
 
BBQ Mark,

I think I paid right around $130 or so for my Foodsaver 550 back in January. I know it sounds like alot, however, it does allow you to do some great things. Like...load up that WSM with 4 pork butts, do 'em all, and when you're done vacum pack what you don't eat and have BBQ anytime you want. The meat will stay good without freezer burn for up to one year I beleive. Remember, I think this is Chris's line, "buy the best you only cry once."
 
Hi Bruce /infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif

I hear ya loud and clear, well it seems the FoodSaver brand is the brand to buy, so I'm going to look for the more inexpensive model and buy it this week, yeah that's a good saying hehe.

and yeah, you do get what you pay for, it's so true. I want it for ribs, - I'll make as many as the WSM can handle then eat what I can handle, and freeze the rest.

anyway I appreciate all the comments, sometimes it takes a few people to give a good review and then you realize the product is a great one.

Mark
/infopop/emoticons/icon_razz.gif
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by BBQ Mark:
[qb]... I want it for ribs, - I'll make as many as the WSM can handle then eat what I can handle, and freeze the rest.[/qb] <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>Take care when vac sealing items with bones. Rummaging around in the freezer can cause those bones to create pinholes in the bag. Next time you open the freezer-- not pretty. I wrap vac sealed ribs in newspaper-- no tape or anything-- to try and prevent this happening.

Of course, a busted vac bag is considered a valid excuse to eat ribs, so...
 
Yes, that one is less expensive, but does not have the jar and cannister sealer feature-- indispensible for the vacuum marinating dish.
 
Hi Guys,

Just a quick update, I went to Walmart tonight to buy a candy thermometer for the WSM until I can get a Trend thermometer, but found the FoodSaver model 350 for $119.96 Canadian, hope to pick that up this week with some bags.

Anyway looks like a good machine.

thanks for your help.

Mark
 
Mark-

If you don't mind a refurb, Overstock.com has the Tilia 300 for $66.99, and there's a coupon for 10% off at the link below

10% off any order at Overstock.com

I purchased my Foodsaver kit from Costco - and those canisters, along with the assortment of bags, really came in handy. I also added the marinator unit, which is great for cutting down the time required to marinate (albeit fairly small portions of meat).
 
Thanks for the info on Overstock.com - never heard about this site before and upon checking they ship to Canada, good stuff.

I have to now decide how much it will come out to, etc.

Anyway glad you posted that URL, either for me or for others.

I will assume that 90% of people who do BBQ each and every week without fail, or more than once a week probabally have one of the FoodSaver machines... seems like you cannot really go without one. I have put stuff in the freezer, even wrapping it with 4 pieces of SaranWrap and still only after 2 weeks the food already has a bit of freezer burn, those machines are quite amazing when you think about it.

thanks again.

Mark
 
Mark, before i got into BBQ I had gotton a cheapie machine for vacum sealing. I think it cost me 39.99 it did an ok job but didn't seal the bags well and I am now looking to get a food saver myself. For my money the tilia food saver is the way to go!!!
 
Mark-

Glad the URL could help in any way - I have to rely on my non-BBQ knowledge to contribute to the board to this point, because if you guys had to rely on my Q expertise you'd go hungry /infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif

As to your point about it being handy - you have *no idea*. Pulled pork tastes like it just came off the smoker when you Foodsaver it. Great for me, because when it was 2' of snow here in NY, I was having a pulled pork sandwich and a cold beer, imagining it was summer outside.

It's also great for other stuff too - I typically make servings that are 'super-sized', so that the family and I can dig 'em out and boil them for a nice warm meal when we don't have time. We *never* eat any TV dinners or such - just drag out a Foodsaver bag and eat, no matter how time constrained we are.

It definitely pays for itself - and just writing this post has me thinking baby back ribs for dinner, even though I won't be home until 8 /infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif

-John
 
Hi Tom,

Funny thing you mention that, last night at Walmart they had a "Salton" brand sealer beside the $119.96 Food Saver model.... price ? ... only $29.96.... I then thought to myself, yup, the FoodSaver model MUST be amazing, as the old addage really is true " you get what you pay for"

How could the Salton brand vacuum machine be anywhere as close in quality to the FoodSaver... anyway yeah that's what I'm going to get, may as well bite the bullet :-)

Mark
 
Hi John,

Thanks for piping in, nice to see everybody with something to say, and yeah it makes me feel MUCH better about spending a ton of money on that thing, I always thought the FoodSaver was something that was not worth it, but seeing so many people use it, I want one now.

Yeah you bring up a good point... about the boiling of the bags... I grew up in Montreal and my mom used to boil bags of Coorsh brand smoked meat, - yeah that's what Montreal is famous for.. anyway we'd boil the bag, then cut it and put it onto a piece of very lightly steamed rye bread, and then throw mustard on it, have a dill pickle and coleslaw with it if we were lucky enough, - boy those were the good ol' days. Anyway I guess the bags are very high quality and stand up to boiling, etc, good to know, as they are pretty darn expensive.

Mark
 
Mark-

I kid you not - a cursory search of either rec.food.cooking or alt.food.barbecue on Usenet (try groups.google.com) will turn up all sorts of great reviews on the Foodsaver, which will make you feel MUCH better about the initial spend.

As to the bags - they are a bit more durable, and in some cases, even washable (really oily meats don't yield re-usable bags, but I make some dishes that I freeze in foodsaver bags, and later dishwash the bags for re-use with fair success).

There's also a Tilia Foodsaver Yahoo group (groups.yahoo.com - search for Foodsaver) with a list of where to get bags on the cheap (haven't been there in awhile because I'm well stocked up).

Happy hunting,
-John
 
Hi John,

Oh my God are ou serious hehehe /infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif

Wow, that's pretty amazing ! good info also !

By the way, have you ever been daring enough to try a ZipLock brand baggie on your FoodSaver ?

I'm guessing it would gunk up the machine, and I would guess you never tried it, but I know somebody out there must have tried it, and maybe after slapped themselves because they just gooed up their whole machine... i"m guessing the special bags for the FoodSaver machine are made of some sort of special plastic that doesn't melt like normal plastic would.

I wonder though if anyone has ever dared doing it, and wants to admit it /infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif

Mark
 
The Tilia will not pull a vacuum on zip locks or any other plastic bag other than their own - I've tried it. It will however, seal various other plastic bags.
 
The cross-hatched texture of one side of the Foodsaver and similar bags creates channels for the air to be sucked out of the bag. Otherwise, the opening of the bag just collapses and air from the bag won't pass through.
 
You can *seal* non-Tilia bags (think potato chips) to keep air out, but not *vacuum seal* them. It does come in handy in some cases (like keeping air out of things that go stale like chips and pretzels), does help with wholesale club portions (I'd never keep from eating that Costco sized bag of doritos in a week otherwise), but doesn't help in keeping the cost of the bags down. You still need to buy the proprietary bags, which are a bit expensive.
 
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