vacuum sealers?


 
Rick Body said:
I don't know it this is in any directions, but when I have moist meat, I fold up a piece or two of paper towel the width of the bag and put it at the top just under where I am going to seal it. This soaks up any liquid and keeps it out of the machine and helps it seal.
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You will drown them if you don't do that or put some towel in the cavity of the machine to soak ou the juices. Sealing anything with moisture in the bag is very tricky. I have a Food Saver Pro II and I've had it over 10 years. Just replaced the gasket last year. I bought it for making sausage and I would do up 50 lbs at a time, 4 links to a bag. I don't think this model is available any longer but I don't know what I would do without it.
I do use if for marinades but I have a manual override so I pull some air out before I start the sealing process. It's a great machine.
 
I bought mine on sale at Target a couple of years ago and absolutely love it. When doing my research I noticed that the reviews for all the automatic machines were mostly bad, but the reviews for the manual machines were decidedly good. So for the extra ONE motion and lower cost, I went with the 3240 and haven't regretted it at all. I've held meat for months in the freezer and have had to start putting dates on the bags. I'm positive the machine has paid for itself.

In fact, I just used it last night sealing up my bacon and a bunch of sliced bottom round.

Russ
 
I've been using a Food Saver for 15+ years and can not live without one. My vacuum sealer pays for itself after about two Costco runs. FYI, Costco is currently running a special for $8 off the large box of FoodSaver bag rolls ($31, regular $39).

Here's a nice trick somebody taught me a number of years back....... Freeze your food first, then vacuum seal it. This eliminates the "squeeze" factor where the suction of the Food Saver actually extracts some of the juices from the meat. This works well with breads as well. Also, if you are going to use the produict over a period of time, add another 4-6 inches at the top of the bag. That way you can re-vacuum seal it between uses.
 
Russ Sylvester said:
I bought mine on sale at Target a couple of years ago and absolutely love it. When doing my research I noticed that the reviews for all the automatic machines were mostly bad, but the reviews for the manual machines were decidedly good. So for the extra ONE motion and lower cost, I went with the 3240 and haven't regretted it at all. I've held meat for months in the freezer and have had to start putting dates on the bags. I'm positive the machine has paid for itself.

In fact, I just used it last night sealing up my bacon and a bunch of sliced bottom round.

Russ
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The 2244 is now on sale at Amazon.com, I think that this is the bottom of the barrel in terms of manual sealers. it has mostly positive reviews ( 4 star) and its like 30% off so I'm kind of on the fence.
 
This one: http://www.sorbentsystems.com/sinbosealer.html (you can find it from other sellers, too, including Amazon) is completely manual, but uses flat (not textured) bags that are available from many sources and are less expensive than the textured Foodsaver bags. I'm on my second one and have had good results with them. The hint about freezing first, then vacuum sealing is very good advice and works very well with steaks, chicken breasts, even whole strawberries. We usually freeze these on a cookie sheet first.
 
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I've had my Foodsaver for almost 20 years (1994). It was the "commercial" model then. The big thing with these vacuum sealers is how hard you push them; sort of like meat grinders. If you pace what you are sealing, it will work just fine. If you try to "assembly line" the process it will overheat. The suggestion by Larry D above (freeze the food first) is great advice. Liquid will prevent the bag from sealing. If you want to go top-notch (and spend about $1000) you can get a machine that will even vacuum seal bags with liquid. For your basic home bbq, the foodsaver should work just fine. I've done 4 full butts in about an hour (after shredded and chilled).
 
We use a Food Saver as well and have good success...have had it about a year now. We also use the same trick with paper towels when sealing wet/moist meats to keep the blood or juices from ruining the seal. The only drawback is if you are sealing a lot of stuff at once you can get the compressor to warm and the unit needs to cool before it can start sealing again.
 
I had a cheap model food saver for years and it worked well. However I started sealing a lot of meat a lot more of the time so I stepped up to a more expensive model. I have the pro 2300 from Weston and its amazing. I believe someone posted a link above with the reviews on it. If you don't need to seal a lot of meat at once or large pieces I would suggest getting a cheaper manual model.
 
I was trying to find an older post where there was an online supplier of good quality bags and rolls, that were considerably cheaper than FoodSaver, that a number of folks here really liked. I need to get some new bags, but can't seem to find that thread? Ring a bell anyone?
 
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