Vacuum Sealers

[Weekend_Sawyer]

We have been doing alot of canning and freezing latley. I have been thinking of a vacuum sealer for the, hopefully, large amount of deer I want to put up this year. I also want to use it for jerky and mabe some veggies. Probably would not work well on soup

If you have one, please give my your opinion of pros, cons, what you like to use it for and what it just will not work on.  Let me know what brand you have and what you paid too.

Jon whose thumbs are turning green from shellin beans.

[kderby]

Hey Jon, my brother gifted me one and I love it.  Sealing meat in a clear bag, evacuating the air and no drippy mess when thawing are all a real plus.  It adds one more item to the clutter in the pantry and the bag material is expensive if compared to saran wrap and butcher paper.

I use mine for packing gear (first aid kits, deer bags and wind breaker) as a way to compress and keep things clean.

We don't use the marinade feature much.  Nor do we store pretzels and chips in those spendy containers.

I'll look forward to other comments and see if any inventive uses come up.  Good question.

Kderby ;D

[isawlogs]

 John wit green fingers ,  ;)  I was thinking of getting one of those sealers also this fall . I am using foam tray and double plastic wrap .... I have seen one sealer so far , I will wait and see what some are using .  :P

[moosehunter]

 We use one that we bought and we have one that was given to us that we have not used yet.
It is a great tool.
We have the canisters and use them from ocasionally. My lovely bride makes some killer venison spiedies and marinates them in the canisters. 3 or 4 hours is like two days marinating the old way.
Almost all of our deer meat goes in the bags and in the freezer. We cut the bags big enough to use a few times. Wash them in super hot water between uses. I ain't dead yet!
Two year old tenderloins taste like they were frozen yesterday. ( the tenderloin only lasted that long because they were under something else in the freezer and we forgot about them)
Tuna steaks look like they just came off the boat a year after being sealed in the bags.
We bought the best unit that Cabela's had in thier catalog. Kinda pricy but heard complaints about longevity with other brands.
We buy the HUGE packages of meat and cases of chicken and freeze them in meal size bags our selfs
I recommend that you get one.
Or two. ;D
mh

[Onthesauk]

We had a cheap one for a few years, not that much better then just plain old plastic wrap.  Then a couple of years ago at one of the fairs we bought a Vacupack.  Not cheap and bags are not inexpensive either, (althouth they can be washed and reused.)  What sold me on this one was when they spray WD40 on the material and still get a tight seal.

My wife does masses of fruit this time of the year.  Freezes it on cookie sheets and then vaccum packs it.  I've got a couple dozen packages of cured fish eggs, some of it two years old, and still seems to be fine.  Things like smoked salmon I'll wrap in paper towel, vaccum pack it and throw it in the freezer.  Works well!

Costo sells the bags now and you can search online and find some less expensive sources.

[Radar67]

I got the Food Saver brand about 8 months ago. I think it was $150 or there about. It is mainly used for meat, but with the mason jar sealer, you can use a standard mason jar and sealing ring to vacuum just about anything you want. The wife loves it.

I even seal up leftover seeds with it.

Stew

[gary]

I have one of the first  foodsealer brand to come out. I use it to freeze fish, deer jerky, stick and sausage. I don't use it when i am butchering deer. It is faster to wrap using freezer wrap when doing more than one deer. My deer meat doesn't last long anyway less than a year.  With mine I need to flash freeze whatever I am freezing. To prevent moisture from getting into the unit. Yes you can freeze soup in it also. I am going to buy a new one soon. Because I want the new features available. I have the canisters and the thing for mason jars but have never used them.

[Engineer]

I use an older FoodSaver (I think they also go by Tilia).  We don't use it a lot because it's somewhat inconvenient, and the bags are expensive.  I have found another source for bags, I have to find the website but it's an aftermarket bag that is a lot cheaper than the "authentic" FS bags.

We just don't have a lot of kitchen counter space now, so it tends to get overlooked when putting food by.  I will take it out when we buy bulk meats and seal up several pounds at a time.  It's somewhat finicky.  For veggies, we blanch and freeze in regular ziploc freezer bags, and for fruit, some veggies, tomatoes and salsa (plus pickled stuff) I much prefer canning.  We've got dozens of canning jars.  While it's time consuming, it's also fun, and makes us appreciate the food more.  Once we finally move into our new house, I have a drawer in the kitchen earmarked for the Foodsaver and the bags, so it won't be so much of a chore.  But for cheap meat, chicken and veggies, stuff that we go through quickly like burger meat, it's generally not worth the effort or the bags to do it.

[Fla._Deadheader]

Just call me cheap. We always just used ziplock bags, and immersed in water right up to the zip. Froze fish IN water.

  Machines are too 'spensive.  : ;D :D

[Dan_Shade]

You're cheap, deadheader!

[isawlogs]

He aint cheap  :  He just dont like to spent it ...    ;)  Would make the matress have lumps .  ;D

[limbrat]

We have had and used several of them used one once and through it away. We use a foodsaver now it has a wet or dry seal setting works great on leftovers. It has easily removable and cleanable seals. The one i tossed had seals that could not be removed thats bad news when you get into fresh blood or fish. It has a seperate seal button that is great for making bags and you dont have to hold the lid down the whole time it is vacuming just start it and let it go. I dont know the model # buts it was the biggest foodsaver at target and its the best one i have used. Its easy enough to use that i dont get called to help as much anymore.

[Larry]

I've always used the FDH method with satisfaction...but you guys tweaked my curiosity.  Stopped by Cabela's today to check out the $1,500 machine but the best they had in the store was the measly $400 machine.  Didn't appear to complicated to me.  So...Imma thinking...got this home built world class veneer press based on the Surplus Center Gast vacuum pump.  All I gotta do is throw fish into the bag instead of veneer and I'm home free.  Guess the bags get sealed with some kind of hot iron.

I need to do further research...anybody have a few thousand pounds of king salmon fillet or maybe walleye that I can have to further my studies? ;D ;D

[Quartlow]

We have a foodsaver 550. Mar bought it years ago and I can't begin to tell you how many bags it's been through.
We get halves of beef and pork from brother and seal all of it. When we get chickens from him we freeze whole ones and half chickens in it.

Want to entertain the kids, and Furby too? put  mini marshmallows in a mason jar and seal it. They will expand to fill up the jar  Break the seal and they shrink back down.

[Carries-Mom]

Just call me cheap. We always just used ziplock bags, and immersed in water right up to the zip. Froze fish IN water.

  Machines are too 'spensive.  : ;D :D

Trust me when I tell you, he is "thrifty" with things like that...Won't dish out that money if his life depended on it... :D :D :D  Being his daughter, I had to say something for a giggle... ;D ;D

[Fla._Deadheader]

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

  Let's see. WHAT kinda toys can I build, that make TONS of racket ???  Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm

  Gotta do some serious cogitatin. Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

[Carries-Mom]

just remember, the mail goes both ways... :D :D :D :D

Let me know if any of those machines work and which one's are worth the money..heard about one of 'em not being so good.. :

[Weekend_Sawyer]

My main reason for wanting one is meat storage, I butcher all my deer and hope to bring in as many as possible this year.

Thanks for all the replys.

[OneWithWood]

I have one of those units sitting around somewhere.  When we had a veggie garden it got used a lot.  Now that Linnea has the greenhouse er eat everything fresh. 

For meats it has been my experience that first wrapping with a plastic wrap like SaranWrap and then wrapping with freezer paper worked as well as anything and better than most things.  Occasionally we find some burger, both venison and beef, that is over a year old and it has tasted just as fresh as the current stuff.

Side note:  I process my deer by utilizing whole muscles and grind very little of it now.  Lots of stew meat and roasts.

[stonebroke]

we had one at the local slaughterhouse that could do a whole side of a hog at once only problem was it cost $80,000

Stonebroke

[ADAMINMO]

Foodsaver is the only way to go.For about $200.00 give or take you can have the best one they have on the market.They have one that is a sportsman edition made for just what you are doing.They work excellent!!!I wouldnt own any other brand!!