Vacuum sealer confusion

[desertcat]

I've finally convinced myself that I need one of these, and after spending waay too long on the internet, I'm totally confused.
Primarily planning on using it to package fresh chickens (maybe 6 at a time), rabbits and extra veggies that we like frozen better than canned. Any suggestions/recommendations? It is so easy to get sucked into all the bells and whistles that I probably would never use given our current and foreseeable lifestyle.

 

[Emerald]

I have the foodsaver that is sold thru sam's club and I buy my extra rolls there too. I got mine over 10 years ago and other than a couple years ago, having to buy new foam gaskets(they do break down) I love it.. it works great and stuff that is vacpacked properly lasts for several seasons in my freezer(only cuz I missed a couple things before haha) it had the wide mouth mason jar sealer and I buy many things in bulk(like my herbs and spices) and vacpack the bulk of it and just take out a bit here and there to fill the small shakers and then vac it back tight and back in the cupboard.
The only problem I've really had was some meat has bones and will poke the plastic and lose the vacuum. I've heard bad things about the upright looking foodsaver tho but haven't used it so can't verify.

 

[ORChick]

I got one a few years ago for meat and veggies, mostly. But I find that I use the jar sealer attachment much more often. I buy dry goods in bulk, and also do a lot of dehydrating, so the jar sealer is very useful. It did not come with my machine; I was prepared to order it online, but found a local store that carried them. I only got the wide mouth jar sealer, rather than spending the money for both sizes, and that works well for me. I usually can in regular mouth jars (with a few exceptions), so tend to have the wide mouth jars available for dry goods.

 

[k15n1]

I have a Food Saver. The seals fail frequently---maybe 25% of the time. I haven't actually counted, but that's my impression.

The other problem is that Food Saver bags (with texture on one side) cost more than normal bags and I don't think there are many choices.

Because of the way the Food Saver works, you basically can only seal solids. For liquids (such as soup in retort pouches) you need a chamber vacuum sealer. But now you're talking about quite a bit of money.

 

[snapshot]

I've been ordering bags on ebay that are foodsaver like but much less price wise. I haven't had a fail yet. One side is smooth like foodsaver bags. I've done burger, roasts, and turkey with gravy.

 

[Hinotori]

I have a Foodsaver Gamesaver Silver. Had it 4 years now. I buy the cheapest rolls I can find. Cabelas and Weston usually. Normally what I bag is clams and salmon. I've gotten into the habbit of hitting seal twice because the water gets in the way sometimes. I haven't had much issues with it.

There was a vendor at the sportsman show last weekend that had the small vacuum chambers. Those are pretty neat things.

 

[moolie]

I bought a Tilia Food Saver second hand a couple of years ago, it's over 30 years old and works super. I've used both the Food Saver and Seal a Meal brand rolls of bags, no seal failures at all. I sealed up 8 gallons of saskatoon berries back in early August, plus various packages of raspberries/rhubarb/veggies etc.--all are still nice and tight with no frost. Same with any meats I've sealed with it. I have both the wide and regular mouth jar sealer attachments as well, I got one of them at my local COOP grocery store and the other at the Bass Pro Shops store. I've also seen them at a local discount store called Army & Navy.

 

[cheepo]

congratulations..on choosing to vacume package it is a good one...

So long as you choose one with a base wide enough for the size of bags you will be fine..(this was a
problem my son had when he inheriter someones hand me down)
and make sure..you get one that has a canister port...some of the older or basic model ones don't
and it is just so very cost effective to get one of the mason sealers, and not have to use bags...
for everything...

mine has a built in cutter feature that is extremely usefull...
and buying the big rolls on line is WAY CHEEPER than getting store bags..
but maybe they are cheaper in the states...i am in canada..

 

[Mickey328]

Oh, now...y'all are tempting me again! I had just about convinced myself that I really don't need one but now I'm thinking...well...maybe! I really love the idea of having the nice neat storage and presently I can everything I can simply because freezer space is at a premium here. But, we're looking at raising some meat chickens and breeding rabbits, so some of that will simply have to be frozen and the thought of having any of it freezer burn chokes me up.

Emerald, do you have a model number for the one you have? There are just SO many different ones out there.

Years ago, we had a Seal A Meal, which was fairly useful, but since it wasn't a vacuum sealer, it sort of fell into disuse.

 

[baymule]

I use my food saver, not only for frozen foods, but for dehydrated foods too. Last summer was my first to dehydrate and I packaged everything in food saver bags. I had some failures due to sharp edges poking holes in the plastic. I read a post where someone else wrapped her foods in plastic wrap first, then bagged and sealed it. I will try that this summer.