Super Sealers

caascher2 · May 29, 2007

Anyone use the super sealers which take all the air out the bag and seals the contents for freezing? I am thinking about getting one and wondering if they were worth it. I can tomatoes but don't want to get into pressure canning, so was thinking of freezing everything that I could.
Thanks,
Carol

MacDuff · May 29, 2007

Yes, I use one. I've had a few of the highly advertise ones and found that the bags were very expensive and the performance wasn't that great. Here is a thread to the one that I have now: http://sorbentsystems.com/sinbo_bag_special.html.

The bags are resonably priced, I bought a case of 500 bags, I think that they are 9x15. When I have a small amount, I cut the bag in half and make it into two. They usually have a special going if you send them a check or money order. I am very happy with mine (2 years) and highly reccommend it.

MacDuff

**tomatoaddict** · May 29, 2007

I have one that I got for Christmas. So far I really like it but have not used it for garden fruits yet. It is a good product for saving food from the trash can. You can seal up leftovers and freeze or just put in the fridge. I love it.

Sherry_AK · May 30, 2007

I have one that I use for fish. It works well for this purpose. I've not used it for anything else.

ddsack · June 9, 2007

Macduff --

On their website for the VS-280 they say:

This is the ONLY low cost vacuum sealer that does not require the use of special bags.

This sounds appealing to me, because I like the ideas of sealing in whatever I happen to have handy, if I run out of supplier bags. Have you tried regular Ziplock type plastic freezer bags with your unit? (I don't care if the zip works, just want to know if it will seal.)

Dee

MacDuff · June 9, 2007

I haven't tried zip lock bags but I think that they will work. When I open a bag of frozen shrimp and take out enough for dinner I seal the bag back up. I've used bread bags, but they are thin. Frozen vegetables can be sealed up again.

When I see all of the bags that I bought, my thrifty heritage kind of moves to the back and I just use what I need as i need them. I do cut them in half when I need smaller bags.

MacDuff

mwbrown · June 13, 2007

We have a sealer, and we have used it on a variety of foods both from the garden and from the store. I also use it to save seeds.

Mike

felpec · July 1, 2007

Got my VS-280 sealer on Friday - thanks, MacDuff, for the link to their website. After extensive research (which means we played with it all day yesterday), here's what I found so far:

We put up a couple of pounds of snap peas. Blanched lightly and pre-froze them on a cookie sheet. Did half in the boil-in-bags with a pat of butter and half in regular bags for stir frying, etc. Worked great.

Blanched and pre-froze about fifteen heads of broccoli - worked great for them, but it took a bit longer to get all the air out from around the heads. We found we had to kind of manipulate the bag around the vacuum snorkel thing a bit to get more air out, but once we did one or two, it was easy.

We re-sealed our Brussel sprouts from last fall. Again, did a few in the boil-in-bags we bought with the sealer, and some plain. We tried the boil-in-bag last night for dinner, and they were just perfect.

We tried chicken legs - worked great. Didn't even bother to pre-freeze these. Today, we're trying sausage. No matter how well I wrap pork, it always seems to taste funny in about a month.

We tried to reseal Ziploc freezer bags. We could get them to seal, but not retain the vacuum. We tried different times of sealing, but it seemed that the plastic melted very quickly and didn't really keep a good seal. I was hoping that would work, because I now have a whole drawer full of Ziploc bags that I used to use for freezing...we'll keep experimenting!

We got the best results from pre-frozen items in one layer that filled the whole bag. If the bag was just a bit too long, we started trimming off the excess (about an inch or so) and got a much better vacuum. They stack better in the freezer, too. Very pleased with it so far.

Well, except for the manual. It's pretty useless but absolutely hilarious (a typical Asian translation to English). There's a table of foods on the last page (the purpose of which I could not determine) which lists such common American dinner items as:
toadoil, pig's brain, snake, dog, coarse gigins, whito goored, cornpickled beancurd and the list goes on...

landarc · July 1, 2007

that toadoil is a pain to extract, you gotta catch all the toads, then there is getting em prepped and all. Then, do you do a cold press, or expeller, so many choices.

chanceysmama · July 16, 2007

I have a foodsaver foodvac 550 and love it. I used it to preserve blanched tomatoes last year and they must be frozen before you vac it or it will suck up all the juice and sometime seal and sometimes not, other than that and the bags its great. I have found I like the roll of bags that you cut to whatever size you need is best and cheaper than the premade bags and are heavy quality to prevent freezer burn. That is the only problem I could see with using the other one someone suggested, but for short term saving it would be ok I guess. I have used my for 4 years now b/c I have a glass top stove and you are not supposed to can on them so I vacuum seal and freeze alot.

lumierefrere · August 20, 2007

I was reluctant to get a vacuum sealer because I borrowed one and couldn't figure out how to use it. I found a Foodsaver V2830 at Sam's Club and got that because it comes with an instructional dvd. This unit is much more simple to use than the one I borrowed. You just stick the end of the open bag into the vacuum channel and it sucks all the air out on its own then seals it. The rolls of bag material are on sale at WalMart now too.

I'm happy.

caascher2 · August 20, 2007

I did purchase a food sealer and have been happy with it so far this season. I do put the tomatoes on a cookie sheet and freeze them first like suggested before and then put them in the sealer for permanent freezing. Although I don't blanch them. The skins will come off when they are thawed. Works quite well.
Carol

lumierefrere · August 20, 2007

I just put tomatoes in a plastic bag and dump them into the freezer. They're fine. They last the whole year until the next season.

brokenbar · January 19, 2009

I have A foodsaver and use it nearly every day. I have my coffee beans in a vacuum canister (I am like a coffeophile) I vacuum seal lettuce in a gallon bag and it will keep nearly three weeks. I bought a case of 1/2 gallon wide mouth Ball jars and I vacuum seal spagetti, macaroni, sugar...you name it. My family likes to fish so I have scads of cleaned, skinned, de-boned and filleted trout in vacuum seal bags. My hubby grows the "regular" garden so he freezes carrots with a little brown sugar and butter and he makes lots of stew and soups that he freezes in gallon bags and then he can just pop one into the microwave. Really, I doubt I have a kitchen tool I use more except maybe my mixer. Foodsaver is a GREAT investment and if you pop over to Ebay, you can buy "generic" bags for a substantial savings.

May 29, 2007	#1
caascher2 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Va. Beach, VA Posts: 178	Super Sealers Anyone use the super sealers which take all the air out the bag and seals the contents for freezing? I am thinking about getting one and wondering if they were worth it. I can tomatoes but don't want to get into pressure canning, so was thinking of freezing everything that I could. Thanks, Carol

May 29, 2007	#3
tomatoaddict Moderator Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: zone 5 Posts: 1,459	I have one that I got for Christmas. So far I really like it but have not used it for garden fruits yet. It is a good product for saving food from the trash can. You can seal up leftovers and freeze or just put in the fridge. I love it. __________________ Secretseedcartel.com

July 1, 2007	#9
landarc Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Left Coasty Posts: 964	that toadoil is a pain to extract, you gotta catch all the toads, then there is getting em prepped and all. Then, do you do a cold press, or expeller, so many choices. __________________ Lets see...$10 for Worth and $5 for Fusion, man. Tomatoes are expensive! Bob

August 20, 2007	#11
lumierefrere Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Zone 4 NY Posts: 772	I was reluctant to get a vacuum sealer because I borrowed one and couldn't figure out how to use it. I found a Foodsaver V2830 at Sam's Club and got that because it comes with an instructional dvd. This unit is much more simple to use than the one I borrowed. You just stick the end of the open bag into the vacuum channel and it sucks all the air out on its own then seals it. The rolls of bag material are on sale at WalMart now too. I'm happy. Last edited by lumierefrere; August 20, 2007 at 05:10 PM. Reason: grammar

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May 29, 2007	#2
MacDuff Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2007 Location: MA 5 So. Shore Posts: 17	Yes, I use one. I've had a few of the highly advertise ones and found that the bags were very expensive and the performance wasn't that great. Here is a thread to the one that I have now: http://sorbentsystems.com/sinbo_bag_special.html. The bags are resonably priced, I bought a case of 500 bags, I think that they are 9x15. When I have a small amount, I cut the bag in half and make it into two. They usually have a special going if you send them a check or money order. I am very happy with mine (2 years) and highly reccommend it. MacDuff

May 30, 2007	#4
Sherry_AK Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Alaska Zone 3/4 Posts: 1,857	I have one that I use for fish. It works well for this purpose. I've not used it for anything else.

June 9, 2007	#5
ddsack Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Northern Minnesota - zone 3 Posts: 3,231	Macduff -- On their website for the VS-280 they say: This is the ONLY low cost vacuum sealer that does not require the use of special bags. This sounds appealing to me, because I like the ideas of sealing in whatever I happen to have handy, if I run out of supplier bags. Have you tried regular Ziplock type plastic freezer bags with your unit? (I don't care if the zip works, just want to know if it will seal.) Dee

June 13, 2007	#7
mwbrown Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Oklahoma City Zone 7a Posts: 5	We have a sealer, and we have used it on a variety of foods both from the garden and from the store. I also use it to save seeds. Mike

July 1, 2007	#8
felpec Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Zone 5/6 New Jersey Posts: 122	Got my VS-280 sealer on Friday - thanks, MacDuff, for the link to their website. After extensive research (which means we played with it all day yesterday), here's what I found so far: We put up a couple of pounds of snap peas. Blanched lightly and pre-froze them on a cookie sheet. Did half in the boil-in-bags with a pat of butter and half in regular bags for stir frying, etc. Worked great. Blanched and pre-froze about fifteen heads of broccoli - worked great for them, but it took a bit longer to get all the air out from around the heads. We found we had to kind of manipulate the bag around the vacuum snorkel thing a bit to get more air out, but once we did one or two, it was easy. We re-sealed our Brussel sprouts from last fall. Again, did a few in the boil-in-bags we bought with the sealer, and some plain. We tried the boil-in-bag last night for dinner, and they were just perfect. We tried chicken legs - worked great. Didn't even bother to pre-freeze these. Today, we're trying sausage. No matter how well I wrap pork, it always seems to taste funny in about a month. We tried to reseal Ziploc freezer bags. We could get them to seal, but not retain the vacuum. We tried different times of sealing, but it seemed that the plastic melted very quickly and didn't really keep a good seal. I was hoping that would work, because I now have a whole drawer full of Ziploc bags that I used to use for freezing...we'll keep experimenting! We got the best results from pre-frozen items in one layer that filled the whole bag. If the bag was just a bit too long, we started trimming off the excess (about an inch or so) and got a much better vacuum. They stack better in the freezer, too. Very pleased with it so far. Well, except for the manual. It's pretty useless but absolutely hilarious (a typical Asian translation to English). There's a table of foods on the last page (the purpose of which I could not determine) which lists such common American dinner items as: toadoil, pig's brain, snake, dog, coarse gigins, whito goored, cornpickled beancurd and the list goes on...

July 16, 2007	#10
chanceysmama Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: kearney, missouri Posts: 28	I have a foodsaver foodvac 550 and love it. I used it to preserve blanched tomatoes last year and they must be frozen before you vac it or it will suck up all the juice and sometime seal and sometimes not, other than that and the bags its great. I have found I like the roll of bags that you cut to whatever size you need is best and cheaper than the premade bags and are heavy quality to prevent freezer burn. That is the only problem I could see with using the other one someone suggested, but for short term saving it would be ok I guess. I have used my for 4 years now b/c I have a glass top stove and you are not supposed to can on them so I vacuum seal and freeze alot.

January 19, 2009	#14
brokenbar Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: South Of The Border Posts: 1,169	I have A foodsaver and use it nearly every day. I have my coffee beans in a vacuum canister (I am like a coffeophile) I vacuum seal lettuce in a gallon bag and it will keep nearly three weeks. I bought a case of 1/2 gallon wide mouth Ball jars and I vacuum seal spagetti, macaroni, sugar...you name it. My family likes to fish so I have scads of cleaned, skinned, de-boned and filleted trout in vacuum seal bags. My hubby grows the "regular" garden so he freezes carrots with a little brown sugar and butter and he makes lots of stew and soups that he freezes in gallon bags and then he can just pop one into the microwave. Really, I doubt I have a kitchen tool I use more except maybe my mixer. Foodsaver is a GREAT investment and if you pop over to Ebay, you can buy "generic" bags for a substantial savings.