# Is a food saver vacuum worth it?



## mamabear2012 (Mar 8, 2012)

I've been thinking about investing in a food saver vacuum. Are they worth the cost? I'm not surprised by the cost of the actual machine, but the refill rolls seem really pricey.


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## TheManComesAround (Jun 18, 2013)

I picked up one at a yard sale *several* years ago - I figured before spending the money on a new one, I'd try it out. It's now on its last legs, and when the time comes, I won't hesitate spending the money on a new one. Freezer Life of foods packaged with one versus zip top bags is easily doubled, and the ability to use it to Vac Seal jars (used it to seal up 40 lbs of Sugar and some bagged Coffee) is a great feature as well. I also use it for Matches, Ammo, crackers.....anything you don't want to get wet or go stale.


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## rawhide2971 (Apr 19, 2013)

Yep. Its worth it if you use it and by the Jar sealers as an accessory item, I use them a lot (wide and regular mouth) so I can seal my jars of goodies. I use the bags and by them in bulk when I can afford it.
This site: http://www.provacuumsealers.com/vacuum_sealer_bags_rolls.htm has a good price and I buy my smaller amounts at SAMS. Bags can be pricey and I useually buy the rolls and try to not have to much "waste" or extra lengths on them. If you check craigslist and yard sales you can probably find one pretty cheap and try it out. Also check on Youtube for all the people who share how they use the ones they have. It took me a while to convince my Spouse that it was worth buying but she is sold on ours now.


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## txcatlady (Sep 26, 2013)

I love mine! I bag stuff for the freezer some, but mostly to seal my dehydrated stuff in jars. Am too cheap to use it like I could, but my family gives me rolls and bags for Christmas and birthdays. Was worth investment and would do it again.


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## mamabear2012 (Mar 8, 2012)

Thank you! Looks like a good investment. I will check out craigslist to see if I can get a used one.


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## 21601mom (Jan 15, 2013)

They often offer coupons of 25-30% off. May want to check coupon cabin or similar sites.


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## Genevieve (Sep 21, 2009)

Just the jar sealers makes it worth the money lol I found some bags at a local restaurant supply place and they work in the foodsaver. I think I pay like $10 for 50ft of bags. the supply place has this huge expensive sealer next to the bags but I don't remember the name of it. It's for commercial companies to use I think.

sorta off topic: about a year ago I came across a whole bunch of foodsaver canisters at the goodwill and snatched them up. not only were there the canisters but also 2 of the marinators! boy do they push the marinate thru the meat! they seemed expensive to me on the foodsaver site but I only paid like $2.59 each at the goodwill. I paid the same price for each of the canisters too. I have no idea why someone would get rid of all their canisters *shrugs* I can only figure that someone was going thru their mom's kitchen after she passed or something. and just got rid of everything.


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## Caribou (Aug 18, 2012)

I had a couple over the years. I had a problem with the bags staying sealed. I'm thinking about getting another one to use with jars but I'm not interested in the bags.


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## PrepN4Good (Dec 23, 2011)

I'm glad to read all the good reviews, too...I had been thinking of buying one for years but was put off by the price (of the machine AND rolls).

Then, in one of those at-the-right-place-at-the-right-time moments, I found one at a yard sale for 2 bucks. (And I rarely go to them, but it was at BIL's neighbor's house).

Now I just have to find the time to play with it.


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## weedygarden (Apr 27, 2011)

I have used my food saver to seal mylar bags. If you find the size that fits your foodsaver seal part, it will seal them up just fine, removing air in the process.


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## Sentry18 (Aug 5, 2012)

I love my food saver. Sometimes I seal stuff up just because I can and haven't used it in a while.


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## goshengirl (Dec 18, 2010)

I'm using less plastic these days, so I don't use my food saver for sealing bags nearly as much as I used to (I'll can stuff in jars rather than freeze it in bags). But I'm still glad I have it, and I really like the jar sealer attachments.

Back when I was using mine ALL THE TIME I was burning through them about every 2 years or so, and it seemed like every time I needed to replace one they just kept getting fancier and fancier (and therefor more expensive). So the last time I got this one on Amazon, no bells and whistles, and I have no regrets. It seals bags and has the accessory port for the jar sealer attachments. That's all I need.

Good luck finding one used. I'm not sure I'd go that route just because you never know how well someone else takes care of their equipment, and maybe they burn through theirs just like I used to do. But then again, if the price is right...


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## rawhide2971 (Apr 19, 2013)

I would like to jump back in on the conversation and mention that while I have a nice model Food Saver that I picked up last year and use a good bit I also picked up a WOLFGANG puck vacumn sealer, really cheap and I have it down in my basement for sealing my jars and other items. I bring this up becasue any vacumn sealer may meet your needs so don't get hung up on the Foodsaver if you come across one that is an exceptional deal. main thing for me on the Wolfgang model was that I could use my jar sealers with it, not all of the older vacumn sealers (Assumption here, I am no expert nor did I sleep in a brain stimualting Hotel last night) might have the hose and port to use for the jar sealer attachements, and of course there is a couple of posts somewhere on here and all over youtube about making your own vacumn sealer with a hydralic brake tool and / or a simple bicycle pump taht can be modified. I am sure they work but I have no experince with them.................. I use my attachements for my JARS all the time and you can reseal jars that are not neccessarily canning jars, couple of ways to do it, I use those for things I want to keep dry, like matches, kerosene lamp wicks, batteries and other non food items I like to keep stored for emergency needs. A vacumn sealer is a multi tool and your limited only by your imagination .........and now I will go sit quielty in the corner


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## JayJay (Nov 23, 2010)

rawhide2971 said:


> I would like to jump back in on the conversation and mention that while I have a nice model Food Saver that I picked up last year and use a good bit I also picked up a WOLFGANG puck vacumn sealer, really cheap and I have it down in my basement for sealing my jars and other items. I bring this up becasue any vacumn sealer may meet your needs so don't get hung up on the Foodsaver if you come across one that is an exceptional deal. main thing for me on the Wolfgang model was that I could use my jar sealers with it, not all of the older vacumn sealers (Assumption here, I am no expert nor did I sleep in a brain stimualting Hotel last night) might have the hose and port to use for the jar sealer attachements, and of course there is a couple of posts somewhere on here and all over youtube about making your own vacumn sealer with a hydralic brake tool and / or a simple bicycle pump taht can be modified. I am sure they work but I have no experince with them.................. I use my attachements for my JARS all the time and you can reseal jars that are not neccessarily canning jars, couple of ways to do it, I use those for things I want to keep dry, like matches, kerosene lamp wicks, batteries and other non food items I like to keep stored for emergency needs. A vacumn sealer is a multi tool and your limited only by your imagination .........and now I will go sit quielty in the corner


I have a neighbor that had an old sealer(type you had to hold down while sealing)--when the Puck model was on sale for $30--she wouldn't buy one. Now she wishes she had--the one on sale is no longer available for $30. I bought one for a second at that price--how could I go wrong??
I do have a brake bleeder to seal with when there is no electricity and I have food to dry in the sun!


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## mamabear2012 (Mar 8, 2012)

Hey Rawhide....I asked!  Thanks for the input!


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## tsrwivey (Dec 31, 2010)

I bought one new, never used it the first time. It sits on my countertop as something for me to clean around.  I'm pretty good about rotating stuff through the freezer before it ruins & I'm too cheap to buy the jars that go with them. :dunno: I would get rid of it but I spent good money on it & I hate to see it go to waste. I know, makes no sense but there it sits nonetheless.


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## OldCootHillbilly (Jul 9, 2010)

Yup. Shop round fer the bags ya can find em cheaper. Ebay sometimes has some good deals on em.

Once ya get one, yall wonder how ya ever got by without one.


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## Grimm (Sep 5, 2012)

I use the seal setting to seal my mylar bags.


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## jsriley5 (Sep 22, 2012)

seconbd the ebay for bag and roll deals. if you cant get em there I get along ok with eh walmart brand bag rolls. The jar attachments are awesome. a Bod can hold about 2x as much ( for god OR bad) if you suck everything down to next to nothing. ( just remember if you use it for packing that you won't be able to get everything back in there if you unseal it all . Until last year or so mine was used alost entirely for kit packing or packing up stuff that had to stay dry or o2 free for long term storage. My now wife does use it quite a bit though. get cheese and stuff like that in big bulk then seal it up to keep it without waste. That is one of its biggies for us is we can buy huge bulk to get things cheap and not have waste. Or grab bunches of stuff on sale and seal up the extra. IMO the canisters are crap though. They break incredibly easy about one drop per containter and they get a crack in the bottom that will of course let air in so they either wont seal or won't keep sealed. And lemme tell ya what a mess it can make when you grab a canister you thought was sealed out by the lid as they will not stay on without vacumme to hold em. So we have a bunch of the canisters but we have decided no replacing em when we get done with what we got. We have the jar sealers too and those I think are well worth making sure your model will accept them.


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## Cast-Iron (Nov 8, 2013)

Vacuum sealers are an excellent way to store foods and extend freezer/shelf life. Foodsaver brand vacuum sealers are really entry level external bag machines. I've had several of them over the years and I wish I had just bit the bullet and purchased a chamber type commercial grade sealer to begin with. Foodsaver bags are exorbitantly priced and I have had multiple failures with them when storing frozen foods. Their business model is to practically give the machines away and then gouge the consumer on the proprietary bags you have to use with them.

If money weren't an issue (and unfortunately it is), I would lean towards an entry level commercial grade machine with an oiled pump. The Vacmaster VP215 was the best deal I could find for my preferences. These units start at around a grand, but your bags will run you 80-90% less depending on wall thickness. This machine also uses a rotary oil pump that will outlast an oil less model by 1000's of cycles. If you put up a couple hundred packages a year, this machine will easily pay for itself in three or four years with the savings on bag costs alone. Not to mention the added versatility of these machines to seal high liquid foods. Instead of evacuating the air out of the bag, the entire chamber is vacuumed so liquids aren't pulled out to interfere with the sealing process.

I first encountered a chamber style vacuum machine when packaging some Sockeye salmon fillets in Cold Bay, Alaska. There was a community owned model available for public use. Their only stipulations were to buy the bags from city hall and clean the machine when you were done. What a great system!


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## UncleJoe (Jan 11, 2009)

Cast-Iron said:


> Vacuum sealers..... with the sealing process.


Totally off topic here. eep:

Just noticed your sig line. :melikey:


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## partdeux (Aug 3, 2011)

vac sealer rock

We bought a large amount of bags on ebay

My unit broke while vacuum sealing jars of corn flour. I decided to take it apart, it's a simple rubber flapper valve... that had a piece of corn flour stuck in it. Cleaned it, put it back together and life was good again


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## Grimm (Sep 5, 2012)

partdeux said:


> vac sealer rock
> 
> We bought a large amount of bags on ebay
> 
> My unit broke while vacuum sealing jars of corn flour. I decided to take it apart, it's a simple rubber flapper valve... that had a piece of corn flour stuck in it. Cleaned it, put it back together and life was good again


If you are willing to try and fix a broken sealer you can order parts direct from most companies.


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## readytogo (Apr 6, 2013)

I have a Nesco , is very old but works great, all my herbs ,fruits ,and lots of experimenting have been made with that little unit ,including fruit roll-ups, so yes if you are going to use it, get one or make one.


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## SouthCentralUS (Nov 11, 2012)

Will flour last as long vac sealed in jars as it will in mylar bags?


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## Woody (Nov 11, 2008)

I have an older model Food Saver that was given to me. Options are seal only, vacuum and seal or use the jar sealer. You have to manually hold it closed also. Do the new ones automatically hold themselves down??? I love it but it does have to be babied a bit

First, it will only do about 10 or 12 seals or vac/seals before it gets really hot. I work around this by finding out what size bags I will need and cut and seal 10. Wait 20 minutes or so with the unit open and make 10 or so more... Same with sealing, 10 at a time. A pain at times but it is one of those things you just deal with. Kind of like the car you have to have the accelerator to the floor and hold, crank for 2 seconds, let sit for 5 seconds then crank again with no foot on the pedal to get it started. It WILL work dependably every time, you just have to understand how it wants to work.

For sealing them, I hold the unit closed for 5 or 10 seconds after the light goes out. Never had a seal go bad on me doing this.

You can use regular plastic bags in a sealer, mine at least. Fill the bag and put it down against the sealing strip. Give the bag a few 'crinkles' spaced across the edge. Do the vac and seal thing holding for 5 or 10 seconds after the light goes off. It takes longer to evacuate the air so be patient. Sometimes you have to manipulate the bag a little to get all the air out. After the initial seal is done move the bag up and do another seal only below the first one. Never had one fail on me doing this.

If I do 'juicy' things I always double seal, this time above the original seal. My unit will seal with some liquid on the sealing strip. I do the extra seal just in case. The big thing seems to be to hold the unit closed for 5 to 10 seconds AFTER the light goes off. I have eaten fish three years after sealing and freezing and they were fine, to my tastes anyway.

Evaluate your needs before buying one, like a dehydrator. If you might use it once a year for a few bags not worth it. If you buy in bulk or like me, fish for food, it is a great investment.


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## partdeux (Aug 3, 2011)

SouthCentralUS said:


> Will flour last as long vac sealed in jars as it will in mylar bags?


In theory, it should last longer


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## OldCootHillbilly (Jul 9, 2010)

SouthCentralUS said:


> Will flour last as long vac sealed in jars as it will in mylar bags?


Gotta make sure an keep it outa the light be the only thin. Glass jars be tougher an air ain't gonna leak throug em ifin the seal be good.


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## SouthCentralUS (Nov 11, 2012)

Thanks to you both for the good advice. I am going to vac seal it in half gallon jars with 02 absorbers and store it in a dark cabinet that is never opened.


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## BlueFeather (Jan 9, 2013)

You can also wrap your jars in aluminum foil to keep out the light.


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## gam46 (Jan 24, 2011)

Two not so commonly mentioned ways I use mine …..

I reseal all types of opened plastic bags from which I've used only part of the contents.

I have a large canister in which assorted glass jars will fit. Some of them are even recycled jars with soft rings in their metal pop-up lids. I put the closed jars in the large canister, then pull air from the canister. All jars tightly seal and lids pop down.


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## JAR702 (Apr 1, 2015)

I love my food sealers, I do a lot of dehydrating and buying meat in bulk and repackaging.
I buy my bags form the attached site
http://www.sausagemaker.com/vacuum-seal-bags.aspx

I buy the rolls when I need to seal something big or weird shaped (like a rifle)
I use the sealer to seal up documents, matches and other stuff I don't want moisture to get in to.
I seal up pasta, rice, cake mixes and other things like crackers.


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## timmie (Jan 14, 2012)

i love my food saver. i just got thru sealing several jars of cereal and corn chips. cereal was a dollar a box chips were free.


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## Beaniemaster2 (May 22, 2012)

partdeux said:


> vac sealer rock
> 
> We bought a large amount of bags on ebay
> 
> My unit broke while vacuum sealing jars of corn flour. I decided to take it apart, it's a simple rubber flapper valve... that had a piece of corn flour stuck in it. Cleaned it, put it back together and life was good again


Your sealer probably sucked up some flour??? Do you put a coffee filter or something in the top of the flour so it doesn't suck up?

Back to the original question... I absolutely love mine and vacuum everything!!! Most cerial I don't have to put in jars... I just snip the corner of the original bag, place in bag and seal... Hard cerials work well for this but not flakey types, they break up too much.


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## Kodeman (Jul 25, 2013)

Living on the East Coast I do a lot of shell fishing. Yesterday, I sealed up a batch of shucked quahogs, for use in clam chowder this coming winter.


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