Vacuum sealers for food - money-saving or not?

npsmama

I bought one from Tchibo a few years back but it didn't work great.

I'm wondering about getting one of the 30 quid ones from QVC (). They have several - can't really work out the difference between them.

My thought is that (provided it worked better than my previous one) it would save me money buying ziplock bags...even though I would need the refill bags.

Any thoughts please?



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kittykat500

I am addicted to mine. Use it without fail every day to vacuum seal sandwiches, dividing up packs of meat for freezing into packs of 2-3 and for keeping certain veggies fresh.

You don't need refill bags either - I use sandwich bags and also use it to reseal frozen peas etc. so they don't spill all over my freezer as they used to!

You can use virtually any plastic bag to vacuum and reseal - just make sure it doesn't have any holes!;)

Queenie

This is something I want to invest in, can you link to the one's you've seen npsmama? Are you able to link to one like yours kittykat?

researcher

I bought the cheap one from Boots for £5, and it works perfectly for me.

susank

Me too I would like a link to see them thanks

FunkyFairy

I got a JML one from woolworths a couple of weeks ago. It is fab i dont know how i lived without it was only £5 as well.

Added link http://www.jmldirect.com/product.php?cid=5&pid=123

researcher

Thats the one I got from Boots - no postage and points too!

npsmama

i think i'll get the 5 quid one then!

the ones i saw originally are here: https://www.qvcuk.com.

dannahaz

Hi All

My freezer is bursting at the seams and I'm thinking about getting a vacuum sealer to help reduce the bulk of items future. I can see it will also help me keep my herbs and spices in peak condition, and other products which I only use occasionally.

But are they any good?

There seems to be a wide variation in price, so I'd be very interested to hear your views on particular machines. What makes a good one? A bad one? What problems have you encountered? What worked well?

Thanks in advance xxx

py6km

I recently bought a FoodSaver 550. I was originally going to get it from pricedrop.tv, but then found it much cheaper from empiredirect.com

We've found it very good indeed - food does keep for longer in the freezer, and it does reduce the space. I've packed cooked meals (chilli, casseroles etc), as well as meats and also some some fresh herbs and chillis from the garden.

You also get a bottle stop and a canister so that you can seal things up fro storage in the fridge.

I could recommend it - but I would say it would be worth buying some extra foodsaver bags to go with it, becuase it can be strangely addictive vacuum packing things. You'll find yourself going through the fridge thinking about what can be packed up next !

dannahaz

py6km wrote:

I recently bought a FoodSaver 550....
I could recommend it

Thenks py6km. I was initially looking at ones for about half that price, but I imagine they aren't that good. I'll raise my sights, as it's better to spend more on a product that will get used and do a good job, than one which ends up at the back of the cupboard.

Do you have to use specialist bags with it, or could I use thick freezer bags?