Vacuum sealers for food - money-saving or not?

Angelina-M

Welcome to our exciting thread Scorpio :beer:

SB the machines that have a boxy bit in the middle which is a suction are the ones that can use the cheap freezer bags because this device sucks the air out. The ones you and I have got have a channel that the bag fits into. These ones cant take the bags unless they are 'doctored'

Thats why I'm going to try the straw thing. By using a straw i'm mimicking the action of the boxy bit on the Lidl machines.

I don't know which the JML one has but as its quite an expensive machine I bet it has the channel.

ollow

Hi

I've also got the jml one, think it's on it's last legs. It uses the ridged bags, but on the weekend I experimented with the lidls ones and a straw and they seem to be working.

Now just need to decide which machine to buy.

Angelina-M

ollow wrote: »

Hi

I've also got the jml one, think it's on it's last legs. It uses the ridged bags, but on the weekend I experimented with the lidls ones and a straw and they seem to be working.

Now just need to decide which machine to buy.

Oh I like the sound of this. I havent got mine yet to test but it will be one of the first things I do.

Did you find it sealed around the straw well enough?

Thanks so much for letting us know, we are into our experimenting!

sb44

I'm not that tight (well maybe a little) but we would have no other use for staws so I am not going to buy a boxful.

Or straws!

Doh!

ollow

I did have the odd one that didn't seal, but I just put it in another bag and did it again.

I also found that I had to use about a third of a straw with most of it in the bag and only a little bit sticking out.

The lidls bags are a lot thinner than the other bags so I sliced one into strips and laid the strip on top of the bag I was sealing.

I hope I've made sense.

Angelina-M

sb44 wrote: »

I'm not that tight (well maybe a little) but we would have no other use for staws so I am not going to buy a boxful.

Or straws!

Doh!

Yeah its daft buying them. We have a box in that we bought for the Grandson. I'll test them and let you know. If the results are great then it may be a different matter!

sb44

Angelina-M wrote: »

Yeah its daft buying them. We have a box in that we bought for the Grandson. I'll test them and let you know. If the results are great then it may be a different matter!

Thanks Angelina .

By the way, I have just found that Argos sell the JML Food Sealer, Seal A Meal Vacuum Sealer and Seal A Meal rolls if anyone is looking or one on the high street.

Not sure how good Seal A Meal ones are but may be worth buying the rolls if you can't use smooth ones as they look to be textured.

http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/4261522/Trail/searchtext%3EFOOD+SEALER.htm#pdpProductReviews

sb44

sb44 wrote: »

Thanks Angelina .

By the way, I have just found that Argos sell the JML Food Sealer, Seal A Meal Vacuum Sealer and Seal A Meal rolls if anyone is looking or one on the high street.

Not sure how good Seal A Meal ones are but may be worth buying the rolls if you can't use smooth ones as they look to be textured.

http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/4261522/Trail/searchtext%3EFOOD+SEALER.htm#pdpProductReviews

Not too got reviews on the Seal A Meal, may be best to avoid that one.

http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/444825

sb44

Some more sealer info.

http://www.culinaryinnovations.co.uk/vacuum-packers-faqs.html#3

Sunnyday

OOh sb some more good reading stuff, thanks for posting the linkys :A

You were right i was awake way past 1am packaging items in my head :rotfl: i`m obsessed with the tracking link for the parcel atm as its in transit. Hopefully it will arrive nice and early tomorrow. Shame that i won`t have time to test it out for a while before we go away but it will be something to look forward to for when we get home.

The dehydrator will be out on the kitchen side then as my onions are all ready, i`ll pull them when we get back and when they are dried i`ll seal them into little packages.

Angelina - Which one did you buy? Where from etc - details please :D
I think that i could have done slightly better on the price if i`d shopped about a bit more and definitely if i`d not paid the extra for delivery. The thing that finally swung it for me was the chamber underneath in case any liquid manages to find its way somewhere that it shouldn`t. Apparently this can ruin a machine and knowing my luck that would be me.

Hark at me trying to justify the spend in my head :rotfl: I`ve just spent all the money that i was saving towads new curtains and then some

The ebay seller has just contacted me re the price increase on the AL machine yesterday and has said that if i give them a call they will honour the old price - quite a bargain really but too late for me now. I think that i`ve made the right decision - time will tell

*Goes off to seal the paint laden roller that i`ve been decorating with in my head* :rotfl:

SD