Vacuum sealers for food - money-saving or not?

Angelina-M

Its pretty quiet but to be honest the reviews i've read on the normal one say its pretty quiet anyway. Alarm bells rang as soon as I opened the box and saw nothing to suggest its low noise. I do think I have the wrong one.

Buuuut, I can report good news. I've just got a cheapo Lidl bag to seal by putting a 1 inch slivver of expensive bag into it. Early days yet tho....

Sunnyday

I`m back - oh how good is this machine :j:j:j:j

I`ve sealed a few bits and bobs mainly hard stuff like butter and cheese etc and its fantastic :D

I`ve yet to try anything soft or use the cannisters but i`m really impressed - woohoo!

Angelina - its not too noisy and definitely not silent, more like a loud burring noise but perfectly acceptable, i`m more than happy.

DH as anticipated thinks that i`m well and truly crackers :rotfl:

The only thin freezer type bags that i have are really small and they are the ziplock type. I shall give them a go at some stage, must try to source a free straw whilst we are away.

SD

[Deleted User]

Ah butter, good idea as i have 3/4 of a pack and it was newly opened this afternoon

Mine is not low noise but the noise is fine and it is only when vacuuming out. Its not annoying at all and just tells me that it is working as the tone changes towards the end of its vac cycle

I have potatoes (glut) dehydrating in the excalibur, they`ll be finished very soon. Then I`ll cool and vac pack for storage over winter. Re onions, I started dehydrating my overwintered onions in late may and have done about 50. I used the AJ electric slicer and the excalibur and then packed approx 1 onion worth in cheapo bags and put several bags into a large vac bag. Winter cooking is going to be so easy

Sunnyday

Oh Kittie - you`ve really done it now!

I`m off out into the garden to pull some onions, the excalibur will be purring away overnight

SD

[Deleted User]

and onions are the easiest, no blanching

part way down the next link is a sauce mix that I am going to make and then vac pack in small bags or I might make a lot and vac into a canister

http://www.realfood4realpeople.com/potatoes.html

I have been saving cereal packets, the waxy ones and they work with a strip of real bag. Just seal across the corners first to make the bag fit and then vac. The potatoe slices tend to be hard and I think things like that will cause minute holes in a thin bag, you`ll have to be selective for long term storage ie butter should be ok but lots of stuff will need thicker bags

sb44

Ok folks, when you have been using a strip from the 'proper' bag in a Lidl bag, have you had some of it popping out of the top of the Lidl one or is it tucked right inside it?

Pics would be helpful if anyone has taken any.



Ta.

Sunnyday

Right, i have onions,courgettes and chard stalks in the dehydrator ready to switch on later and the leaves from the chard are blanching.

I shall seal up all of it tomorrow

I have some cheap ziplock bags to try with the eiffel and also some of the blue freezer bags with handles on, i think that i shall chop the handles off one and give it a go - i`m afraid of melting them as they seem so thin compared to the official bags.

Kittie i`ve bookmarked that site that you linked to for future reading - looks interesting.

SD

Angelina-M

Right I was up until mid-night last night messing with the blooming thing!! To confirm, I've tried sealing the little bit of embossed bag with it hanging out of the top of the bag and every other way you can think of. I'm finding that yes its creating the vacuum but the bit where the sealer seals the bag is not always airtight and some things have lost their seal within a couple of hours.

I've tried sticking a straw into that suction hole, it worked but its so fiddly to get it exactly as needed. Today i'm going to make a small device with ridges on it and will report back if I get a good result with it.

The straw method works but again the seal can fail. Now I know I can turn up the heat setting but I think that may burn the cheaper Lidl bag.

Oh one thing i'm not happy with, I havent got one jar to seal inside the canister yet. The lid clicks down but comes back up again. I've tried about four different half empty jars and not one kept its seal :mad:

sb44

Angelina-M wrote: »

Oh one thing i'm not happy with, I havent got one jar to seal inside the canister yet. The lid clicks down but comes back up again. I've tried about four different half empty jars and not one kept its seal :mad:

Make sure they have a decent gasket inside the jar lid.

I tried last night with my tesco pasta sauce ones and they didn't seal.

The black cherry one did that I bought from Lidl.

I have had a look at the lids and the seal inside the cherry one comes halfway up the side of the lid, the othe one doesn't come up much.

I also tried the tesco value peanut butter jars and although one did work the others didn't. There isn't a gasket at all in those so I assume that is why they didn't work (not sure how that single one did).

Angelina-M

SB I haven't found one that seals yet :mad:

I know there is a seal made as I hear it hiss as I open the main lid.

I'm not having good results with the cheap freezer bags, I've made allsorts of devices, cutting credit cards up and adding grooves etc. It works in a fashion but nowhere near as good as the real bags.