Vacuum sealers for food - money-saving or not?

sb44

Angelina-M wrote: »

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.

I read on an american forum that you can seal jars by placing them in a bag, then vac the bag and it will seal the jar.

I'll see if they still sell those large wide necked jars of black cherries in Lidl later and let you know.

Mine is a far inferior version to yours and the jars seal when I put them in my canisters.

Does the company have a freephone number that you can ring.

sb44

Angelina-M wrote: »

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.

Bloomin' eck! You have been busy.

I am sure you will get there in the end, it's just a bit of a let down.

Regarding your jars, try and seal it again without opening the jar, I am sure that worked for me once.

Angelina-M

Well I do think its the jars that fail. As I open the canister, you see the jar seal sink down and lock but a few seconds later it pops back up again.

The machine works fab with the bags. I put some old bread rolls in and they went as flat as a pancake!

sb44

Angelina-M wrote: »

Well I do think its the jars that fail. As I open the canister, you see the jar seal sink down and lock but a few seconds later it pops back up again.

The machine works fab with the bags. I put some old bread rolls in and they went as flat as a pancake!

Take a look at 6.42 into this video, she says not to overtighten the jar, try that.

I had another go with my tesco jars and they def do not work.

I may have to go and search out some cheap jars of food with serated lids like those in her vid to try.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E552XSAXEdk

Angelina-M

That could be it then because i'm tightening the jars with all my strength before I seal them.

Just off into town but will give it a go when I get back.

I'm loving all these videos, i've learnt so much!

sb44

Angelina-M wrote: »

That could be it then because i'm tightening the jars with all my strength before I seal them.

Just off into town but will give it a go when I get back.

I'm loving all these videos, i've learnt so much!

Yep, I am off out too but before I go, have just tried a Sainsburys Basics Sweet Pickle jar and it DOES work.

Only medium sized jars but will be useful and are only about 25p a jar.

[Deleted User]

I watched that video. She has coffee, pasta, dried mushrooms, etc. My home dried porcini mushrooms have stored well in lock and lock boxes for 3 years now. You really don`t need to vac pack everything to stay fresh longer eg just sealing to keep the air and moisture out will do for many things

outofmoney

Ok, I have looked at these machines and they look good.

I've sort of read through this thread....

But can someone condense it for me? Can you only use certain bags? Do they all suck out the air? Am I correct in thinking you have been experimenting and discovered that you can place a jar in a bag and that seals the jar?

Sorry about all the questions

Angelina-M

sb44 wrote: »

Take a look at 6.42 into this video, she says not to overtighten the jar, try that.

I had another go with my tesco jars and they def do not work.

I may have to go and search out some cheap jars of food with serated lids like those in her vid to try.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E552XSAXEdk

SB thats it.... don't tighten the jars too tight!!

All the ones (except one) have all worked now I didn't use all my strength! The only one that wont is a mint sauce jar and its quite wet on the inside so could be that.

Sunnyday

Lol i`ve just spent the last hour fiddling about with bags and jars:D

The bad news is that the ziplock bags will not seal - not on their own and not with a strip of the original bag inside either. The bags that came with the machine are great. Well they would be wouldn`t they at that price:eek:

I`ve run out of the other type that i was going to cut the handles off so can`t try that - not unless i pinch one out of the freezer anyway.

Jars - well mixed results. The small Morrissons pesto jars that would be ideal will not stay sealed, i`ve just sealed some courgettes into a different jar but its one of the liberated ones so i have no idea what was in it. This sealed the fourth time around so i`m not confident that it will stay that way. I`ll keep an eye on it.

I too found that when i released the vacuum in the cannister the lid would pop back up again so i kept turning the release valve backwards and forwards to release the vacuum slowly and that seems to have worked. I`m actually toying with the idea of sealing all the onions that i`ve dried into the smallest cannister and then opening it to take some out when i need some and then just resealing the cannister again.

Whats peeps opinions on that?

SD