Vacuum sealers for food - money-saving or not?

LoveLifeAgain

sb44 wrote: »

Not sure if I mentioned it in this forum or not but don't forget, if you manage to get the knack of sealing jars, you can use that way to marinade food.

I put 3 mini chicken fillets which I had added spices, bit of oil and lemon juice to, into a medium sized jar, took the air out and left it in the fridge for an hour.

When I took the lid off the smell of garlic etc nearly knocked me out! It was well and truly marinated in no time at all.

This way it saves you using up your bags and the jar can easily be washed and used again.

Great idea, thank you. :T Now I only have a machine to get

Sunnyday

Taxsaver - those cannisters are the best price that i have ever seen :eek:
they are identical to mine apart from the valve in the middle is a different colour. I almost feel like sending mine back and ordering those.

The bags i have are these http://www.fresherpack.co.uk/sections/3/vacuum_sealer_rolls/ the rolls at the top are the ones, the postage makes it more expensive than the ones you`ve found but if two rolls are bought its the same.

Charybdis1 - I had exactly the same thoughts as you at first and wondered if i could just seal up jars with soup inside etc, these still need to be refrigerated / processed though. I think that i shall make soup in jars as someone else suggested and freeze some, the rest i shall seal and keep in the fridge. I`ll bet that i can make a weeks worth of lunches super cheap for the winter months and then just take the jar to work and microwave it.

HMMM i have a garden shed with lots of jars stored in these that contain various types of nuts and screws, these can get damp and rusty so if i seal them it may help to stop this happening I`m also going to buy some of those vacuum bags from the pound shop when i see some, if i can vacuum some of the spare bedding then i will have a lot more storage space, i`m thinking of using the hose thngy to give it a go. If it doesn`t work then so be it but i`m going to give it a go

SD

Angelina-M

Hmmm ok the bags I managed to seal fully, ie so the contents feel hard are not as sealed today. This is using the cheaper Lidl bags. Unless I get a tried and tested method of doing this pretty soon then i'm going to give up. I'm starting to think I will use the cheap bags for everyday, storing a bit of extra cucumber, that type of thing, then the expensive bags for long term stuff.

To be fair, i've compared the two machines side by side and there is no comparison really. I know the expensive bags are way more to buy but they are reusable and the machine pull out so much more air than the cheaper option ever could.

I've just ordered a hundred bags from Fresherpack and the guy there (Ashley) is so enthusiastic about his product.

I'm off to the farmers market today and I'm going to stock up on meat. Will get a load of mince and make up tons of lasagne, chilli etc and make 'ready meals' for the family!

Oh and yes my jars are still sealed this morning so i'm pleased about that. I too was checking them hourly :T

sb44

taxsaver wrote: »

Hmmm.... you were right about being awake at silly o'clock looking at things to do with vacuum packing!! :rotfl:

Hah! hah! Told you!

sb44

Angelina-M wrote: »

IOh and yes my jars are still sealed this morning so i'm pleased about that. I too was checking them hourly :T

Hooray!

Off to check mine now too.:D

sb44

I think Seal a Meal bags will be ok for us as they appear to have ridges in them.

They are on offer at Tesco at the minute, 2 x 30m rolls for £8.50 free delivery to your local store.

http://direct.tesco.com/q/R.206-0620.aspx

Argos sell the same ones too but they are £11.49 for two rolls.

http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/4261522/Trail/searchtext%3ESEAL+A+MEAL.htm

If you do try Argos make sure they give you Seal A Meal rolls as sometimes they give you a product that is not exactly the same as that in the picture.

sb44

Another thing not to forget.

If you are going to store food items that do NOT contain blood, so anything that isn't raw meat basically, put it into a freezer/sandwich bag first before you place it into your sealer bag. You can then get continous use from the 'proper' bag, just give it a rinse and leave it to dry (or put it into the dishwasher - I don't have one but some of the bags can be put in there but check first).

Angelina-M

sb44 wrote: »

Another thing not to forget.

If you are going to store food items that do NOT contain blood, so anything that isn't raw meat basically, put it into a freezer/sandwich bag first before you place it into your sealer bag. You can then get continous use from the 'proper' bag, just give it a rinse and leave it to dry (or put it into the dishwasher - I don't have one but some of the bags can be put in there but check first).

Yes brill idea and a reason to cut rolls a little longer than you need so the bag doesn't become too small to use again.

I'm getting interested in the sous vide (sp) and will start looking into that more. If you cook this way though you can't reuse the bags it seems.

sb44

Angelina-M wrote: »

I'm getting interested in the sous vide (sp) and will start looking into that more. If you cook this way though you can't reuse the bags it seems.

Don't forget you can use the Lidl freezer bags for sous vide so it doesn't matter if you don't reuse them at that price (£1.75 for 75).

sb44

Just found this but I haven't tried it yet.

That Tilia foodsaver group is great.

However, I wanted to vacuum seal some nuts and didnot want to have to
use the Tilia bags. It took some time--samples from a few bag
companies, but I did find an alternative.

I realised that most bags lay absolutely flat (unlike the Tilia which
is textured) so the vacuum can not work. If you squinch in the sides
of the plastic bag before you put it in the Tilia so that some air
"channels" are found in the creases, the Tilia can do its vacuuming
and you can use other bags. I felt like Ben Franklin g when I
discovered this after much experimenting. hahaha The Nuts are
perfect.

May give it a go later.