Vacuum sealers for food - money-saving or not?

Kevie192

Picked my sealer up today! Yay! Currently sealing everything in sight

Im having a hard time visualising what you're describing sb44... I don't suppose you have a pic do you?

[Deleted User]

I use a permanent pen and write on the bit that you cut off to open

Just a word of warning, I have had several bags, different makes, lose their vacuum in the fridge. Don`t rely on them 100% unless you seal twice. Different matter for the freezer, where they do a superb space saving job. I sealed servings of red cabbage, double wrapped in easy leave (lakeland) and they took a fraction of the normal space, I put several servings into one special bag

sb44

Kevie192 wrote: »

Picked my sealer up today! Yay! Currently sealing everything in sight

Im having a hard time visualising what you're describing sb44... I don't suppose you have a pic do you?

Edited now to include a pic.

sb44

kittie wrote: »

Just a word of warning, I have had several bags, different makes, lose their vacuum in the fridge. Don`t rely on them 100% unless you seal twice. Different matter for the freezer, where they do a superb space saving job.

Yep, I have been double sealing them to make sure.

Kevie192

Thanks sb44.

So do you just cut the top off the bag, place it back in and then seal?

Apologies if I'm being dim!

Also, I don't have any lidl bags... The nearest one is miles away and I don't drive

taxsaver

I got my eiffel sealer yesterday and the canisters turned up today! Yay!! :j

Sealed some sausages and tested re-vacuuming some bolognese sauce jars; all worked a treat. Have also sealed and unsealed lots of things that didn't need sealing!! :rotfl:

So plan is to go to supermarket and get some meats (hopefully on offer or reduced) and start putting portions into bags with marinades and then sealing and freezing. Also thinking of doing portions of veg with butter and herbs sealed and frozen. Hopefully I then have better quality home-made 'ready-meals' as I can't be bothered with daily cooking but batch cooking would be fine. Fingers crossed.

sb44

Kevie192 wrote: »

Thanks sb44.

So do you just cut the top off the bag, place it back in and then seal?

Apologies if I'm being dim!

Also, I don't have any lidl bags... The nearest one is miles away and I don't drive

Yes, cut the top off, cut off the ends of the strip that you have cut off and pull the strips apart. Bin the red strip and tuck the blue one into your bag (like on my pic).

Then seal the bag, keeping about a cm of the blue strip out of the bag, tuck that into your vac channel when you put the top of the bag in.

I have found that the cheaper ziplok bags I got from the discount shop are better than the Lidl ones.

Nope you don't sound dim at all, it took me ages to get it right, I just hope I don't lose the knack of doing it!

sb44

taxsaver wrote: »

I got my eiffel sealer yesterday and the canisters turned up today! Yay!! :j

Sealed some sausages and tested re-vacuuming some bolognese sauce jars; all worked a treat. Have also sealed and unsealed lots of things that didn't need sealing!! :rotfl:

So plan is to go to supermarket and get some meats (hopefully on offer or reduced) and start putting portions into bags with marinades and then sealing and freezing. Also thinking of doing portions of veg with butter and herbs sealed and frozen. Hopefully I then have better quality home-made 'ready-meals' as I can't be bothered with daily cooking but batch cooking would be fine. Fingers crossed.

I have been buying the reduced price sausages in Aldi, the good ones that are about 90% pork, cooking them straight away and vac packing them for the freezer. I can then just defrost them for a quick sausage casserole.

taxsaver

Excellent thought, I'll look out for those then.

I'm very tempted by the sous vide idea though so am planning on trying that with various raw meats and veg (different bags ofc!).

LoveLifeAgain

taxsaver wrote: »

I got my eiffel sealer yesterday and the canisters turned up today! Yay!! :j

Sealed some sausages and tested re-vacuuming some bolognese sauce jars; all worked a treat. Have also sealed and unsealed lots of things that didn't need sealing!! :rotfl:

So plan is to go to supermarket and get some meats (hopefully on offer or reduced) and start putting portions into bags with marinades and then sealing and freezing. Also thinking of doing portions of veg with butter and herbs sealed and frozen. Hopefully I then have better quality home-made 'ready-meals' as I can't be bothered with daily cooking but batch cooking would be fine. Fingers crossed.

Excellent ideas, would you blanche the veg as usual, put into the bags when cold and then the butter and herbs. Would you use fresh or dried herbs and would it make a difference. Sorry for all the questions

My AJ Pro turned up yesterday without the canisters and I sent a message to which they replied quickly with an apology and the canisters are on their way RM 1st class. Very nice, but I want them NOW

Excitement mounting