Vacuum sealers for food - money-saving or not?

Angelina-M

SB have you thought about asking on Freecycle? Thats what i'm going to do as I have nearly filled my two carrier bags of jars I was reserving for jam!

Dianasnan I have not tried the AJ one so can't comment but the Eiffel one is extremely strong. The suction can easily destroy delicate items if you don't watch it. I'm really pleased with it. I phoned the guy up who is the distributor and he really knows his stuff and customer service is excellent. The bags are very thick and good quality.

sb44

Angelina-M wrote: »

SB have you thought about asking on Freecycle? Thats what i'm going to do as I have nearly filled my two carrier bags of jars I was reserving for jam!

Dianasnan I have not tried the AJ one so can't comment but the Eiffel one is extremely strong. The suction can easily destroy delicate items if you don't watch it. I'm really pleased with it. I phoned the guy up who is the distributor and he really knows his stuff and customer service is excellent. The bags are very thick and good quality.

Nah, I don't need that many to be honest and it would probably cost me more in petrol money going to pick them up.

Angelina-M

sb44 wrote: »

Nah, I don't need that many to be honest and it would probably cost me more in petrol money going to pick them up.

Ahh fair point. I've been dehydrating everything in sight so i'm desperate for jars before the blackberries ripen. There's hardly any room left in my pantry.

sb44

Ok, I think I have sussed the sealing of cheap zip lock bags.

If you are cutting the strips off the top to pop into the bag and the following day the vac has failed try this.

Seal 90% of the top of the bag using the heat strip, you will have to put it in at an angle to do this.

Make sure you are using a long blue strip that you have cut off the top of the zip lock and push it into the small bit that you have left unsealed.

Because you are using a long strip it will reach towards the bottom of the bag so take more air out, plus you are only leaving that 10% for the machine to draw the air through so I think it is less hassle for it and it seems to pull more air out.

I then seal it across the top of this 10% bit to maker sure no air will escape.

You may have to snip a bit of the blue strip off from inside the top to enable you to seal it without having to go across it again.



None of my large Lidl bags would work properly but I have just vac'd 2kg of chicken drumsticks this way and it worked.

LoveLifeAgain

I got my canisters and they work brilliantly, just like my AJ which seems to have an awful lot of suck :j
I had a test try with the canisters and wanted to put up some pictures but could not get it to work. I used photobucket and did the link thing but all I got was a square with a small red cross in it and I did put it to share but clearly do not have the ability to know what I have done wrong Tried to google but just got the Red Cross organisation

I used some pickle jars and the seal is holding beautifully. When I got some meat from the weekly meat van (excellent, fresh as they butcher it themselves and very cheap) and took advice on here and open froze the steaks and then put them in bags with greaseproof between and I am thrilled - no blood being sucked up :dance:

Angelina-M

SB how is the seal today? Thats been my problem that the seals arent lasting on the cheap Lidl bags. I'm hoping to go to Makro next week so i'll have a look at what bags they do.

I'm having real fun with the dehydrator/vac packing system. I've just eaten a bowl of granola that I made and its truly delightful!

taxsaver

Hmmm... I haven't been drawn into the whole dehydration thing yet - but have started looking! :rotfl:

Angelina-M

taxsaver wrote: »

Hmmm... I haven't been drawn into the whole dehydration thing yet - but have started looking! :rotfl:

Oh you will, its only a matter of time. I'm just cutting up pineapples at the moment for snacks I used to have a Mars Bar!

sb44

Angelina-M wrote: »

SB how is the seal today? Thats been my problem that the seals arent lasting on the cheap Lidl bags. I'm hoping to go to Makro next week so i'll have a look at what bags they do.

I'm having real fun with the dehydrator/vac packing system. I've just eaten a bowl of granola that I made and its truly delightful!

Just been to check and two of the three are fine, the other has had to be redone.

Not sure why it works sometimes and doesn't at others.

sb44

Angelina-M wrote: »

Oh you will, its only a matter of time. I'm just cutting up pineapples at the moment for snacks I used to have a Mars Bar!

Don't forget there is still quite a bit of natural sugar in fruit.

Still healthier than a mars bar though.