Vacuum sealers for food - money-saving or not?

sb44

I'm sick of buying jars of spices for the odd recipe and then never use them again and end up binning them.

I have just had an idea though and thought it may be of use to anyone else who has a Foodsaver sealer and canisters.



I have emptied the spices into small resealable bags (the ones that have a couple of white lines on the front to write on).

We have a couple of those large jars that you can buy cherries in syrup in (from Lidl), so I put the spice packets in there.

If you have Foodsaver canisters, besides using the canister to store you can put a jar in there, then vacuum the canister and it will seal the jar, ie the little button in the middle of the jar will seal again like new. That way you can save your spices, take them out as you need them and then just reseal the jar lid as before.

Perhaps other Foodsaver or vacuum sealer owners can put their own tips here for us all.

zippychick

Hi Sb

I'll merge this with the existing thread later
thanks
ZIP

demented_2

Bumping this thread up as i am considering getting a Food sealer. I am into dehydrating food and was wondering which is the best food sealer to buy. Can anyone recommend one to me please? Thanks demented x

kebabby

I got the Freshield vacuum sealer one on sale at Juiceland for £79.95 and includes bags and rolls. Its very good quality and has a strong vacuum on it, you can also buy vacuum containers to go with it.

Nicifer_noonoo

bump bump

[Deleted User]

I am bumping this thread because I have got a vacuum sealer and am thoroughly delighted with it. I had a small qvc foodsaver lurking in a cupboard for several years, out of sight and out of mind, until a few weeks ago when I was wondering what to do to keep my bulk buys of nuts fresh for longer. I portioned the nuts them vacuumed and sealed them and was very happy with the results.

I have an allotment and a lot of onions, too many to store the normal way, so I dehydated a lot and then portioned them and vac sealed them, so now I`ll just have to pick out a bag every time I want an onion for cooking and they will last a long time. I am vac sealing anything I can get my hands on and it is addictive, I did some small turnips yesterday as I won`t be cooking them for a while. As I said I have a small one and last week also bought the andrew james bigger one as it is more robust, I`ll give the little one to dd. I also bought lots of bags from bags of freshness, they are cheaper and of good quality

I bought 3kg of barley at a very good price and vacuumed that in 6 bags and they end up as tight little bags. I am ready to do flour next as I already store flour for winter but this will make it last longer. Uses are endless really, oh yes I have a big chicken in the fridge and I think I`ll portion that and vac pack them

sb44

Lidl have one on offer from Thursday for £24.99 with a 3 year warranty.

http://www.lidl.co.uk/cps/rde/xchg/lidl_uk/hs.xsl/index_22279.htm

It does say in the write up that it can be used with Lidl Freezer bags, has anyone tried Lidl Freezer bags in their Foodsaver machine?

I am assuming it just seals and doesn't take the air out if you use them with the Foodsaver.

McKneff

Has anyone noticed that the first post on here is from 2006

sb44

McKneff wrote: »

Has anyone noticed that the first post on here is from 2006

Yes!

sb44

sb44 wrote: »

It does say in the write up that it can be used with Lidl Freezer bags, has anyone tried Lidl Freezer bags in their Foodsaver machine?

I am assuming it just seals and doesn't take the air out if you use them with the Foodsaver.

Well, I bought some freezer bags from Lidl and they DO NOT take the air out if you use a FoodSaver machine.

They are fine for sealing and they are quite thick but I want to use mine to take the air out not just as an expensive sealer!

The Lidl ones were £1.49 for 75 x 3l bags, made by Aromata.

It does say that you use them to cook frozen food in the pan which I may give a try, didn't want to use my FoodSaver bags for that.