Vacuum Packer

[James E]

I am trying to find a good vacuum packer. I have a cheap food saver. I bought a Cabelas commercial grade. I got bad seals with it. I exchanged it. My seals are less then ideal. I am going to take it back. Anyone know of a good quality one. I would like to keep it under $500.00?

[Dansk]

Here's an idea... I was having the same problem with my food saver.  Started wrapping fish and deer steaks in saran wrap first, then sealing- doesn't let the seal area get wet, protects against burn, and contents stay fresh way longer... also seals perfect- it was the liquid that was messing up the seal.

[LongRange300RUM]

With a budget of 500 I'd suggest the vacmaster vp112. It's a chamber sealer so you can literally vacuum seal a bag of water. Simple to use and the bags are a lot cheaper. Cost probably 1/3 rd what the food saver bags cost. I love mine the only down side is its almost the size of a microwave and weighs over 50 lbs.

[MtnMuley]

With a budget of 500 I'd suggest the vacmaster vp112. It's a chamber sealer so you can literally vacuum seal a bag of water. Simple to use and the bags are a lot cheaper. Cost probably 1/3 rd what the food saver bags cost. I love mine the only down side is its almost the size of a microwave and weighs over 50 lbs.

Would be my recommendation as well.

[James E]

Thanks, I will check it out. The problem I have is air in the bag. It is not a tight seal.

[7mmfan]

Dansk has a point that would affect air in the bag too. when I seal pieces of meat that are large in the bag, often times, the area behind the meat has air in it because the vacuum seals the bag down to the front and side edges of the meat before all the air escapes the back. This has to do a lot with the amount of moisture in the bag. If you wrap your meat first, this is far less pronounced and generally you get almost all if not all of the air out of the bag.

[NRA4LIFE]

If you're having problems with moisture up near the seal, make a number of different sized "funnels" out of used food containers by simply cutting the bottoms off.  I have 3 different sizes as I use about a half dozen different sized bags.  One was a yogurt container, one a pint sized sour cream container and the other a large (qt size?) cottage cheese container.  You can jam the smaller open end of the "funnels" into the bag first down past where the seal would be and drop your meat through the funnel.  Works great.

And yes, buy a chamber sealer.  The cost of the bags will pay for it over time.  I buy bags (large quantities) on the internet for as little as 4 cents apiece.  Even the heaviest 5 mil bags I buy are around 13 cents.  Food Saver and Cabela's bags will run you as much as 40-50 cents a piece.  I'm saving 40 cents a bag on average and I do 600-800 per year.  Do the math.  I have a Vacmaster 215c and I've had it for a year and a half now and it has probably half paid for itself already in bag savings.

[andersonjk4]

How do the seal times compare between a Foodsaver type vacuum sealer and a chamber sealer? (I am not familiar with chamber sealers at all).  I have a Foodsaver that I have always had good results with.  But I will be in the market for a new unit in the near future.

[LongRange300RUM]

Here's a cool video of a chamber sealer
http://youtu.be/tQlGYQ9y0sU

Most sealing issues are due to vacuuming moisture into the sealing area. With a chamber sealer it vacuums all the air out of the entire chamber not just the bag. This doesn't cause the moisture to be drawn to the sealing area. It then seals the bag. At this point the bag doesn't look like it's been vacuum sealed at all. Still lots of air in the bag. But when the vacuum in the chamber releases there is still negative pressure inside the bag and since it's sealed the bag vacuums tight to its contents with no air inside.
The vacuum and seal times are both adjustable. This let's you turn the seal time up for thicker bags so you get a good seal every time. It is still important to keep the seal area clean when loading the bags.

[Dansk]

How do the seal times compare between a Foodsaver type vacuum sealer and a chamber sealer? (I am not familiar with chamber sealers at all).  I have a Foodsaver that I have always had good results with.  But I will be in the market for a new unit in the near future.

No contest, really. Chambers are way faster. They have a better heat bar that doesn't require the cool down time the pumps do. I used one at Neah bay to package 20 sea bass, 1 hali, and 4 lings in about 30 mins. Two guys working.... the vac pac was not the bottleneck. we wrapped the filles in saran using the chamber sealer as well.

[KFhunter]

My problem is I keep the meat in a chest freezer,  then when momma sends the kids to get a package they root through it and bang the packaged together.  It makes pinholes in the bags - then I have air in the bag.


Might be something to consider if you're putting away tightly sealed bags only to pull them out of the freezer and find they have air in them.

[andersonjk4]

Do the chamber sealer bags come in bulk rolls or are they only pre-made pouches?  I like to use a wide variety of bag sizes from tiny for individual day pack jerky packages to large roasts or turkey breasts. 

[Buzz2401]

That demo video posted makes me not want a chamber vac.  It took forever.  I could of done probably three packages with my commercial grade traditional vacumm packer.  Do they make faster ones.  I have a LEM now got it on sale at Sportco for $279 and have been very happy with it.  Sportmans Warehouse has them for $449 I think everyday price.  I had a foodsaver that lasted over 8 years and it was still going when I gave it away but it was really slow and you had to double seal every bag or it would leak.

[NRA4LIFE]

The chamber sealers are adjustable for the vacuuming time and the sealing time.  Depends on how much of a vacuum you need, thickness of the bags, etc.  One thing I like is the sealing bar is a double seal.  And if you want to see something cool about the chamber sealers, google "retort pouches".  You can make your own MREs. I will never go back to the seal a meal kind.

As far as bags go, you can buy almost any size you want.  No messing with having to make bags from rolls anymore.  I've been buying them in bulk, 500 at a time and have about 6 different sizes.  4 X 6 is the smallest and the largest is about 10 X 15 or so.  You can buy much larger ones but I haven't found the need for them yet.

[scottcrb]

I've been looking for one myself as well. I've.heard good things about the Weston vacume packers. The have a coupon code on their website now for 25% off too. U could get a comercial grade one for under $500 easy .