Anyone have a food saver and use it?

[Kate in VA]

I'm thinking about getting one..... I wanted to know if anyone uses one regularly? Do you feel that it has saved on trashing food?

 

Do you make entire meals and then vacuum them? or do you just buy in bulk and vacuum in smaller amounts?

 

Thanks!

Kate

[Janna]

I have one and I love it!

 

I don't use it as much as I should, but I guess I haven't had a huge reason too yet. Our family is small (but growing!) so the meals I make tend to not have leftovers to freeze. Sometimes I will buy things on sale (like whole coffee beans) and freeze them with the vacuum. Or I'll make double batches of pancakes and freeze them. In the fall I use it to freeze tomatoes over the winter, and in the winter I freeze soups. We don't go to any of the wholesale clubs, so I don't buy in bulk. That may change here though as food costs are going up so high and our family is expanding (in number, not physical size, LOL).

 

Anyway, it's been totally worth it. For someone who would use it even more than I do, I would think it would be a huge time/cost saver. I do not have any of the containers, only the bags. I want to get some containers though - esp. for soup. So far I've had to pour soup into the bag, prop it somehow in the freezer to freeze and then once it's frozen have it sealed (otherwise the liquid gets squeezed out and makes a huge mess).

 

 

I love mine and think it's very worth it. HTH!

[WTMindy]

My mom has one and never uses it. I really don't see that much difference over that and Zip-lock bags. However, she is trying to convince me to use it this summer when I freeze my raspberries, but we'll see. To me, it just doesn't seem that necesary.

[Claire]

I have one but don't think it has saved me money. Once in awhile it has been convenient, say for freezing fresh blueberries in season. I thought it would help with preserving fresh veggies, but the truth is it's too much extra work for that (for me, anyway). It could probably save money for someone who prepares a large meal and then freezes portions, and maybe for someone who freezes fresh produce from the garden.

 

One thing -- if it's not out in the open, on the countertop, you are likely to not use it. Unless you have the counterspace for it, or plan on freezing large amounts of produce in season (when it could be out for just a few days or a week at a time), it may not be worthwhile.

 

I *did* find it useful for preserving partial bottles of wine. You can get special wine stoppers and vacuum out the air in the bottle. Haven't had wine in months, though.......

[Punkinelly]

We had one but did not use it as often as I thought I would. Good zip-locks worked just as well. I found that sometimes the Food Saver bags come open, too. It just seemed like something else to take up space in my kitchen.

 

The bags are so expensive, too.

 

And when I put cookies in the bags, the cookies got crushed many times from being squashed as the air was sucked out.

[Mommieeeee]

I had one and it was such a pain. The bags cost alot and it is just plain inconvenient to lug out and the clean after you are done. I originally purchased it for meat. I wanted to buy a lot and freeze it.

 

That was just too much. I went back to my wrapping with freezer paper and foil method, it is much easier.

 

I did try to freeze strawberries with it once. I forgot to read the instructions that said freeze the strawberries (or raspberries as another poster said) and then put them in the bag and seal. After sealing them, they looked like a juice drink. The bag squeezed them so hard they started to squeeze together. Oh well, lesson learned.

[Sunny]

We got meat in large quantity at times, and it worked really well to freeze it in our bags rather than in the store wrap that would allow freezer burn very quickly. We bought the bags at WalMart, the cheapest ones worked just fine. Name brand are way too expensive. I can't see someone buying large quantities of meat like this though under normal circumstances. Even if you buy a side of beef, the butcher usually wraps it well for storage.

 

I LOVE the canning jar attachment. I store my brown sugar, reg. granulated sugar, corn starch, powders, raisins, chocolate chips, etc.. in these jars. My seal a meal has the lid "sucker" that if I just put on the canning flat lid, I can take out the air in the jar, adn my brown sugar and all others remain just fresh as can be! No more lumping, no more discolored chocolate. This one attachment is worth it to me. I got all my jars from a garage sale. Bought new lids, and I have a beautiful pantry with all the see through jars with colorful ingredients.

 

We've used the wine bottle cork, and that works too. That way, the wine will stay good until the next party.

[brehon]

We have one and use it a lot, especially in the summer months when we freeze fruit and veg from our garden. We tend to buy meat when it is on sale (i.e. close to its "sell-by" date) and then freeze portions. Once a month or so dh and I make big batches of various soups which we freeze in varying sized portions. We buy the generic bags and haven't had any trouble with either the machine or the bags not sealing enough.

[Melanie in WI]

I use mine occasionally, I would probably use it more often if I had a place on the counter. I use it to package meat when we butcher one of the goats or some of the vegatables from the garden. Usually it's easier to grab a ziplock bag.

[Guest norman09]

yeah I just got a Food Saver V2840 Advanced Design, today was the first day I used it. I love it so far, but have only sealed up a few packages of walnuts and cheeses. I have both the bags on the roll and the precut bags, used the precut ones today..... for more detail ...read this..

 

http://www.foodsaverblog.com/

[cat in black]

I have broken two of them. I gave up. I am not meant to be a Food Saver person. I am more of a Ziplock baggie or aluminum foil type person. *sigh*

[Blueridge]

I just opened a package of chicken breasts that I had vacuum-sealed on 9-9-09, and they had absolutely no frost or discoloration on them at all. Plump and juicy and new looking. Comparing them to the ground turkey that I had frozen in it's store packaging that was so frost-bitten that I had to throw it away, that's quite a savings on meat. We also use a lot of bananas for daily smoothies, so I buy in bulk. The ones I put in a freezer baggie for that week's use are always browned and sticky, while the other bananas I vacuum seal for later use are completely yellow, non-frosted, and perfect looking. It's definitely worth the little bit of time it takes.

[charmama4]

I only seem to use it during camping season. I'll pre-make pasta, rice, stew, meats, muffins, etc. and seal them up. Then at the camp site I just put the bag of rice or pasta in the boiling water to heat up.

[BikeBookBread]

It's in the basement. I was all gung ho when we first got it. Then I put it under the counter and as it always goes, out of sight, out of mind.

[elise1mds]

I use mine quite a bit for meat (bulk from Sam's) and veggies from the garden. I also use them to freeze pesto. My dad got me the stuff, so I wasn't out any cash. All I do is buy the rolls so I can cut my own bags.

[gpsings]

I had one, and I had problems with the storage bags ripping in the freezer. It's like they would get crispy and 'break'. Not freezer friendly. I gave it away. :shrug:

[LaxMom]

We've had one for three or four years, and I like it. I use it for specific things, though, and ziplock bags or mason jars for others.

 

The Food Saver is used for meats - our butcher has a great price for boneless, skinless chicken breasts if you buy ten lbs or more, for instance - and for storing cooking portions of dry goods that we buy in bulk from our natural food buying club, like dried beans. I have used it for leftover soups, stews, roasts, etc when I've made obscene amounts and the family is complaining about the leftovers after several meals. I just leave an estimated bit of head space, roll down the open end and secure it with a binder clip while it freezes, then vacuum/seal it the next day.

 

I keep the "working" portions of nuts, dried fruit, oddball flours, etc, in quart or half gallon mason jars, and store the rest in Food Saver bags.

 

For things like produce from the garden, though, I prep them and tray freeze them, then store the frozen pieces in ziplock bags so it's convenient to take out the amount I need when I want to use them.

 

The only issue we've had is that periodically (twice, since we've had it) the foam gaskets that the bag sit between during sealing will get nicks and the vacuum will be compromised. For a while, I can flip them over and continue to use them, but eventually I need to order new ones. They're cheap (I think $2) but the shipping is ridiculous (like $8), and as far as I can tell, they're only available by calling Food Saver directly. Still, it's not a common annoyance.

 

Oh, and I keep mine in a cabinet, where the crockpots, food processors, etc. live. It comes out when we get home from provisioning - my monthly food order pickup, or a trip to the butcher - everything gets packaged, and it goes back into its cabinet. I don't find it any more or less trouble than pulling out the freezer paper and whatnot to package foods for storage, but I think it would be more trouble than putting daily leftovers up in pyrex or tupperware or whatever you like.

[Mallorie]

I love it, but the cost of the bags priced me out of using it. After seeing this thread, i'm encouraged to go and check out the cheaper ones.

 

Like others, I LOVE the canning jar attachment. I do the same things, and vacuum seal bulk spices that I get at the local Amish grocery in mason jars.

[Guest norman09]

I used it when we buy a large quantity of meat...and we divided the meat and seal up the portions (so you don't lay out a whole big pack of meat to thaw) and put into the freezer....we use ours for sealing up potato chip bags and putting away fresh veggies from the garden, and sales from stores too!...its really good to keep Cheese from molding and keeps lunch meats longer too!!...for more detail...

 

http://www.foodsaverblog.com/

:lurk5:

 

[Capt_Uhura]

I loved mine but they upgraded it and the new bags just don't seem to work on mine. It just never seals. I still do have the containers. I sealed in a head of lettuce, went on vacation, came back and it was like I had just bought it. It works very well for strawberries but for some reason, the berries seem to lose their flavor but they are still good in my cereal. I've used it for meats and the meat was fine in the freezer over 9 months later. In store packaging or regular ziplock, I would have thrown it out. I think the key is having it somewhere where it is accessible.

[kewb]

I love mine but like anything else, I go through cycles with it. Some months I vacuum seal everything in my path and some months I don't. I have found it great for meat. The meat really lasts much longer when I take the time to seal it.

[jg_puppy]

I had a regular food saver and never used it. I bought one of these when you could buy them in Target and I love it. It is small and works great for the occasional use that I have.

 

http://kitchen-dining.hsn.com/debbie-meyer-reynolds-handi-vac-food-sealer-with-23-bags_p-6072649_xp.aspx?web_id=6072649&ocm=sekw

 

Jan