Kitchen

[Pooky1]

Been wanting to order a vacuum sealer for years and I just ordered the food saver qvc sells for 110.00. Its got free shipping a bunch of bags and a roll to seal food. Any tips anyone has on it would be greatly appreciated. Thank you for at tips or advice about it.

[patbz]

Eventually your Food saver will stop sealing; when that happens, you need to replace the gaskets ( easy fix, available on Amazon).

[fthunt]

Meat with lots of juice - steaks - ground beef - par-freeze it or juices will be running all over the place........... by compression of bag - and - it won't hold a seal with so much liquid in bag.

Fish doesn't seem to hold a seal - for some reason - too much moisture I guess.

Par-Freeze - place meatballs- etc. on plate ON wax paper - in refrigerator freezer for about an hour.  Immediately put meat in FS bag and seal.  

Enjoy........................

[kaydee50]

DH bought the hand held one that HSN sells or used to sell by Debbie Meyer.  We don't have large portions to seal and this worked well for us.  We used to have a regular size Food Saver but it did go kaput after a couple of years and now they are too expensive.

[LuvmyLab]

We've had ours for years and love it!  We have never had a problem with the sealer and never had to replace anything.  We have saved so much food by using this food sealer. We seal lots of food in the original bags and if that's not possible, we use the food saver bags. 

[luvmybeetle]

I've had my Food Saver for a few years and have never had a problem with sealing immediately with raw meat.  Mine has a button for moisture/dry food.  You can buy in bulk and save lots of money.  It's a good buy. 

[loriqvc]

Like @luvmybeetle, I also made sure to purchase the Food Saver with multiple settings so I could adjust to the needs of the day. It has been working perfectly for more than a decade, saving us lots of wasted food and money.

@Pooky1 - What kind of tips are you looking for?

[Pooky1]

Loriqvc . nothing specific. Just wherever people think of it.

[froggy]

My tip is to go to the Foodsaver website and become a member there. They will occasionally have two for one sales - I think I even remember a buy one get two free sale. At their sale prices you can get the bags cheaper even than Costco. I buy a lot when the sale is on. They also have a heavier weight bag called Game bags. I use them for meat.

[Eileen in Virginia]

I've had one (not the same one) since QVC first offered them many years ago. I've frozen meats and fish successfully without pre-freezing. I buy them in bulk from BJ's, then break them down into smaller portions that work for our family. I like to buy a 10 pound pork loin roast, then cut it into several smaller roasts and boneless pork chops. I do the same with salmon filets. I buy dark cherries in bulk from Amazon, divide them into 2 cup portions, shrink wrap them, then freeze them until I need them. They're perfect for keeping hard cheeses fresh until you use them up. Just reseal after you've taken what you need until the next time you need it. This also holds true for bacon, hot dogs, etc. Most bulk baking ingredients can be shrink wrapped until you're ready to use them, too. I don't usually shrink wrap baked goods, although this might be possible with some of the more sophisticated models. I'm not a camper, but I understand Foodsavers can be used to seal non-food items to keep them dry while camping. 

I prefer to use the bags (quart and gallon sized) instead of the rolls. I just never got into them. I've got a galley kitchen with very limited counter space. My Foodsaver is one appliance that's always on the counter ready for use.