Vacuum Sealers

[ratherbeshooting]

About ready to kick my 2nd Foodsaver to the curb. I hate wasting hard earned meat to crummy seals. Yes, I remove bones from fish, yes I make sure the seal is dry, yes..., yes..., yes... I am convinced the vacuum is too weak, the seal bar too thin and the general quality just not up to my expectation (of course, what should I expect for $150!?). Curious what everyone else is using? I am leaning towards throwing down the $$ and getting a Vacmaster VP112 (chamber) but am open to other suggestions. I do a fair bit of fish (smoked and raw), game meat etc...
Cheers
RBS

[adriaticum]

Just go with a good medium level food saver and you will be happy.
I don't remove bones from the fish or any of that jazz and had only 1 seal ever break.
Perhaps it's the way you are sealing it.
I pre-freeze my fish before sealing it. Or at least leave it in the fridge for a few hours to cold dry it.
Padded area of the bag on the bottom, always.

[The Dawg]

I had one FS for 10+ years and never had an issue. Are you using the FS bags, or knock offs?

[winchester284]

Check out the Weston Pro series (same as Cabella) approx $400.
http://www.huntingbc.ca/forum/showthread.php?89658-Food-Saver-quot-game-saver-turbo-quot/page2&highlight=vacuum+sealer (http://www.huntingbc.ca/forum/showthread.php?89658-Food-Saver-quot-game-saver-turbo-quot/page2&highlight=vacuum+sealer)

[ruger#1]

I buy my sealer bags from foodsaver king in Surrey. They are thicker and cheaper. I also use the foodsaver big game sealer. It works great. Not to good on the foodsaver bags from foodsaver.

[Whonnock Boy]

foodsaver king in Surrey.

Where is this place, and how much cheaper are they? I don't use them, but the father in-law does.

I'm a brown paper guy. Some guys will saran first, and then brown paper. Never a problem with the seal breaking. Fish is another story. I have found no matter what you do, after 4 or 5 months in the freezer it becomes "fishy". The best however is how my uncle freezes fish, completely submerged in water. I had some pickerel of his, and it tasted as fresh as the day that he caught it.

[winchester284]

I've been using my Weston for about 3 years. Coho salmon is like fresh after 9 months, Spring lasts as long as 12 months, Sockeye is good for a year and a half. I find all the salmon I pack is still quite edible after those time frames however I may need to cut off a bit of freezer burn and I usually make salmon burgers with the older fish. Trout doesn't freeze well and needs to be eaten within the first 6 months.

We're just finishing some 2 1/2 year old moose and it tastes like the day it was packaged.

The key is removing all the air and ensuring that there is a good seal so no air can leak back into the package.

[BimmerBob]

I am in the market for a good vacuum sealer as well and I was going to buy another Foodsaver until I noticed the very bad ratings on the consumer sites. Mine has a bad vacuum switch that does not seem to work all the time and so sometimes tries to seal without vacuum and sometimes does not know the vacuum has been achieved and won't seal.

It is a simple little part but can't seem to locate a new one so I can repair the unit which kinda sucks... any suggestions for a parts source or anybody have an old foodsaver unit that I can salvage parts from?

[ruger#1]

Where is this place, and how much cheaper are they? I don't use them, but the father in-law does.

I'm a brown paper guy. Some guys will saran first, and then brown paper. Never a problem with the seal breaking. Fish is another story. I have found no matter what you do, after 4 or 5 months in the freezer it becomes "fishy". The best however is how my uncle freezes fish, completely submerged in water. I had some pickerel of his, and it tasted as fresh as the day that he caught it.

They are on Ebay. Food saver king has the best deals. And sometimes free shipping. These are large rolls.

[Blacktail]

I have no end of sealing problems with the newer lines of medium price Foodsavers. Personally ...........pieces of shit!! I will be looking for something else.

[lip_ripper00]

http://www.wellscan.ca/Vacuum-Sealers worked for me

[Sitkaspruce]

We have the Pro 2300, sweet machine, going on 5 years. We do (did) ~150 lbs of fish, another 200 lbs of deer/moose meat, plus chickens, pork etc every year and it has not missed a beat. We have used the food saver bags because we buy the the bags a Costco, so far so good.

http://vacsealers.com/

Cheers

SS

[cdub]

I have the Weston (same as above post) i bought it at wholesale sports as it was in stock so it was cheaper than paying shipping from cabellas. It works great, the seal is a 1/4inch wide and always works. We just processed 40 chickens, some whole and the rest cut up and no fails. We use both the weston bags and the 4mil bags from cabellas. Well worth the 400bucks compare to the headache of the foodsaver that we burned out.

[canoehead]

I bought the commercial grade sealer from Cabelas on a friend's recommendation and couldn't be happier. The seal itself is at least 1/8 inch and the Cabelas bags are better (although I am still working through my supply of Food Saver bags from Costco and they are working just fine. It's $500 but I was getting tired of resealing over and over to make sure that things works...most of the time...with my Food Saver.

[Johnny G1]

If you keep your food saver clean, like fluid in the tray you shouldn't have any troubles sealing. We package a lot of fish and meat and thats the only problem that arises.

[ratherbeshooting]

Happy to hear some of you have had luck with FS but the last three i have owned have been weak (and they were the Costco mid-range model). I am done with FS and have ordered a Weston pro 2300. Not quite the chamber sealer I REALLY wanted but a compromise.
Thanks
RBS

[Squire]

I had a mid-range? Foodsaver given to me as a wedding present in 1990 that still works. It doesn't draw as strong of a vacuum any more so I picked up a new model foodsaver on sale at London Drugs about two years ago for $250.00. When I went to package some fish I had smoked it wouldn't vacuum at all. GRRRR; good thing I kept the old one as that is what I had to use. I called the manufacturer and they told me they were 99% sure it was the seal and not to send it to them; they would send me a new seal. Of course that did nothing and they weren't very friendly when I called back as having it for a year before I ever used it meant that I had timed out on any warranty. Into the landfill it went along with my loyalty to Foodsaver.

If I buy another vacuum sealer I will spend the money on a good one.

[Steeleco]

My 12 year old Foodsaver is still working and has worked good for years. My issue is with the bags. The slightest bump or rough handling can pin hole the bags, then you loose your seal. I now use saran wrap and butcher paper for all my game cuttings and only use the sealer for the sausage I make of have made as it takes longer to eat large quantities of sausage than ground and steaks.

[jbruce]

my wifes been wrapping our meat for thirty years in freezer wrap,lasts two to three years easy.you will start to loss a bit of flavour after a year and a half but if it's wrapped tight you won't get any freezer burn.Smoked fish wraps the same way and will last almost as well.good freezer bags and water will keep fresh fish frozen as well as any vacuum bag and by about an 8th of the price.

[Busterbrown]

After going through a pos Foodsaver every couple years, I bit the bullit and bought a Vac Master VP215 . Could not be happier with it. Yes they are more expensive ,$900 shipped to Blaine and they are heavy, real heavy . The bags are much better than foodsaver and this chamber sealer removes ALL of the air. Perfect seal as well . I got mine from http://www.qualitymatters.com/Vacuum-Sealers-s/54.htm .You will have a different opinion of the foodsaver after using this unit . No more going into the freezer and picking out a package that has the seal broken . These units are amazing

[adriaticum]

I have no end of sealing problems with the newer lines of medium price Foodsavers. Personally ...........pieces of shit!! I will be looking for something else.

What kind of problems?
Are you sure it's the sealer and not the bags?