Food Saver Vacuum Packer - keeps meat for years!

F

FrontSight

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Anyone else like this product as much as me? We're all hunters here, and I don't know how I got along with wasting so much meat before this puppy.

It has saved SO much food from being thrown out in my home...I have some meat that is 3 years old & it still tastes almost as fresh as the day I bagged it. In the past I can't tell you how much meat was shamefully lost to freezer burn & tossed out. :(

Now no more shed tears or wasted meat :)

A good trick, I've learned is to get the meat very cold or even frozen before you vacuum pack it, so that the bag can shrink down around it as much as necessary. Squishy meat does not vacuum pack as well and you'll be left with air pockets that will cause freezer burn...

It's not cheap to buy the unit nor the rolls, so a cheaper alternative is to freeze everything in ziplock bags that are filled with water first, but that's so much trouble to do and store and then defrost that I'd say Foodsaver is a much better option...
 
It's not just good for food. I also seal everything in my survival pack with mine, and all my spare clothes in my hunting pack (extra pull-over and extra changes of socks) individually sealed. Do you have any idea how much space this saves? Plus, they're waterproof. I could take a swim with my pack on and have dry socks to change into the moment I get out. Food-savers are right up there alongside TP on the must-have list for my household. :D:D
 
Using mine this morning. I agree that it was the best food processing piece of equip I have ever bought. I have about 20lbs of steak to seal up and 75lbs of breakfast sausage I am processing this morning.
Try these bags rather than the rolls. And yes, wal mart version rolls suck.
http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/t...ct&cmCat=Related_IPL_519232&id=0030017516316a

These 8x24 premade bags appear to be the best deal out there right now. 50 clams for 100bags which can be cut down to 8x8 for 1lb packages.

If you don't have a sealer yet, you should. It can be used for just about any kind of food preservation,,(that big pot of chili) or for sealing up your reloads...etc.
elkman06
 
I use mine for all sorts of things, TP squishes down flat and stays dry for use in a day pack, matches, batteries, etc. all stay nice and protected from the rain. I use to live on saltwater and sealed tools, batteries, etc., where they stayed dry and protected from rust even on my boat.

Yep, the Wal-mart bags suck. (:p) I've wasted enough money on those to just pony up for the more expensive brands. I do watch what I'm sealing, if it's value is less than the cost of bag material, I just put it in a zip-lock.
 
One day I will find the extra expendable coin to buy one. I know it is worth it but just finding the money has held me up.
Brent
 
I loved the one I had. I have done a lot of Flathead catfishing and we used those for packing up lots of things. Compressing thing to make space od very important when all you get to take with you for a week has to go on your back on in your hands.
 
I have a FoodSaver Sealer that, like other posters stated, is the best thing to happen to packing/sealing since Plastic.

I use the FoodSaver Brand Bag ROLLS, and cut them to the size needed. I'd always seen the Units at various stores, Wal-Mart included, for around $100, but my younger brother told me he had seen them at either BigLots or a similar store, for $40! I went immediately, and I still have it, over 2 years later.

Working on boats in the Gulf of Mexico, I caught quite a bit of fish, and being able to Vaccuum Pack saved alot of room and weight, since they weren't packed with water. Vaccuum Packing any meats that have quite a bit of water content, I'd take a strip of PaperTowel and stretch across the opening just inside of the Final Seal.

FoodSaver's are incredible.
 
The Foodsaver is the best thing God ever invented. The only bad thing about it now is stuff lasts so long we've been canning our meat for the last 2 weeks to make room in the freezer for this years critters.The nice thing about canning is it lasts even longer on the shelf with no electricity and its already cooked.
 
Just fill a 5 gal. bucket with water and dip regular baggies into it and seal. Maybe not quite as effective as a vacuum system but pretty close on anything heavier than water.
 
For anyone considering buying one, please do yourself a favor and spend a few extra dollars on the new upright style. The vacuum slot design on the upright saves about 1" of bag per use that the old style wasted. That 1" may not seem like a lot, but it means an extra 3 or 4 bags per roll.
 
Never thought of using it for the camping gear. The thought of dry socks after a day of walking through the wet grass is nice. I usually use zip-lock style backs, but seem to always find one or two backs that have broken open and the stuff in it has spilled all over the pack.

When using the vacuum sealer bags, if I put spices on my meat, will the meat still absorb the spices?
 
We did some geese in vac bags 1 night last winter for the grill. Left them in for about 1 1/2 hours and you could definatly taste a big dif. I'm still not a big goose fan, but it was OK. We just grind our's for jerky.
 
My folks have the new upright model and I much prefer my normal one.You have more control over it. We butchered about a 100 chickens a month ago and vac sealed most of them so we were using 2 sealers.
 
Does the $120 Foodsaver work well, or do you have to pay the $170 for the new upright model?
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I've got the old style. The difference to me is that with the old style, you have to use about 1" more bag material to reach the vacuum tray. That is 1" of wasted material. The bag rolls aren't cheap (but I am). When I'm doing jerky, I only want about a 3" bag, but I have to cut them over 4" just to get them sealed. That is a 25% loss. If I were doing big pot roasts (10+") then an extra inch isn't so big.

For what its worth, Walmart and Sams both sell the upright for about $140 and the old style for less than $120.
 
When using the vacuum sealer bags, if I put spices on my meat, will the meat still absorb the spices?
Click to expand...

I frequently pre-spice my meat. My favorite is chicken for grilling (to put on salads). I fillet two breasts so that they are half as thick and then put the 4 breast pieces and 2 to 4 boneless thighs in each bag. I pre-season them before putting them in the bag. Move them from the freezer to the fridge in the morning and when I get home they are thawed enough to go straight to the grill. By the time the chicken is done, I've got the salad all made up.

Healthy and easy.
 
You can seal your rifles and pistols with it after cleaning, and they will stay perfectly preserved forever.
Re-loaded ammo, can also be stored forever, with no worry about moisture. Extra powder can also be sealed this way without chance of contamination.
If you fish, you can make an extra set of cloths , and seal them down to take up very little space in your boat, just in case you happen to fall out of the boat.(I won't go into how I know that)
Also makes for a great first aid kit, as well as all those little things you would like to have for an emergency kit.
 
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