Shopster wrote:I have beef in butcher paper in my freezer. Would it be a good idea to leave the paper on and use this to seal up the beef or should I remove the paper first?

I don't know the real answer but I can tell you that when I buy frozen uncooked hamburgers, they come vacuum packed with paper in between each burger.

My guess is that the paper is unnecessary if it's not separating pieces.

I'm in for one- as I consider this to be the perfect compliment to the cheap China manuf'd dehydrator I got for Festivus.

Now I can vac-seal dried fruits, veggies, and jerky- not to mention large quatities of ammunition and firearms to be buried in strategic locations in preparation for TEOTWAWKI... but I'll probably just use it to prolong the freshess of my fine assortment of imported African coffees.

I have used vacuum sealers for years (not this one, but it's an awesome price). I have bought rolls of bags from a guy on ebay who buys them wholesale from a food service company and repackages them for cheap resale. They work great. Forget the pre-cut bags or any idea of re-using bags. Buy rolls and save. I bagged a lot of fresh peaches this summer and they still have all their color in the freezer. I buy club packs of steaks at Sams Club and repackage them in twos in the freezer - no air, no freezer burn.

I can't speak to the merits of this model, but the reviews seem good enough.

I wish I had this during deer season! I have a freezer full of meat that Jack Frost got his fingers into but it will make good jerky!!

In for one, tho my GF is probably going to beat me over the head with it...

See it in Action! Here's the HSN show for it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G209ZYaPXXE

Foodsaver vs Rival

queenangelfish wrote:...The Foodsaver at the special price of $80 with free shipping ... a much more advanced model, so I would deem it a superior deal.

I worked through the bradsdeals.com link to the Foodsaver website and read about the model you suggest. Had it in my shopping cart. But now I'm back here, to ponder.

User comments about the Foodsaver reduced to $80 indicate that yes, it's advanced, but the complications seem to make it break easily. Only 2 of 4 commenters (on the company website) recommend it. It eats bags. You need to pay shipping or pad the order over $100 for free shipping. The $50 in supposed value-add items may be stuff you will or won't use -- if you don't, it's taking up space.

There's less to go wrong with this Rival.

So it comes down to -- easy and simple in Rival white, or "advanced" space-saver in FoodSaver stainless steel.

Hmm... ok, call me jolly, but our appliances are SS, and if we get this, it's got to sit on the counter to be at all useful. A Rival would get put away, like all my other great ideas. (Shun mandoline, anyone?) It really comes down to -- which vacuum sealer would I regret more, not having bought? So I am, with great regret, going to pay 3X as much for the same basic functionality.

I second the idea of buying bags on Ebay. I ordered several rolls, and was very satisfied--they were thicker than the standard bag and resistant to punctures. And a heck of a lot cheaper than the store bought rolls. I have not had good luck with the generic bags from Walmart. These are flimsy, difficult to seal and quick to puncture and fail.

So, if you need to seal your grains for the apocalypse, here ya go!

http://shop.ebay.com/?_from=R40&_trksid=p5197.m570.l1313&_nkw=vacuum+sealer+bags&_sacat=See-All-Categories

Is it me or with the monkey's pose with the hands up like that remind you of Hans Solo in the carbonite?

Can I fit a cat into one of these bags? This is very important to me

Does it seal jars too like some vacuum sealers?

what in the HECK is that vacume sealer SEALING inside that plastic wrap!?!?!??!!!

I have one of those monkeys. And it is awesome.

Is it my imagination or is Woot really getting into things that suck?

Anchoku wrote:Is Woot! at CES this year? I could a vacuum-sealed monkey...

Given that Woot tends to sell discontinued or closeout items, I'd say that it has no presence in visionary state-of-the-art events like CES. Let's put it this way, the stuff being sold by Woot 2011 would have been present at CES 2007.

I bought an inexpensive foodsaver this year and it is one of the best kitchen appliances I've ever bought. Even if this rival is crap the price is great and you should all buy one.

I buy a lot of chicken and pork and store it in a chest freezer. Without a vacuum sealer meat stays frozen for 2-3 months before it starts getting freezer burn. I just defrosted a chicken that was more than a year old in a vacuum bag and it was perfect, no off tastes or colors or freezer damage. I love this thing.

The vacuum bags are very expensive. They can sort of be reused, but the seal is permanent, so you have to cut it off and you get a smaller bag each time. You also have to wash the bag REALLY WELL to get it to seal again. I found the best deals on bags in very large rolls on ebay.

Someone mentioned worrying about the safety of the bags. The bags are HDPE #2. They do not contain BPA or other plasticisers. They are safe to both store and cook in.

Even if you don't use vacuum bags you can still seal without vacuuming -- just about any plastic bag will seal in the machine. Eat a lot of snacks? You can eat a couple chips out of a bag and then reseal it. No more stale chips.

Also, there is a problem with vacuum sealing liquids and soft foods -- the vaccum will suck everything out of the bag before it seals, which can be surprising if you're trying to seal, say, berries (I ended up with a flat bag of juiceless berry pulp when I tried that). Here's the trick: freeze it first and THEN vacuum seal it. These days I put berries and veggies and soup in ziplocks, pop them in the freezer for a while, and then vacseal the whole ziplock for long term storage.

The one issue I have with the foodsaver is that it has trouble with doing a lot of stuff at once. I can't do more than 3-4 bags before it starts having trouble sealing, and it eats bags. I have to go very slow with it. So I would expect that this machine being so much more inexpensive would be even more light duty -- only one bag at a time. Don't expect to do a half pig with it or anything.

Wish I wasn't broke from the holidays. I really WOULD use this to seal Ammunition. (I do alot of all weathers outdoorsy stuff) Plus all that brass corrodes after firing, so it has to be polished pretty soon, and even then it can oxidise. I wonder if this would prevent that?

Deleteme129 wrote:Are bags reusable? I'm guessing no, so where can I find more?

Bags are reusable, as long as they're still large enough for whatever you're sealing to fit in and still have room to get into the machine's sealing parts. Every time you seal a bag tho, you loose about 3/4" of usable space in it, so they're not infinitely re-usable.

Any supermarket or big box store will sell rolls of bags. Cut to length, seal one end, put your items in, then vacuum and seal the other end.

freelance wrote:I don't like anything made by Rival, all their stuff is very cheaply made and I have owned enough small appliances of this brand to swear them off permanently. The reviews on Amazon for other models are not very favorable either.

PEACE

I have owned a model similar to this one (made by Rival) for several years and use it to freeze homemade sausage mainly, works great, no issues, I would HIGHLY recommend.

The Sealer looks pretty neat but it's something I don't need now....or do I?

The problem with these things is that they require planning to use. Most people agree that too much Basil makes you forget something or other.

nohhousefire wrote:Is it my imagination or is Woot really getting into things that suck?

Every species of Roomba
Lots of vacuum cleaners
The Presorvac vacuum marinater
The Vibra 2000™
This vacuum sealer
Vornado fans (they blow in front, but suck from behind)

Yeah, I think you're right.

How can the bags be reusable if you have to cut them open after it's been sealed?

That's it I'm Calling PETSA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Stuffed Animals)

Product Manual

FAQ

Monkey not included. But there's always Timmy!

mtrbike wrote:Even if you don't use vacuum bags you can still seal without vacuuming -- just about any plastic bag will seal in the machine. Eat a lot of snacks? You can eat a couple chips out of a bag and then reseal it. No more stale chips.

Although I made the same suggestion in an earlier post, a much more convenient and reusable solution are airtight bag clips. Takes about a second to open and reclose. I can get 6 for $1 at the local Dollar Store. I only use vacuum sealing for longterm storage.

LastApeMan wrote:My Bag of Coal Of bags from Cost Co cost me a little over 40.00 with tax.

right after I bought them - my food saver broke.
wife took it back and they put it on a card rather than just replace it. MISTAKE!!! she just went on a little shopping spree. LOL

so This might be the answer to my use for all this expensive plastic.

thinking on it. cost co wont take teh bags back.

Costco takes back anything. They took back my flowers. :D

level6 wrote:Not surprised California has purchased the most, people need to keep their medical basil fresh.

Well, you wouldn't want your basil to get fawlty.

haupi wrote:How can the bags be reusable if you have to cut them open after it's been sealed?

Just reseal a little lower than the opening. Basically, as long as there is enough plastic to put onto the heat strip, the bag can be sealed. It does so by melting the plastic.

It's very important to clean the bag thoroughly with very hot water and soap if there is a risk of cross contamination. In fact, most experts recommend against using bags that have stored chicken or seafood.

ThunderThighs wrote:In the ancient days before the DiaperGenie, I used one of these to seal "funky diapers" before pitching them into the diaper pail. Made for less stink. LOL

Let me get this straight. You sealed soiled diapers in food storage bags? WOW!!!

qberry wrote:Maybe I'm being oversensitive and maybe it's just a 'coincidence' but I do believe the vacuum sealed monkey is in VERY bad taste due to this recent news story:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1341364/Vacuum-kitten-killer-hunted-making-snuff-movie-suffocation.html

I'm sure many have heard of this story.. disgusting. :/

Okay class, let's see if you have it straight:

Murdering kittens by suffocation - bad.

Placing an inanimate TOY monkey in a vacuum bag - harmless.

Any questions?

Shopster wrote:I have beef in butcher paper in my freezer. Would it be a good idea to leave the paper on and use this to seal up the beef or should I remove the paper first?

Alton Brown's advice is wrapping the meat in cling wrap first and then putting it in a freezer bag and pushing out excess air.

radi0j0hn wrote:Chances are "Rival" is another dead brand name, bought by another company. Just like GE, RCA, Magnavox, Argus and other names from the time when Americans actually produced something.

Yep, they're owned by Jarden. My Rival rice cooker if often sold as the Jarden Rice Cooker.

sdc100 wrote:There are two ways to successfully seal soups and sauces with this sealer:

1) Simply fill the bag about half full. Elevate the sealer on a box or lower the bag. The soup won't spill as long as you hold the opening up vertically before you seal. The key is that there is no need to use the vacuum function since freezer burn is not an issue with very wet foods. And the bag will get smaller because the volume of a gas (the air in the bag) is proportional to its temperature (Charles Law ... or as any guy can tell you, there is shrinkage when it gets cold).

2) Freeze the soup/sauce in a shallow bowl and then store the frozen mass in one of these vacuum bags.

Brilliant!

sdc100 wrote:Given that Woot tends to sell discontinued or closeout items, I'd say that it has no presence in visionary state-of-the-art events like CES. Let's put it this way, the stuff being sold by Woot 2011 would have been present at CES 2007.

We cover CES every year, smart guy.

Quadrashocker wrote:Alton Brown's advice is wrapping the meat in cling wrap first and then putting it in a freezer bag and pushing out excess air.

That, of course, is a non-issue here since the vacuum already sucks out more air than can be acheived by using paper.

kmcless wrote:Brilliant!

Guinness?

Wrap in any plastic will do for meats. If you have another use for it it may be worth it.

Wow; had this been offered 2 weeks ago, I would have been in like flynn. But for xmas I got a sous-vide supreme and associated vacuum sealer, so it would, alas, just be redundant.

But for those considering, these are GREAT for keeping cheese from going bad. Also, it's good at preserving other foods as well.