lindaschipper

I used one for years until it wouldn't suck air anymore. My husband keeps telling me to just go buy a new one, thinking about doing that after Christmas.

lwbuchholz

I just pulled out a steak I had vacuum packed 6 years ago and it was just as good as when I bought it!
It has saved me so much money that and my dehydrator.

JoantheQuilter

This is probably one of the very best investments on which I have spent my money. It is easy to use and gives me peace of mind when freezing meats and vegetables. Love it!! It has been a money saver, for sure! No telling how much food I have ended up throwing out before the vacuum sealer came along. A wise investment.

Snooze2978

I had one of the 1st one made years ago, I think back in the 70's or early 80's. The one thing I hated about them is once you cut the bag open, you lost some of the size of the bag if you wanted to reuse it. Someone I think from this site mentioned using regular freezer bags and a straw. You close the bag up almost all the way, leaving just enough opening to insert a straw and suck out the excess air and quickly close the bag. I've been using this method for about a year now and it seems to work. I don't lose the size of the bag and can continue to reuse it till it gets a hole in it or just gets nasty looking. I freeze a lot of my garden produce so this is a great saver for me.

ube quilting

This is what I do too. DH looks at me funny but who cares, it works. With odd shaped stuff I will put the bag in water which also acts to reduce the air in the bag and then suck out the excess air with a straw.

Simple and cost effective and very little waste going into the land fills.

I also use canning jars for left overs instead of plastic bags. No garbage to through away, use them for years and years.
peace

AnnieF

I bought my first vacuum sealer from an infomercial 19 years ago and am on my 3rd one. I love it....I originally bought it as my last child went off to college and I realized my husband and I were tossing out a lot of fresh food. My refrigerator looks like a medical experiment as I use the quart and pint sized mason jars for storing food and making jar salads to bring to work for lunch. I especially like making double or triple batches of things like spaghetti and meatballs, pot roast, macaroni & cheese and chicken ala king, sealing it in a bag and we just pull it from the freezer, toss it in a pot of boiling water and dinner is ready in like 20 minutes. The freezer bags are pricey but what you save in not having to buy fast food....it does pay. As an aside to the person with the hamburger buns failure....if you had flash frozen them first in the freezer and then vacuum sealed them, they would have been fine. Also...I agree with the person who suggested that you keep it out on your counter or you won't use it as much.

Geri B

Well, I am convinced! Actually dd bought it for me last nite! I had been doing the suck a straw to remove air from regular ziplock bags, but the air seemed to seep back in.....

now, my other question...stuff that is already frozen in whatever packaging its in, cannot now be vacuumed, or can it?

quiltingcandy

A friend told me that the first thing she replaced when her house burned down was the food sealer. So when they went on sale on QVC I ordered it. I really like it. But I did find that I can only do three packages at a time before it has to rest. I almost sent it back, I called the Mfg and was told since I did not order the top of the line that was just the way the machine is. It could seal but it would not suck out all the air after that. It's not a big issue for me because I don't buy that big in bulk anymore. Also, with mine, you have to slide the bag into the machine instead of setting it in and closing the lid. I would have preferred the other but it wasn't available when I got mine.
I got my daughters the hand held model with the quart size bags so they can keep their cold cuts and cheese longer.

Dakota Rose

Are you meaning that you put the original bag in the vacuum bag or that you transfer the contents to the vacuum bag and then seal. I have one and stopped using it because it used up the expensive bags. It was hard to make the bag large enough to use some of the contents and reseal and didn't realize that it was safe to reuse them.

mac

With regards to resealing your bags, I see no problem in doing that. If you could, I would remove the old bag before resealing it and get it back into the freezer right away, so that the food doesn't defrost. If the bag is stuck within the food, then I would open the old bag so that all of the air could be sucked out. It should be fine.