Have you ever wanted a vacuum sealer? It helps you keep food longer, prevents freezer burn and cuts down on food waste.
We bought our first sealer when we participated in the pride parade as a food vendor. We made some great sandwiches, chicken parm, meatball, and cooked some pork loin for yummy boneless spare rib sandwiches. We sold a lot of food, but I have a tendency to overdue it! WHAT? ME?
Oh yeah, so anyway, we had leftovers a plenty. We brought some of the food to a local shelter and went online to buy our first vacuum sealer on Amazon Prime (so we’d get it in two days). Our first vacuum sealer was the Seal A Meal purchased in June of 2015 for $45.69 (now around $35).
It was not a bad unit and I would certainly recommend it as it did what we needed it to do and customer service is wonderful. We had 2 issues with it over 2 years, the company was great and helped troubleshoot, sending a replacement when they couldn’t fix it. The new one lasted almost another year, but I don’t think it was big enough to handle our needs. We decided we needed a bigger vacuum sealer.
Our next sealer was the Kiartten Vacuum Sealer, we bought it in June of 2017 for $127.99 (now $169.99).
It was certainly fancier, had more capabilities. It was also more expensive and more complicated to use. It should have lasted longer and performed better, but it did not. Again with the just because it costs more, doesn’t mean it is better quality. You had to press HARD on the front portion of the sealer to lock it in place. We were always getting moisture into the drip tray, it never really handled the liquids well. Also, when sealing dried powdery goods, like flour, or spices, there was a little hole that would clog all the time. The most high maintenance and expensive vacuum sealer that we owned. The heat element broke within 6 months of our purchase. We called the company, they walked us through the troubleshooting and ended up replacing the unit. We did this twice in 6 months and then said, that’s enough, let’s try a different brand.
We went with the Food Saver Brand. It was $88.97 in December of 2017 and now it is $105.34. So far so good. It has a lever to secure the lid and it has the option to seal or vacuum and seal and also gives us the moist or dry option. We use both features on a regular basis. We slow cook a pork shoulder and then freeze it in 4 meal portions so we can eat dinner and then lunch the next day. It works well and we love it. We use it for spices as well, re-sealing the bag and keeping them fresh longer. We also use it to store cheese, we like to buy really good cheese in 5 lb blocks, cut it into smaller portions, vacuum seal it and freeze it until we are ready for the next piece. Vacuum sealing makes our food last longer, gives us less waste and helps us maintain our portion size, because we weigh all of the food we eat.
The bottom line here is that yes, you should have one, and sometimes the most common brand is the best, which is why it’s most common. Oh and here is a link to the Vacuum Sealer Bags we use. They are great and you can custom size them to just what you need.
We hope you found this helpful, happy Vacuum sealing.