Vacuum sealer?

[shaithis]

I have been thinking about getting a vacuum sealer, mainly to fast-marinade.....I may at a later date pick up a water bath but at the moment my sights are just on the vacuum sealer.

Anyone have any experiences with them? They vary wildly in price, as do the replacement bags......so really looking for some feedback from current owners.

[Saracen]

Yes, some experience. You can get cheap 'n' cheerful, but my experience is that the pumps are mediocre, and they don't last long. They're okay for dabbling a toe in the water to see if you like the temperature, but false economy over the longer term. For a 'decent' model, yeah, you want to be spending more. I'd say the £20-£40 are the "false economy" brands, and £80-£100 is a more realistic bet for something that's going to last. That's where the research comes in, too. the cheap 'n' cheerful will seal just about anything, from the cheapest supermarket bags up, but heavier duty models usually require special bags.

Then, you have a choice of going up to the next level. So far, I'm talking about sealers that work by sucking air out of the bag with it external to the machine. The next bracket up are the chamber sealers, where everything goes inside a vacuum chamber. These are MUCH bulkier, and you can probably budget £300 or so, and up. Way up, for some.

Personally, if I wanted one for a restaurant kitchen, heavy-duty, frequent all-day use, then fine, go for the chamber variants. It's a business investment. But unless you've money to burn, and a big kitchin with loads of space, my money is on the mid-range, £100-ish models.

I used one of these, and keep meaning to order one, but so far, haven't got a round tuit. I did settle on the model, though. Give me a few minutes and I'll track down the website.

[Saracen]

Found it. The one I settled on, .... or almost settled on, was Eiffel. The low-noise variant.

Eiffel low-noise machine

However, I was also considering a Foodsaver machine, not least because I can get it in my local John Lewis.

One more thing. That Eiffel is certainly sous-vide compatible, and a range of sealable bags are available, up to and including Mylar bags.

And, and this might interest you, a range of vacuumable plastic containers. So you can put marinade, leftovers, etc, into a hard plastic container, attach a vacuum tube to the valve on the container, and vacuum it. Great for marinades, etc.

Also, for preserving longevity of things like biscuits ..... if you (or the machine ) suck the air out, they don't go soft/stale, or rather, do so MUCH more slowly.

[shaithis]

Thanks, just ordered the Eiffel Freshpack Pro L/N from Amazon with 2 containers and a selection of bags for £118 delivered

[Saracen]

I'm interested to know what you make of it once you get it. I used a friends, and was pretty impressed, but it wasn't extensive testing. It just might nudge me into ordering, too.

[Zak33]

me too... wanna know ... come on... tell all pls

[shaithis]

Well, I received it on Friday....I purchased from the official Amazon store for Eiffel......which made me a tad miffed that they left a part out (the hose).....so I cannot test the containers yet

I was obviously able to use the standard bags though. I made a lot of Peri-peri marinade and then butterflied a number of chicken thighs.....a few minutes later and the whole lot was sealed up. Opened a couple of the bags a few hours later to use and was impressed by how much flavour had gotten into them already.

It's a very simple to use gadget as well and isn't very large. It essentially has a vacuum seal ring that you must place the edge of the bag into, you then press the vacuum seal button and it does everything for you and then releases the bag once it's sealed.

I now need to get into the habit of sealing stuff on day or purchase for fresher food

[Saracen]

Are they supplying the tube? Was it omission by error, or not included in that deal?

Other than that, though, sounds promising.

Oh, and one of my .... ' tricks'. I buy quality meats in larger quantities than I would from a supermarket. Then, split into quantities that suit my use, not supermarket sales, bag it and freeze it.

So, for instance, I might have decided that I want 325g of mince for a bolognese recipe (mixed pork and beef, but that's not relevant) rather than the 400g or 450g the supermarkets want to sell. So, I might buy 5x or 10x that 325g. I end up saving the cost of the extra 75g or whatever, because with a supermarket pack, I'd end up just using the whole pack.

The cost of meat in my bolognese just went down by 19%.

Helps pay for the initial outlay.

[shaithis]

It was a packing error and they have just confirmed they are sending another out.

I did n't think about divvying-up meat like that......might make for some better portion control as well

[Saracen]

Indeed. Portion control is how it came about. I'd make a curry, or Bolognese sauce, or whatever, and it'd and up being a larger meal than we wanted, but we'd eat it anyway. Then I started buying two portions of mince (or whatever) and divvying it up into three. Which wasn't quite right either.

It ended up with me working out, by trial and error, what quantities WE needed, to suit our appetites, rather than cooking meal portion to suit supermarket packaging sizes. Then, tracking down local(-ish) high quality suppliers, often farm shops. And I worked out that buying high quality meats, etc, in quantities that suits US, not only saved money but resulted in better tasting meals due to ingredient quality.

You can, of course, do it without a vacuum sealer, but I reckon flavour and taste is enhanced if you vacuum-seal and freeze, rather than clingfilm, or plastic bag and tie-wrap, etc.

It CERTAINLY helps with fruit, veg, etc.

For instance, we make smoothies at home, ice-cream, frozen yoghurts, etc, with a (blunt-blade) blender. But, a day's worth only uses a fairly small amount of, say, pineapple. and maybe half a banana.

So, I start out for a day or two, or so, with fresh pineapple, but typically cut one in half, to use. The other half gets trimmed, prepped, portioned up and frozen.

So, initially, fresh fruit and veg, and ice. Then, later on, some fruit and veg, like pineapple, is frozen and I use less ice, frozen fruit and some water.

The sealer/blender mix is very effective at keeping ingredient quality up, AND giving you more choice, while at the same time pretty much eliminating wastage, because fruit and veg either gets eaten fresh, or frozen and blended, or just blended to smoothies, soups, etc.

We actually got quite lazy, food-wise. It was long hours, health issues, tiredness etc, leading to a slow, slippery slope to culinary laziness, and too many takeaways and processed foods. Eventually, we decided it had to change, but the same pressures still existed, and our solution was several "gadgets", including blender and vacuum sealer. Result? Better, healthier diet (MUCH better, in fact), quite a lot of money saved, AND not much increase in effort, due to the gadget help, and a little planning.

By the time you add up savings from portion control and reduced wastage, the savings go a long way, over time I grant you, to defraying the cost of the gadgets. I look on the sealer, blender, etc, as investments in good diet. And better tasting food too.

[peterb]

They don't seem to have the Pro on on Amazon, only the original Pro at £99 including an accessory kit.

Is your the LN version?

[Saracen]

It was LN, yeah. I'm curious as to how "LN" the LN is, though.

Certainly, the machines I've used haven't exactly been quiet, and I wonder is this is slighyly better, or a lot better.

[peterb]

The LN is on the Fresherpack eBay store (with a 'make an offer' option )

I am now looking at these as I tend to batch cook (and in the interests of portion control, I weigh out amounts before freezing. I tend to open freeze in a container, then turn out the frozen food into a ziplock bag and then remove the air either by tight wrapping, so I do wonder if this makes much difference to that type of food. On the other hand, I can see the utility for uncooked meet and blanched vegetables.

[Saracen]

I'd suspect the difference to be modest, provided you get most of the air out. But some things suffer from freezer burn if frozen "exposed".

What would you do with, say, 3kg of dry-cure bacon?

I split it down into smaller portions, say, 2 rashers (depending on size) for use in a Bol sauce, and 4 or 6 rasher portions, for the occasional bangers, bacon egg and beans type fry-up for me and 'er indoors. Oh, and I do it with bangers, too. I have a deal with a local butcher that gets his bangers and bacon direct from a local farm .... well, supply permitting. The dry-cure bacon sometimes has to be "imported" from a farm in Devon.

And all my beef comes from a large but local (5 miles) Aberdeen Angus cattle farm. They butcher on the farm, and if I wish, in front of me.

Maybe I'm lucky in available sources, but both the above took a little finding. But by 'eck, was it worth it for the quality? It is MUCH better than supermarket fare, and my regular supermarket is Waitrose, which is far from the lowest quality. And ironically, no more expensive, kg for kg, and sometimes it's actually cheaper than supermarkets, even before I utiluse it more efficiently with portion control.

[shaithis]

I obviously don't have a non-LN to compare with but the LN is very quiet. It hardly makes any noise.

The reason I purchased the LN over the normal was the addition of the "Heating element protection - Protects vacuum sealer long-term"

I need to start looking at local farms myself, there are at least 2 near me, I need to start taking trips!

[Saracen]

Sounds like genuinely a lot quieter than my current (and unreliable) el-cheapo model.

As for farms, I would if I were you. You might get a surprise at what's available, and at how much better it tastes. Also, it's not necessarily more expensive. My local farm is actually a bit cheaper than supermarkets for most meat, and way better. Also, of course, the meat has much lower food miles on it, and you get to support local small business at the same time.

It's kind-of a win-win-win-win.