Need to preserve what food is in the frost free freezer. Vacuum sealers and chamber vacuum sealers are new to me. Thanks for any insight!

Weston 2300 Pro

Vac Master VP215

Redhead from Bass Pro Shop. Works good.

We’ve had ours for a year and been very happy with it.

This is from Costco and works OK. Depending on wetness and what goes in the film, it has a bad seal about 30% of the time. When it dies, I will replace it with a chamber sealer.

This buy once cry once. this is lifetime commercial build. costs a grand but if you freeze alot then this is the one.

We use Food Saver no issues.

I've had a couple of the traditional style vacuum sealers as well as a Vac Master 215 chamber vacuum sealer, and a commercial chamber vacuum sealer.

The traditional models i have used have all worked well, but the vacuum bags are more expensive and I don't think that they pull as much vacuum as the chamber sealers.

The Vac Master chamber sealer has also worked very well for me. The chamber sealer can seal liquids as well as dry goods without any additional equipment. The bags are a whole lot cheaper, but the cost of the sealer itself is significantly higher. Also the oil has to be changed in the vacuum pump after so many hours of use. It's not difficult, but it is an added expense.

I feel like if you are only going to use the sealer a few times a year the traditional type will serve you well. If you are going to use the sealer on a regular basis or at a high volume the chamber sealer is the way to go.

Been really happy with chamber sealer from meatyourmaker.com

Doing liquids is a game changer.

I’ve scored 2 different Food Saver machines at yardsales and one at a Goodwill.

$10 both times.

The yardsale one came with 5 rolls of bags.

Another trip at Goodwill, found a bundle of 12,13 rolls of bag stock in a big box with a $5 price tag on it.

Felt like I was robbing the poor bastards.

Both machines have held up ‘reasonably’ they get used/rotated about 15 times a year. Might do 40 to 60 lbs of meat or whatever per each of those uses.

Only hiccup, one of them gets fussy and overheats if you make it do 1/2 dozen seal jobs inside of 5 mins.

But for very little investment, impressed for what I stated as my uses.


Ahhfouck…i said I weren’t gonna help any more

Scratch what I said…mortgage your trailer, buy the $4,000 one that the home owner association guys like

https://www.vacmasterfresh.com/vacmaster-pro360-vacuum-sealer-with-16-seal-bar/

I have this one and it is great

Same here, ours is about 10-12 years old. I wouldn’t own another Food Saver if I was paid to use it.

Wore out 2 regular food savers, then switched to Cabela's version of the Weston 2300. After a dozen years, the sealing bar on the Cabela's 15 went TU. I did my diligence and found that the sealing bar on a Weston 2300 is the same as on a Cabela's. Belt and suspenders, I ordered a Weston 2300 and 2 sealer bar replacements. The advantage to the Weston & Cabela's bags is that they're heavier material than the Foodsaver and can be reused until they've been trimmed to the point of uselessness. The foodsaver will not adequately seal the Cabela's/Weston bags, but the Weston machine will use the foodsaver bags. You can buy the rools of foodsaver bag material and sack up books, pistols, rifles; whatever you need to keep dry.
RB

This it's also oil less, every so often they will have a huge sitewide sale I bought mine 24%off.

We have one, but don’t have a clue what brand. It works good.

Cabela's commercial grade. Bought it when they still had a lifetime warranty. Now that dipshits changed that policy years ago, hope it doesn't go tits up.

When it does, I won't buy Cabela's again. Haven't shopped there since they were bought out

They have both oil and oil-less pumps available. Mine takes oil. I waited for a bigger than usual sale too. Very happy with it. Costco has a LEM unit for a good price.

Been using an original Foodsaver for the past 20 years. Buy your bags off Amazon and don’t use the rolls.

Chamber vac !!
Next

Foodsaver. No issues as long as you don't get in a hurry.

Vac Master VP230 or VP215

I have a vacmaster 350 and really like it, but if I were to do it again, I would buy a chamber vac

Nesco VS-12 which has been utterly reliable.

Recently bought an Avid Armor Chamber Vacuum Sealer Model USV20

I still have my weston sealer.

Foodsaver. Probably went through 4 already over the years.

Their bag rolls seem to be a bit of a problem. Occasionally I'll get a leak. This is the weak link.

-Ken

I have burned up at least 4 Food Saver sealers, and not the cheap ones either.

They work if one is going to seal a few items a month, but anything more than that they are junk and don’t hold up.

Food savers are a crap shoot. I have had 4 the first lasted 15 years and meat would keep 2 years cost 100$. The second lasted 4 and meat would keep 1.5 years cost 180$ the third cost over 300 and the meat would keep 8 months. I told this story to Food saver and they sent me a brand new one. It was lame as well.

Got off 925$ about 5 years ago and purchased the Vacmaster 215 all I can say is it rocks does better any of them. The only drawback it weighs 80 pounds. Everything else is an asset and you'll save $ on the bags too.

Don't think I'll be buying another.

Good luck and shoot straight y'all

After burning up a couple of food savers I bit the bullet about ten years ago and bought a vacmaster chamber sealer. Has paid for itself many times over just in bag savings not to mention the food is sealed better and lasts longer.

I just bought my first last week. $50 Seal a Meal at Walmart…already sealed and froze 20# of on sale burger and a few family packs of cheap chicken thighs. If it breaks this afternoon while doing the 15# of country style ribs I bought this morning, I’ll have at least broke even.
I’m glad I bought it and it gives me a good idea of what to look for when it breaks or I feel like upgrading.

what I’ve found is that you have to get one that melts a huge bond into the bag to get a really, really good seal.


So the cheap ones …. Not so much…. That and the amount of vacuum they place on the bag…

Weston pro series seem to be the top dog here.

Foodsaver has worked just fine for us. Just replaced the first one we bought after 12 years of service. Anything that goes in the freezer gets vacuum sealed.

To be honest, I never had a problem with just using zip lock baggies and squeezing as much air out as I could…as a child, all we used back then, was saran wrap and butcher paper with masking tape.

Been there done that. Vacuum sealed food like meat seems to last longer without freezer burn. Instead of a 1K super vacuum sealer, I've been looking a freeze driers.

Ability to do stocks, braising liquids, soups, gravy, etc. is why the chamber is the way to go.