I have a Foodsaver, FM3945, bought at Sam's Club, so it came with extra bags and things.
I hated it at first and struggled to get it to work, which I talked about here earlier. I even spent quite a while on the phone with support, and they told me to return it if I wanted. I wasn't really happy with them.
After watching several videos online, I finally figured out how to use mine, and now it love it. The unit is extremely picky with getting the top of the bag lined up so that it'll vacuum properly, but once you know how to do it, I rarely have a failure.
A couple of things I don't like:
1. A lot of foods, either due to moisture or softness, are recommended to be frozen first before sealing. Probably just me, it's annoying to have to freeze something before I seal it...to freeze.
It does come with a "moist" button, that's supposed to work with soft items - still crushes the living crap out of them, so that's useless.
2. They make reusable bags for thing things you want to seal and reopen and reseal, so maybe something like nuts - you can seal them up (like a ziploc bag), open them, have a few nuts, then seal them again, over and over.
Those don't really hold a seal for very long. By the next day, air seeps in, so it's kind of pointless.
I usually just buy the rolls and cut my own bags to fit. It's not cheap, but probably cheaper than throwing out a bunch of food. I do like the fat-bottomed precut bags for soups, though. Easy to fill and store.
Another thing is like is the ability to reseal plastic bags, like maybe you opened a bag of pretzels...you can squeeze the air out and just pop the top of the original bag on the sealer strip, close the lid, press seal, and it reseals the original bag.
My brother talked me into it, and when I talked to him after buying it, that's when he filled me in on all the problems I was having, saying they were common ones, and that led him to buy a commercial-grade one. This tabletop one I have, you do have to let it cool down a bit, if you're trying to do a whole bunch at once.
My sister has a very old Foodsaver. She sent me a pic, it's about the size of an old laser printerlaugh
So, overall, I'd recommend it, though I'd warn you about the frustration level, until you figure it out. If you buy the same model I have, I'll offer my services as Foodsaver consultant, free of charge, to show you how to get it to work. Seriously, I was about to throw that thing through the window, I was so mad at it!
It doesn't appear to have made a very good vacuum. Does it have an auto cut off, or do you have to manually control it?As I cook "in bulk" for freezing a lot of the time I decided to give a vacuum sealer a go. I was unsure how much use I would get from it so prior to spending shed loads of cash I went for a cheap unbranded model. Should the process prove useful I may invest in a better quality model in the future.
Cost - ฿631.00 (including 15 bags) [US$21.00]
Bags – ฿265.00/100 [US$8.80]
There is no warranty on this model although there is a 7 day return without question.
My first impression was that it’s very light which leads to it being somewhat difficult to hold steady. It is said to have magnetic feet but they are not very efficient.
The user manual is written in an strange version of English which is probably a bad translation from the original Chinese, e.g. “please press down on both sides of the vacuum cover for a few seconds until the LED indicator changes from green to green. One-button design and LED indicator provide you with a smart device experience.”
It’s not user friendly. Three hands would be beneficial to operate the sealer efficiently. It took me four trial runs to get used to the operation.
After the seal has been effected the unit is not easy to open. This could possibly be because it is new.
It is necessary to partially or fully freeze any dishes which have liquid before sealing as the liquid will be sucked it into the machine. The manual is clear that no liquid should be allowed to enter the machine.
I’ve found it to be around 90% efficient; i.e. only removes 90% on the air in most cases.
I have yet to defrost food which has been vacuum packed prior to freezing.
I've stopped using the auto feature on mine for that very reason. However, if you are mainly using it for freezer storage then it's probably not critical.
If you split up the chillies a bit they should seal all around. It takes a bit of getting used to. I replaced my machine last year with a different model, and it has taken me six months to get used to it. For the first three months I was on the verge of chucking it out.
Found a new use for my vacuum sealer:
View attachment 90219
Those are my cloth slip-ons, for knocking around the hotel in, when I don’t feel like putting on my real shoes!
It’s mainly keeping the dirty shoes away from my clean clothes. On the way back, they’ll just get tossed in with the dirty laundry.