Vac sealer?

[Osage]

Gonna try my hand at vac sealing food,mainly meat/fish.Not to stir the pot,but we depend on the fish and game we bring home.We cold pack the majority of our red meats and water freeze our fish.We smoke about 1/5 of our meat also so vac sealing seems another way to keep our pantry full and fresh.Im looking for recommendations on vac sealers ,say in the $300-$400 dollar range.

[da man cave shack]

Food saver brand have always seemed to work good in my opinion.

[r3kenned]

Food saver brand have always seemed to work good in my opinion.

x2 never put fish in it but we seal all you deer with a food saver.  Works great.

[IM-POUNDING- R -U]

I have a Rival it was 40.00$ and bag rolls are 6.00$ . had it for over a year seems to work good. i got it at Walmart

[tapone]

I agree Food Saver works well for me. Meat stays fresh. No freezer burn either.

[DJA222]

the cabelas comercial grade cg-15 is the best ive used. It has a stong vaccuum and the thing I like the most is that it has a manual setting so that i am able to work all the air out of the bag before it seals. I vaccuum seal a lot of game and fish as well as I raise my own steer and the food savers I had did not last with heavy use.

[59Cummins]

My only suggestion would be get one with a fat heat strip and a overide for the heat strip to just seal the bottom end without cyclingthe pump.  II've had one for about ten years food saver brand and I hate it.  Wish it would break so I could get a good one.  Seals good and sucks down well but a few days weeks or months will go by and probably half of the seals will let loose in tbe freezer.  Thats with double and triple seals which take a lot of extra time.

[Papa John]

Cabelas or as above (Weston) hands-down great sealers. I too use mine sealing fish in Alaska all summer and at home here in Montana all winter and have worn out a couple Food Savers. My Cabelas is on it's 5th year and working great. Another advantage is that these are repairable and have replaceable heat strips and seals.

[Scalloper]

I bought and wore out 3 or 4 food savers. Then I bought the Cabelas Brand and that was better but the bags are very high for all of these style of sealers. The last one I bought is a VAC-Master VP-215. The difference in the price of the bags will pay for the (Chamber Sealer) within 1-2 years. Normal ziploc bags and food saver bags run $.24-.40 ea. The Vac-Master bags cost $52 per 1000 for gal size and $32 per 1000 for Qt size.
Check it out
http://shop.vacuumsealersunlimited.com/VacMaster-VP210-Chamber-Vacuum-Sealing-Machine-VACMASTERVP210.htm
http://shop.vacuumsealersunlimited.com/3-MIL-Chamber-Bags_c67.htm
They have other options here as well. I bought mine 2 years ago and its one of the best investments I have made. It pd for it just from savings of doing my first two moose.

[4ssss]

Another vote for the Cabela's sealer. Cabela's bags are twice as good as the others also.

[stevek]

Ziploc hand pump. Cheaper, faster and better seal than the expensive ones. And you don't need electricity to use it. And bags are reuseable/resealable.

[harrops26]

I have a a Food Saver and I'm satisfied with it. I've used it a lot in two years and it gets the job done for venison, fish and meat from the butcher. I just had some 8 month old northern last week and it was very fresh.  If I had the money I'd buy something better.  The food saver isn't perfect but it works

[Hollywood703]

I have a ziploc brand I got for xmas, works just like advertised. I think the bags are more of the quality issue than the machines themselves.

[Osage]

Thanks, I am going to purchase one in the next couple weeks.

[Webby]

Very happy with my food saver. Very simple to use also.

[MSU AGGIE]

I used a food saver sportsman until I fried it. Tthen went to Cabelas brand, love it.  Once you figure out some tricks you will love either.

[tomturkey]

I bought a bare bones vac sealer direct from food saver a few years ago. I like it for some things but still wrap my venison in freezer paper. The vac sealer plastic takes up to much room in the freezer and will not stay stacked like freezer paper.

My fish are froze in baggies as I can partially freeze and add more water or fish if I need to.

I have been using Ziplock rolls to make my own vac seal bags as it seems to work better.

[Whopper Stopper]

I have had 3 Food Savers. Finally I bought the Cabelas sealer mentioned above and it has already outlasted two of the Food Savers. Great unit.

             WS

[major257]

Bought a VP 112 from webrestraunte this fall and it is the best investment I have made in years. Even vacuum pack soup. Save on bags wicked over the vacuum sealer type. Canister vac all the way now.

[Rat-Man]

I have a VAC-U-SEAL BY TILIA that I bought right from the Rep at the Minneapolis Sportsman show over 20yrs ago when I used to do the show circuits myself selling fishing lures . I use it my kids borrow it, friends use it the only problem in 20yrs is the cutting blade is getting dull.

[scales]

I've used a Food Saver for years. I like it a lot. I freeze all my fish with it, and it never gets freezer burn. I've had fish frozen for up to a year. I also freeze all of my meats, shrimp, blueberries, venison, etc. with the Food Saver. The bags are costly, but I think their worth the price.

[Fresch]

 Food Saver but will get the better, larger sealing type when this one dies. I thought it had but when I hot glued the vac hose to the pump it was alive!