Foodsaver or seal-a-meal?

[at2wooden]

Which is best? (most durable / economical)

Where is the best place to buy and what are the most commonly used bag sizes?

I am also interested in these as freezer storage.

Any advice will be appreciated. Thanks.

[jennvan]

I have a foodsaver and have had great experiences with it. I have a friend who bought a seal-a-meal and had lots of problems with the seal on the bags. They would leak air into the bag so they weren't vacuum sealed anymore. I also use the jar sealer quite a bit and its great to use with dried things you want to open and use and then reseal. Or if you are worried about consumables in the bags. There are also a number of versions of each so you need to be aware of that as well. I have a middle of the line foodsaver and it fits well for me. I use it a lot for freezer storage. One tip, freeze the food first and then seal in the bag. You can seal while the food is moist but I have found I worry a lot more about the moisture. I've literally sealed almost everything, from donuts to soup to fruit to chicken stock to bread. Everything comes out great, even a year or more later. Even the donuts that I sealed while still fresh (before I learned to freeze then seal) and were squished flat came out just like the same day. I also use plastic containers for serving sizes and then seal in individual bags. The plastic containers make it easy to pop out the food and then put in the bags to vacuum seal.

You can buy foodsaver many places. I got mine online with an incredible deal. I got 3 rolls of foodsaver bags and 2 canisters and the jar sealer with the deal. My mom got hers from Sam's Club with a lot of rolls included but no canisters. I'd look around and see what kind of deals you can find these days. If you have other questions, I'd be happy to answer them.

[yorkiebeebs]

I think the Food Saver and the Seal A Meal are both made by the same company. At least that's what a customer service rep told me when I called to order a jar sealer.

I love my Food Saver, I use it all the time. I buy in bulk at Costco and then freeze in packs of two. They thaw out fast and I can take out just what I need.

I also use the jar sealer all the time. It's awesome! My dehydrator goes almost constantly and I store the veggie/fruit in sealed jars. I couldn't do without it now.

It's fun to have jars of munchies sealed in jars also. You never know when the craving my hit or someone drops by and you want fresh, crisp chips or doo dads. They last a long time.

Costco sells large bags of chocolate chips and I store them in sealed jars also. It's so handy to have all these things on hand and know that they are fresh.

I used to go to the store everyday for one thing or another and spent so much money. When you stop for one thing you find other things also. Now I only buy from the sale papers and buy in bulk whenever the prices are really good.

My Food Saver gets used alot. It's money well spent. I would only buy one with the port for the jar sealer attachment. You can buy the tube and the attachment if they don't come with it but you must have the port on the machine to attach it.

[at2wooden]

Thanks for your quick replies!

Which model is the best? ( durable / best price point)

Which bag sizes do you use the most?

Mostly I expect to use them for freezer meats.

[yorkiebeebs]

These are my favorite bags and I use alot of them.

Vacuum Sealer Bags -11” x 16” – 100 Bags - 30-0102-W-WS

I also use these alot.

Vacuum Sealer Bags – 8” x 12” – 100 Bags - 30-0101-W-WS

As far as which model, I would buy the model that Costco sells. It has a port and is a good machine and the price is good.

[applepansy]

Definitely Food Saver. I like the premade bags. But the rolls are more economical until I don't judge the size correctly.

[Dravin]

Thanks for your quick replies!

Which model is the best? ( durable / best price point)

Which bag sizes do you use the most?

Mostly I expect to use them for freezer meats.

What size is your family? That really determines the size you need. We did the rolls where you make your own bag to make 1lb and 2lb bags of ground beef for instance. The reason we did 2lb bags is that a lot of applications our family uses ground beef for requires 2lbs. So the size bags you need (or sizes) will really depend on application and servings you expect to prepare. We had the 1lb bags for odd meals out and the like. Things like roasts will be similar, the size you need to feed your family we dictate what size bag you need to use.

Of course we also used a hamburger press (cheap $3 deal) and a scale to make several bags of 1/4lb hamburger patties. I was always tempted to spruce up those patties (dice in some onion or what have you) but didn't get around to it before the machine broke.