Foodsaver - Is it worth it?

[rantk81]

(My apologies if this topic has been discussed already.  I tried to search for an existing thread, but the search page kept returning database errors to me....)


For anyone who has bought a Foodsaver (or other similar brand) and the associated bagging materials for it:

Is it worth it economically?  There seems to be quite a steep upfront cost for the device (there are cheap devices with very poor reviews, but once you get up around $180 and up, the reviews for the devices seem to be fantastic.)  The bags also seem to run more than 50 cents each for the smaller ones, and more expensive for the gallon size.

I'm not opposed to a big up-front cost for one of the higher end devices, but I am turned off at the prospect of paying on the order of $1.00 or even $0.50 per bag too.

I think I really would appreciate the "convenience" factor of having portioned out frozen vacuum-sealed food.  But the prices seem a bit high for me.

Can anyone comment on whether or not a Foodsaver is worthwhile economically speaking?  Sure, buying in bulk when there are sales or loss-leaders, is great... but do the high costs of the bags offset this?

Thanks

[HazelStone]

The main issue with Foodsavers lasting is that you have to clean out a couple of parts here and there, especially if you do a lot of "wet" food. They last better if you do that. If you are sealing a LOT of food at once, you will want to consider the higher end models. But that is closer to "hunted your own deer" rather than "got a subprimal at Costco."

My husband gets the cost down to around 10 cents per bag by shopping sales (and getting rolls where you cut bags to size instead of buying the premade ones). He also does sous vide cooking, and finds it useful to pre-season, bag freeze, and then drop the bag of food into the water bath. Many people under-estimate their food waste- we find that portioning out everything beforehand leaves us with much fewer scraps.

[Parizade]

Here are some ideas to try before you invest in the foodsaver:

http://www.thekitchn.com/two-tricks-for-vacuumsealing-freezer-bags-without-a-vacuum-sealer-tips-from-the-kitchn-194038

[Panfish]

I really like my foodsaver.  I do a fair amount of hunting/fishing and it is great for these activities (along with a chest freezer).  I have meat and fish that still taste really good after 2 or 3 years, you won't get that rapping it up in plastic and butcher paper.  I also shop deep, deep sales for meat, fish and chicken.  I bet I have 30 lbs of ribeye in my freezer from when Safeway had it for $4.99/lb instead of $12.99/lb (if it was just me I wouldn't have bought the steak, but DW *requires* steak every few weeks).  I buy the rolls of bags that you make into your own custom size in bulk from Sam's club, that really cuts down on the price per bag which for me ends up between $.20 and $.25 per bag depending on size. I bet my $200 food saver has saved me nearly a $1,000 in being able to really capitalize on meat when it gets insanely cheap, although my records on the subject aren't good enough to quantify.

[nereo]

My experience is that FoodSaver bags work as advertised, but also that there are much cheaper options that will work as well for less money and with less waste. 
For general freezing we use Zip-lock freezer bags, sometimes in conjunction with saran wrap and/or butcher paper.  The freezer bags can be reused multiple times and cost ~10¢/each at CostCo.

For things going directly into the oven (e.g. lasagna, pies, etc) foil pans with lids cost under $0.30 each when bought in bulk and can be reused with some care.

[Pooplips]

I recieved one this year for christmas and I love the thing. Meats go on sale and I stock up

[acanthurus]

Try these first:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003UEMFUG/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_dp_ss_3?pf_rd_p=1944687622&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=B003UEKBCK&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=0963GCW8Z5EVYDMC9WR2

[MayDay]

I've used a friends', and can confirm they work well.

For us, to own one though, not interested.  Too much plastic waste, too expensive upfront cost (I mean....  maybe they last 20 years?  But I'm not convinced.  Plus, like you said, the cost of bags). 

I freeze wet stuff in freezer safe canning jars, and dry-ish stuff in ziplocks which I re-wash, or canning jars.  Yes, some stuff gets freezer burn- we try eat up frozen green beans by Christmas, for example, and I just found 2 jars that got buried, and they were pretty frosty.  But we ate them, they were fine, and if nothing else I could have thrown them in soup. 

We don't have a problem with food waste by using cheaper and more reusable options, basically.  Maybe if I had problems I would feel differently.  We would have to be wasting a lot of food to pay for one, though.  We fill our deep freeze every summer, and it is empty and unplugged by April-ish.  I kind of figure that I ought to be able to eat anything I am "saving" within 9 months, and the last few odds and ends can fit in the refrigerator freezer.  Using stuff up seems to eliminate a lot of the reasons to have one. 

[BarkyardBQ]

We would never keep regular items in food saver bags, like others have said, it wastes too much plastic.

We use it for storing 6+ lb batches of home made jerky, for long term, and gifting.

[horsepoor]

I was able to buy the heavier duty Gamesaver directly from the Foodsaver website for like $85 shipped.

Previous Foodsaver lasted 10 years before it quit sucking.  We buy the bags at Costco when they're on sale and they last a long time.  The bags can be reused, you'll just lose a couple inches of plastic each use. 

I'd say it wasn't really worth it when I didn't have a deep freeze, but now it pays for itself.  In particular, I vacuum pack portioned Salmon when whole fish are on sale, and homegrown hops, which really need to be protected from air and frost to not lose  potency.

[backyardfeast]

I think it really depends on your lifestyle and storage space.

Many inexpensive and less (plastic) wasteful options will keep frozen food fresh for a few months.  If all you want to do is freeze meal portions that you will be rotating through your freezer over a few months, I would say it's definitely NOT worth it.

We produce and process a ton of our own food.  We hate plastic and try to avoid it as much as possible, so we've experimented with a variety of preserving options over the years.  We especially contemplate our options seriously every time we've burned out a Foodsaver!  We went for the ~$100 ones about 3 times; we would get maybe 18 months out of it.  We recently decided to splurge for the $300+ version sold at Cabelas (hunting supply store), and so far so good. 

Basically, we decided it was worth it specifically for fish.  We stock up on a year's supply of salmon when it's running in the spring/summer, and fish does not freeze well otherwise.  With the vacuum sealer, it stays as fresh as the day it was caught, more than a year later.  Amazing!  It's SO good for fish (which we eat a lot of) that it's been worth it for us to go through the headache and cost of the vacuum sealer.

BUT: our half-side of pork seems fine in butcher paper for a year+; garden veg do better vacuum sealed if keeping for a year, but regular ziplocs are fine for short-term freezing (3-6 months).  And even with the high-end machine, you have to expect that a significant portion of the seals won't hold, especially for wetter food.  So truly, if it weren't for the fish, we wouldn't have one; it wouldn't be worth the frustration of plastic waste, seals not holding, machines breaking down...

Costco is by far the cheapest place for bags in our area, and they also have regular sales. 

[kimmarg]

My experience is that FoodSaver bags work as advertised, but also that there are much cheaper options that will work as well for less money and with less waste. 
For general freezing we use Zip-lock freezer bags, sometimes in conjunction with saran wrap and/or butcher paper.  The freezer bags can be reused multiple times and cost ~10¢/each at CostCo.

I dispute that Ziplocks work "as well". Foodsaver is amazing for items which will be frozen for a long time (months). For example every summer I pick a 1 year supply of berries. They have no freezer burn even 9 months later. In normal ziplocks things get freezer burn. My rule of thumb is if it's going to be frozen a month or less ziplock, and 3 months of more always foodsaver. (1-3 months is a bit of a gray area). You can reuse foodsaver bags that had veggies or fruit, although they don't always work the second time (in terms of some air will leak in)

Bottom line: for long term storage FoodSaver is worth the money.

[horsepoor]

http://www.foodsaver.com/vacuum-sealers/the-foodsaver-gamesaver-deluxe-plus/T000-33270-P.html

Gamesaver for 79.99.  Has a 10 year warranty.  Add to cart to get that price.

[nereo]

My experience is that FoodSaver bags work as advertised, but also that there are much cheaper options that will work as well for less money and with less waste. 
For general freezing we use Zip-lock freezer bags, sometimes in conjunction with saran wrap and/or butcher paper.  The freezer bags can be reused multiple times and cost ~10¢/each at CostCo.

I dispute that Ziplocks work "as well". Foodsaver is amazing for items which will be frozen for a long time (months). For example every summer I pick a 1 year supply of berries. They have no freezer burn even 9 months later. In normal ziplocks things get freezer burn. My rule of thumb is if it's going to be frozen a month or less ziplock, and 3 months of more always foodsaver. (1-3 months is a bit of a gray area). You can reuse foodsaver bags that had veggies or fruit, although they don't always work the second time (in terms of some air will leak in)

Bottom line: for long term storage FoodSaver is worth the money.

well, your experience and mine differ in that regard.  I will say I 'flash-freeze' my berries with LN2 (a less orthodox method to be sure) before bagging them, and haven't had a problem with freezer burn. For the berries that I typicall freeze (blueberries, raspberries, strawberries) the water content is already so high that freezerburn isn't much of a problem (since it's basically the dehydration of foods via sublimation). We do find that the thicker "freezer" bags make a difference.  I also stray away from fish as a poster above mentioned, so no comment there.  For other meats, including game meat, I've had as much luck carefully wrapping in butcher-paper before sealing inside ziplock bags.

I had a roommate that was a 'prepper' and had a high-end FoodSaver, and as I said it worked as advertised - no arguments about it's effectiveness from me.  The problem I had with berries/veggies and food-saver bags is that the vacuum process often smushed the softer fruits/veggies unless they were frozen to begin with.

We rotate through everything in our freezer over ~6 months.  YMMV.

[bognish]

I use our for things we grow in the garden in large quantities and freeze for over 3 months. Pesto, tomatillo salsa, tomato sauce, pureed roasted squash get frozen in batch size tupperwares, then I vacuum seal the frozen block to save space in the freezer and number of tupperwares. Also works great for costco size pork packages that I will divide into 4 lbs portions and we won't go through very quick.

For us it only makes sense because of the garden, and cause I hate canning.

[herbgeek]

I try to not keep things in the freezer more than 3-4 months, so don't use my FoodSaver for meats etc.  I use freezer bags aka Ziploc.

What I do use my FoodSaver for is vacuum sealing dehydrated foods in mason jars (I have an attachment).  It keeps the food from getting moisture.

I also used the Food Saver to vacuum seal an extra pair of underwear and a toothbrush that I keep in my car just in case.

[naners]

Just got our foodsaver because we cook a lot with our ANOVA sous vide (another thing for Mustachians to check out - the results are amazing and you can use very cheap cuts). I love it for freezing things too, and there are some neat attachments like the Ball jar sealer. Keeps things like nuts, coffee etc. fresh for longer.

Not to hijack the OP's thread, but I have a newbie Foodsaver question: any advice for sealing moist things? I know that the foodsaver can't seal liquids (e.g.marinades), and that's fine. But I've found that if there is even a tiny bit of liquid in with whatever you're sealing it gets sucked toward the seal and doesn't seal properly. Do I just have to dry everything really carefully? For example, I just bought 2lb of beef stew meat and it's quite bloody. Do I really have to dry every piece before sealing it?

[lakemom]

.

Not to hijack the OP's thread, but I have a newbie Foodsaver question: any advice for sealing moist things? I know that the foodsaver can't seal liquids (e.g.marinades), and that's fine. But I've found that if there is even a tiny bit of liquid in with whatever you're sealing it gets sucked toward the seal and doesn't seal properly. Do I just have to dry everything really carefully? For example, I just bought 2lb of beef stew meat and it's quite bloody. Do I really have to dry every piece before sealing it?

Make sure you use extra space at the top of the bag (I use the rolls and make bags oversize for wet items) also use the trick of folding a narrow piece of paper towel and tucking it into the top of the bag about 1.5" from the top to absorb the moisture.

Another option is to prefreeze wet meats (and/or soft fruits) until just firm then shrink them.

I love my foodsaver and use it for meats (fish and chicken mostly as we buy our beef and pork by the side and it comes prewrapped from the butcher), fruits, veggies in the freezer.  I also use it to portion out bulk baking supplies into smaller portions (5 5lb bags of flour instead of the 25 pounder).  I also do the same with rice and oats etc.  I will also portion out leftovers into single servings and freeze for lunches.

I keep and reuse all bags except ones that held meat and keep using them until they get too small to reuse.  I find the rolls a much better value than the bags and as others have said finding them on sale and stocking up is the best cost saver there. 

I highly recommend the ball jar sealer attachment too.  I use it for lots of dry goods I want to store longer term (popcorn, nuts, beans, baking supplies).  Its also great for the salad in a jar method for lunches or just to keep your greens fresher longer.

[horsepoor]

  Its also great for the salad in a jar method for lunches or just to keep your greens fresher longer.

That's is brilliant, thanks!  I bought a jar sealer with my new Foods average and it's pretty neat.

[fishnfool]

Love love love my foodsaver!

I try to get my bags when they yo on sale at kohls department store or when we get kohls cash rewards.

Imo, they are well worth the expense if you fish, hunt or like to buy meat in bulk. Nothing preserves your food in a freezer as well as a foodsaver does.

[Rosy]

  Its also great for the salad in a jar method for lunches or just to keep your greens fresher longer.

That's is brilliant, thanks! I bought a jar sealer with my new Foods average and it's pretty neat.

horsepoor is that jar sealer a separate stand alone item or do you use it with the game saver?

[horsepoor]

It's an accessory  that works with any Foodsaver

[geekette]

I love our foodsaver.  DH keeps his coffee in the canisters, I use the jar attachment for some dry goods, and I use it all. the. time. to freeze and seal meats.  Quarter pound hamburgers, steaks, chicken parts, sliced up pork loin, whatever.  Pre-freeze (hamburgers do well with parchment paper between them).  Seal a bunch in a large bag and you can pull out just what you need.  Easy to reseal the rest with little plastic waste.

It's amazing how well stuff keeps.  Yes, the bags are expensive, but I use the rolls, cut them long, then reuse, reuse, reuse. 

I rarely have to clean mine because I pre-freeze almost everything.  If it starts acting like it's not pulling a vacuum, it's usually just that you need new gaskets.  Some take different ones, but I get a pair of these when they run specials on the bags or whatever. 

[Miss Prim]

Not to hijack the OP's thread, but I have a newbie Foodsaver question: any advice for sealing moist things? I know that the foodsaver can't seal liquids (e.g.marinades), and that's fine. But I've found that if there is even a tiny bit of liquid in with whatever you're sealing it gets sucked toward the seal and doesn't seal properly. Do I just have to dry everything really carefully? For example, I just bought 2lb of beef stew meat and it's quite bloody. Do I really have to dry every piece before sealing it?

I have a foodsaver and use the heck out of it.  To get around the problem of sealing moist stuff, I fill the bags and then put them in the freezer just folded over and when they are frozen solid, I take them back out and use the foodsaver to vacuum seal them.  If they are frozen, then you don't get the liquid problem, or very little liquid and they will seal fine.   

I also wash and reuse the bags.  They will be smaller, but I use them the second time for smaller items like freezing a few whole jalapeno peppers.  After 2 times, they are too small for another use. 

Since I grow a big garden and can, what I can't can I freeze and I love the foodsaver because I hate freezer burn and this really prevents it and what I freeze has to last a year.

For what it's worth, I bought my food saver with points from my Discover card and an Amazon gift card from kids for my birthday, so it really didn't cost anything.

                                                                            Miss Prim

[Bella_Jeri]

Most of the times, we end up dumping the food and other edible stuff into the dustbin. Why? Because they either lost their edibility or they got contaminated by bacteria or micro-organisms. Now, Is this what we should be doing?? or Are we required to take a step towards betterment?? The way out of this is buying Best Vacuum Sealer for Food. These are the devices which will protect your food items when you store them in the freezer by vacuum sealing it. For more Details you can visit kitchenopedia.com which I found the best site for Vacuum Sealer reviews. Just give it a try

Nutritious, healthy and fresh food is what which we all desire. And in order to achieve that we do all possible things. But tell me, what happens when you go out in the winter without the pullovers? You freeze to death, isn’t it? This is exactly what happens when you store your stuff in the freezer. They die by loosing their edibility and freshness. This happens because they get dry, frozen and contaminated by the germs when they are kept in the freezer without protection.

The food vacuum sealers suck the air out from the bag in which the food is placed and seals the bag completely air free. If you are newbies then i would suggest you to buy FoodSaver V3240, it is a highly efficient device and cost effective as well. It has a two speed vacuum sealing feature and possesses special ‘ CrushFree’ feature to keep the food fresh and safe.

Regards,

Bella