M14 Forum

huntinghawk

Mine is an old Foodsaver Compact II. How old I don't know but it works fine.

HH

gtho150

I have a Seal-A-Meal, and bought it for 59.00 on Amazon, Its better than the Food Saver I had and uses the same bags.
I use it to Sous Vide meats to be used later.
Gary

Earthquake

I just ordered a 100pack of 100cc oxy absorbers and a 100 1 gal Mylar bags from this company...
http://store.keepfreshbags.com/paof10oxab.html
There prices dont look to bad to me, they also have bigger sizes of bags and O2 absorbers as well. I'm working on making my own bag sealer that will have a chamber that you put the bag in leaving about 2" sticking out and close it, it will have a seal around it so I can use my compressor to pressurise the chamber and push all the air out of the bag and then I will just iron the part of the bag sticking out, there will be a small platform the end rests on. Does that make sense, It would be pretty easy to make with two shallow stainless hotel pans and four pair of vice grips, I did not say it would be fast. I will post a pic once I get it figured out.

Casey

ppcshooter1

If there are pockets between the pieces of food I don't think you could drive all the air out without reducing the food to powder or liquid. Vacuum sealing definitely has the advantage.

Marty

Earthquake

I swear I did not see the post by SOCOM42 but that's what I looking to do.

PPCshooter
I'm not talking about using a lot of pressure, it will not take more then about 20psi to push most of the air out of the bag and like SOCOM42 said a oxy absorber will do the rest and depending what I'm sealing it may get a Bay leaf as well.

Casey

Mainzer

EARTHQUAKE......inquired if you can seal Mylar bags with your Foodsaver. The answer is YES and NO. If you compare the mylar bags to the foodsaver bags side by side, you will notice the foodsaver bags have "ribs" built into them. These "ribs" form a passage way for the air to escape when the vacuum is being applied. The Mylar bags, on the other hand, are perfectly smooth. If you put a Mylar bag in the Foodsaver, it will "pinch off" the airflow and no vacuum is formed.

You can deal with this in one of two ways, however. First, and most common, is to add Oxygen absorbers then use the heating element of the Foodsaver just to seal the bag...the O2 absorbers will do the rest.

If, on the other hand, you don't want to use the absorbers, you CAN vacuum seal with the foodsaver. Cut off about a one inch strip of ribbed foodsaver bag and put it across the opening of the mylar bag. Be certain that the strip doesn't come in contact with the Foodsaver heating element but DOES cover the lip of the vacuum chamber, then seal as usual. This will keep the airways open, allowing a vacuum to form and the heating element can still seal the Mylar bag. Takes a little practise but very doable.

Hope this helps?