Sous Vide Who has used the Ziplock bag technique successfully for both solids and with liquids?

For home use, does the ziplock bag trick really work? For both bags with and without liquid, even long cooking times? I want to get into sous vide but just can't justify a $500 chamber vac.

A 100$ strip sealer?

Well. I can tell you that I do more sous vide than expected. Easy and the results are good

I read conflicting things. Some say the vacmaster pro260 at $170 works great for sealing liquids, others say its useless. Same for strip sealers.

Well I have not used sous vide for too long. And I think I would like a chamber vac so much. But it's 1000$ down under. I can't justify it. That's knife money!

I got a small one and just use it with thicker sauce. ( I make the liquid a little thick) and it works fine for me. )

I do tend to have a little air in the bag once it been in the water for a while.

Yea ziploc freezer bags work great for solids haven't done much work with liquids but it seemed to workout fine when I did most important thing is to clamp the bags to the side so they don't go under.

My simple strip sealer is still in storage (as was my sv set-up until recently), and I have mostly used zip lock bags so far without problems. I can't compare to how it would be with a real vacuum, though. Things like chicken breasts worked well with or without marinade. The short ribs I did over 48h I just double-bagged, just in case. There was quite a bit of liquid released from the meat but no external liquid had entered. I assume there would be an improvement with a chamber vac, but it's not in my budget either. I will try and reactivate my strip vac, mostly because I expect that a tighter vacuum will be better if I want to freeze portions, but for occasional home I managed ok with bags so far.

Just my 2cts,

Stefan

Thanks, all. I'm convinced to give it a try and get the anova or sansaire.

I did it both ways and it works fine...mostly. I have had bag leak a couple of times and dirty the water bath...as well as dilute the marinade (not sure what word to use there, not really as marinade as you are using it to cook the meat in).

I think a strip sealer is far better than ziplock bags. and that a chamber vac is far better than a strip sealer

However, I think much of the merit of chamber vacs is not related to sous vide...lots of other stuff you can do that a strip sealer kinda sucks at (like compressed fruit (which has become one of my favorites); removing O2 from powders such as chili powder, and masalas for indian foods, which--I think--helps preserve the essential oils and extends the life of prepared items like that).

My $.02, YMMV, not valid with other offers, void where prohibited, etc.

I've done a bunch of stuff sous vide in zip locks including short ribs up to 72 hours ( overkill), chuck steak, lobster tail, pork . They perhaps need to be handled a bit more delicately, but they all work just fine. I still plan to take Mucho's advice on a sealer. So many uses.

I've got a chamber vac sealer, but often use zippy bag for short cooks and more delicate product such as fish and chicken. Key is to keep it under 65C (they get a little soft) and don't use the ones with slider do-hickey they leak.

It is easier to get a seal with fluid in there but dry works pretty well. If you are worried about leakage use a larger bag size and clip them to ladle or bar resting across the bath.

To be honest I could probably live without a vac sealer if i did not do a lot cook chill/freeze.

Are you folks using zippies sealing them by submerging under water to push all the air out? That's the main trick that helps me use them effectively for everything I've needed. See halfway down Dave Arnold's "Sous-vide without a vacuum" primer.

http://www.cookingissues.com/primers/sous-vide/part-ii-low-temperature-cooking-without-a-vacuum/

Once I got that technique down, I've pretty much ignored my home-built chamber vac. I use the chamber mainly for degassing liquids/gels, vacuum infusion, and evacuation of mason jars to keep things shelf-stable.

I built a chamber sealer for <100$, with some instructions on my blog. See my post from Jan 26, 2011:
http://legoremonde.wordpress.com/

Sure am; Dave is my go to man on sous vide. Learnt a hell of a lot from cooking issues over the years.

I have a food saver, but I still use ziplock a for things with a lot of liquid. Both work, though the Ziplock seals seem to give way occasionally with long cook times.