How often do you use your vacuum sealer?

Would really like to get a vacuum sealer and circulator to experiment with sous-vide, but it seems so costly to initially get into it.

I can see a lot of uses to use the vacuum sealer besides sous-vide, but others in the kitchen are sceptical about how much use it will really get after the initial fun-factor wears off. Just wondering how often you use it in your kitchens and how you would rate its usefulness.

I use it everyday. Packaging portions of lamb shank, corned beef, cooked greens... pretty much anything that you would wrap in plastic wrap or foil. Infusing things, such as figs w/ bourbon. We have saved so much money in not having to throw out items b/c they're vacuum sealed.

The catch is that the machines are so expensive and the bags range from 25c to $1.60

yeah... bags are EXPENSIVE

tkern said:

I use it everyday. Packaging portions of lamb shank, corned beef, cooked greens... pretty much anything that you would wrap in plastic wrap or foil. Infusing things, such as figs w/ bourbon. We have saved so much money in not having to throw out items b/c they're vacuum sealed.

The catch is that the machines are so expensive and the bags range from 25c to $1.60

Click to expand...

Do more expensive bags work better, or is it a matter of some machines use more expensive bags? I'm gonna guess the cheaper machines use cheaper bags?

When you say saving items that would have been thrown away, do you mean by freezing or just keeping in the fridge? How much longer do you feel you can extend shelf-life of meats?

Also curious...would it just destroy a fish? Videos I've seen, they look pretty powerful.

bags depend on maker

even in the fridge, i saw a significant increase in how meats lasted. Fish was ok, but you need to adjust the pressure.... honestly, i tended to avoid fish except salmon in the bags. You can even do soups and stocks in bags with pressure adjustment... that was really nice.

Interesting thanks...sounding like it would be a good investment.

I decided to try out one of the simple consumer ones, some Foodsaver model, just to see how it works. My experience: I only use it if it sits ready on the counter. I don't have enough counter space (too many knife blocks, I guess...), so it's stored right under it and I can't remember the last time I used it. I don't hink that would be different even if I had a fancier model.

Stefan

really? i use my foodsaver all the time

If you are into steak and aged meat, have a look at models that are suitable for dry bag steak. Dry bag steak itself is quite pricey, but normal bag that fit the sealer usually is cheap..

I use mine a couple of times a week for sous vide and storing stuff.

Lars

Actually, the Uchi Cookbook has a lot of uses for a vacuum sealer. One particularly good one is compressed melon. Vacuum seal a large melon slice, no rind, and refrigerate.

The compression reduces the volume that the piece of melon takes up, and therefore intensifies the flavors.

They have other components that are similarly done in a vacuum sealer. All are delicious.