Best vacuum packer

[teeroy]

My Dad wants a vacuum packer for his birthday. I want to get a good one but at a reasonable price. Any tips?

 

[oneshot]

I would get one of these....Here' the link....

http://www.foodsaver.com/Index.aspx

Good luck.

 

[beer-b-q]

I have the Tilia Foodsaver 850...

I think Tilia is the best and most popular brand to get.

 

[hoser]

Yep....Foodsaver is what I use as well. Had it for years, and it's still going strong. Once you get used to a few little quirks they have, they're really easy to use.

 

[bassman]

We bought one of these for my step-son's birthday in June. Sam's Club had them for about $139.00. Great unit.

 

[alaskansmokesignals]

... but they cost a whole heckuva lot money more.

I've used mine on literally thousands of pounds of fish and many thousands of pounds of big game over a dozen years or better now; I'm on my third one. There lastest model is much nicer to operate than earlier ones, but all worked well.

You can't really go wrong with that one.

Watch out for non-Tilia aftermarket bags on ebay though; they're thinner. I get the real bags, in rolls.

 

[blue]

I've had my foodsaver for about 10 years and use it all the time. While my model is older is works like a charm.

 

[bman62526]

Good thread! I am asking the wife for a decent slicer and a vacuum packer for Christmas

I'm sure she thinks I'm nuts, asking for all of these kitchen-type gadgets, but what can I say. Ever since I found an old smoker and then found this site, I've been obsessed!

I'm sure you all have noticed what the cost of groceries has climbed to in the past 5 years or so...pretty damn high. Therefore, I figure if I can slice and seal things like smoked ham, turkey, roast beef, etc...I can really save in the long run. I'm going to look into both brands of vacuum sealers mentioned here - as well as a couple of the slicers that were talked about in another thread over the weekend.

 

[scarbelly]

My Foodsaver is several years old and I use it all the time. One tip - make bags that are double the size of what you need. Than when you cut off the strip to open it you have a bag you can reuse numerous times. It is a real money saver

 

[plj]

hmmm - I had a foodsaver, it only lasted about 3 or 4 years. I do use it on a couple deer every year plus other minor uses, but not commercial use or anything like that. I'm looking for a heavier duty brand.

 

[bmudd14474]

ive had mine for several years too. It still works well. Starting to fail a little. But as much as I have used it I cant complain.

 

[smokeguy]

I've had the Cabela's CG-15 for a year now and still love it like I did the 1st time I used it. I've used it to seal for a small commercial business as well as for fish (still wet) and just "stuff". It's wide enough at 15" to seal a turkey in with the right bags too. It's sort of expensive, but they have some on the site for about $100 less that have been refurbished that might be a great deal. http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/te...set=ISO-8859-1

 

[teeroy]

I've been thinking about doing this with mine. Do you wash the bags in the diswasher before the next use?

 

[beer-b-q]

Tilia and Foodsaver are the same brand... Tilia along with many other companies were gobbled up by Jarden Corp.
http://www.jarden.com/phoenix.zhtml?...851&highlight=

It seems to be a carnivorous company, they sued Rival and Black and Decker for patent infringments and now seem to own them also...

Here are a few of its brands:

Consumer Solutions
Bionaire[emoji]174[/emoji], Crock-Pot[emoji]174[/emoji], FoodSaver[emoji]174[/emoji], Harmony[emoji]174[/emoji], Health o meter[emoji]174[/emoji], Holmes[emoji]174[/emoji], Margaritaville Cargo[emoji]174[/emoji], Mr. Coffee[emoji]174[/emoji], Oster[emoji]174[/emoji], Patton[emoji]174[/emoji], Rival[emoji]174[/emoji], Seal-a-Meal[emoji]174[/emoji], Sunbeam[emoji]174[/emoji], VillaWare[emoji]174[/emoji], White Mountain[emoji]174[/emoji], and Zarafina[emoji]174[/emoji].

Personal Comfort & Wellness
Arius Eickert[emoji]174[/emoji], Oster Style[emoji]174[/emoji], Sunbeam Bedding[emoji]174[/emoji], and Sunbeam Hospitality[emoji]174[/emoji].

Animal Solutions
Hydrosurge[emoji]174[/emoji], and Oster Pro[emoji]174[/emoji].

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Adio[emoji]174[/emoji], Cappel[emoji]174[/emoji], ExOfficio[emoji]174[/emoji], Hodgman[emoji]174[/emoji], Mad Dog Gear[emoji]174[/emoji], Marmot[emoji]174[/emoji], and Planet Earth[emoji]174[/emoji].

Leisure and Entertainment
American Painter[emoji]174[/emoji], Aristocrat[emoji]174[/emoji], Arttec[emoji]174[/emoji], Aviator[emoji]174[/emoji], Bee[emoji]174[/emoji], Bicycle[emoji]174[/emoji], Contemporary Crafts[emoji]174[/emoji], Forster[emoji]174[/emoji], Hoyle[emoji]174[/emoji], KEM[emoji]174[/emoji], Loew-Cornell[emoji]174[/emoji], and Totally You[emoji]174[/emoji].

Consumer Staples
Ball[emoji]174[/emoji], Bernardin[emoji]174[/emoji], Diamond[emoji]174[/emoji], Java Log[emoji]174[/emoji], Kerr[emoji]174[/emoji], Northland[emoji]174[/emoji], Pine Mountain[emoji]174[/emoji], and StarterLogg[emoji]174[/emoji].

Safety and Security
BRK[emoji]174[/emoji], Crawford[emoji]174[/emoji], Dicon[emoji]174[/emoji], First Alert[emoji]174[/emoji], Lehigh[emoji]174[/emoji], Leslie-Locke[emoji]174[/emoji], M&K Products[emoji]174[/emoji], One Link[emoji]174[/emoji], SecureLine[emoji]174[/emoji], Storehorse[emoji]174[/emoji], Tundra[emoji]174[/emoji], Ultra Hold[emoji]174[/emoji], and Wellington[emoji]174[/emoji].

Outdoor Recreation
Campingaz[emoji]174[/emoji], and Coleman[emoji]174[/emoji].

Winter Sports
5150Snowboards[emoji]174[/emoji], Atlas Snow Shoes[emoji]174[/emoji], Full Tilt[emoji]174[/emoji], K2 Alpine Touring[emoji]174[/emoji], K2 Skate [emoji]174[/emoji], K2 Skis[emoji]174[/emoji], K2 Snowboards[emoji]174[/emoji], Karhu[emoji]174[/emoji], Line[emoji]174[/emoji], Madshus, Marker[emoji]174[/emoji], Morrow[emoji]174[/emoji], Ride[emoji]174[/emoji], Tubbs Snow Shoes[emoji]174[/emoji], and Volkl[emoji]174[/emoji].

Fishing
Abu Garcia[emoji]174[/emoji], All Star Rods[emoji]174[/emoji], Berkley[emoji]174[/emoji], Fenwick[emoji]174[/emoji], Gulp![emoji]174[/emoji], Johnson[emoji]174[/emoji], JRC Products[emoji]174[/emoji], Mitchell[emoji]174[/emoji], Penn[emoji]174[/emoji], Pflueger[emoji]174[/emoji], Shakespeare[emoji]174[/emoji], Spiderwire[emoji]174[/emoji], Stren[emoji]174[/emoji], Trilene[emoji]174[/emoji], Ugly Stick[emoji]174[/emoji], and XTools[emoji]174[/emoji].

Team Sports
Brass Eagle[emoji]174[/emoji], deBeer[emoji]174[/emoji], Hilton[emoji]174[/emoji], JT[emoji]174[/emoji], Miken[emoji]174[/emoji], Rawlings[emoji]174[/emoji], ViewLoader[emoji]174[/emoji], and Worth[emoji]174[/emoji].

Water Sports
Helium[emoji]174[/emoji], Sevylor[emoji]174[/emoji], Sospenders[emoji]174[/emoji], and Stearns[emoji]174[/emoji].

Stock QuoteJAH (Common Stock)
Exchange: NYSE (US Dollar)
Price: $27.23
Change (%): Stock is Up 0.08 (0.29%)
Volume: 593,637

Data as of Oct 13, 2009 4:01 p.m.

Latest News
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RYE, N.Y., Sept. 24 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Jarden Corporation
Jarden Corporation to Participate in the Deutsche Bank 2009 Leveraged Finance Conference09.23.09
RYE, N.Y., Sept. 23 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Jarden Corporation

 

[mballi3011]

The food saver is the best for the money.

 

[garyt]

Just got back from a Shopko store, 1/2 price on most foodsavers, new models coming out, got a V2040

 

[alaskansmokesignals]

I'd love to hear what that new model has that the older one doesn't.

I've been using foodsavers for a VERY long time now.

Funny Story: One time in the middle of processing big game, mine just quit, dead. I called the mfr. and they told me of course it did, I couldn't do big game with that model of their foodsaver product - I needed their larger model... - I had already done many with it, so that advice didn't sit well with me.

So I went out and bought another foodsaver and came back to finish the processing, and lo and behold the first one was working fine! Turns out it has a thermal cutoff inside that cools down after awhile.

So from then on I had two; one to make bags and the other to suck'nSeal, so the vacuum packer person in my processing operation just got twice as fast and was now able to keep up with the cutters. A win win.

 

[chainsaw]

I would urge you to look at the zip-loc hand sealer-

Just this evening I sealed 5 lbs of chicken legs, 5 lbs of thighs, and 5 lbs of CSR's on sale with my ziploc hand vacuum sealer. I have mentioned before on this post about this REALLY CHEAP hand-sealer.

I tried an electric from China Mart, it failed before I had used it a month. There are better units, but... This unit only costs about $6.99 with bags.

It is a hand-vaccum no moving parts. No one will endorse it here, probably because everyone spent over $150.00 for their respective units.

It is like a hand-sealer- you know???

No brainer (if you want to use small amounts like I do.) If you are going for competition (100's of lbs of meat) that is a whole new argument.

It's just the wife & I here, she doesn't eat much meat-imagine my angst-I have too much meat in the freezer as it is...for 2 people...

Good luck dude

 

[rickw]

Actually I like the Zip Lock hand sealer. We have that and an electric model and if I'm doing only a thing or two the hand operated one works great.

 

[rw willy]

I had a foodsaver for 5 yrs. then my wife used it and got fluid into the suckie part.
I bought another one. This has a manual seal button. VERY worth while addition.
Love them both. buy one with the seal override.