Finally got a Foodsaver!

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squirrel

Master of the Pit
Original poster
OTBS Member
May 7, 2010
1,598
88
augusta ga
I'm a little late to the picnic I know, but I didn't really think too much about having one. Can I tell you something. I am in love with my new toy, my new best friend. I have already used up the roll that came with it. I even vacuum sealed my kitty.
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 That was fun until she started clawing at the bag and put a hole in and the vacuum was lost. LOL! Just kidding! I accidently hit the stop button, it wasn't her fault.

I did some steaks, sausages, butter, a roll of toilet paper, a whole bunch of herbs and spices that I buy in bulk, some pecans, some grapes (I just thought that would look kinda neat, I was wrong) and no I really didn't seal up the cat. I couldn't catch her.

I got it from Sam's for 149 buckaroos. It is the V3485 and has the marinate feature which, if all else fails sealing up the cat, then she's getting a good douching in the handy little "bathtub" that came with it! LOL! I swear I haven't been drinking the items to the left of the sealer. That 99 Bananas liqueur and the dark rum are for bananas foster. I wonder if I can make that and seal it and put it in the freezer. Hmmmm....

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MEOOOOOWW! LMAO  vacuum pack me up that bottle of dark stuff and send it to me! haha....  You've just about convinced me to get one...I've wanted one but I keep putting it off.  I'm tired of throwing frozen stuff away!  
 
Hey Squirrel!!!

Try squashing a pop can

Have fun with your new toy!!

Todd
 
LOL... nothing like a Squirrel post to bring a smile to my face... heh-heh.

One great thing to do is take your various pork and beef drippings and freeze them in ice cube trays (or small plastic containers), then vacuum seal them and store them in the freezer. They add great meaty, smokey flavor to gravy's, soups, sauces, ect.

I also like to put herb blends into the cuisinart with olive oil, give it a whirl till they make a nice paste. Freeze in ice cube trays, vacuum pack them and store in your freezer. Toss them into sauces or thaw them out when you want that nice fresh herb taste... even in the middle of the winter.
 
Great ideas Johnny! Thanks so much! I was wondering how I could do that and you, my dear sir, have enlightened the Squirrel! Thanks! Yea man, this thing is a blast, I will definitely try Todd's idea with the soda can.

I did read mixed reviews about it though, so people said it quit working after ten or so vacuums, so we'll see.
 
Any time... glad the suggestion was of use. You can also store chilli, and soups that way - I like those Ziploc plastic storage containers with the slope sides, fill one with whatever liquid/soup, freeze it, vacuum seal it. Works great!
 
Congrats they are great
 
meateater, you are about as messed up as I am. I dooo love that sign though. My first thought was a nasty one and cannot post it lest I get the boot. Shame on you! Just you wait, I'm gonna getcha back.
 
When I showed my wife a video demonstrating the A-Maze-N smoker and a couple of Q-views, the first thing she said was "Order one of those sawdust smokers, NOW".  The second thing she said after looking at the Q-views was "I guess I'm going to have to get a vacumn sealer".

The model we got from Walmart is a step down from what yours looks like.  It has a vacumn and seal button, a seal button and a button for using an external attachment.  Yours looks like it has the "wet or dry" feature, which in retrospect sounds nice.  She's learned a trick of putting a piece of folded paper towel in the top of the bag above (i.e. outside of) where the heat seal will be.  That seems to stop the wet from getting sucked up into the vacumn device.

Of course we vacumned our smoked cheese.  One thing that did *NOT* work was vacumn sealing shredded cheese in the vacumn bag.  It got compressed and turned into a cheese brick. 

If you have not yet gotten one, consider the attachment that lets you vacumn seal the type of bell jar commonly used for canning -- metal top with a rubber gasket.  I don't understand how it works, but it does.  If you are careful about opening the jar and don't bend the lid, you can use it over and over again.  Things you put in there do not get crushed the way they might in a bag.

Look for replacement bag and roll kits in your local favorite warehouse store.  We shop at BJs and they had a pretty good deal compared to what the grocery stores sell them for.

Next on my wife's list was a dehydrator, but that is a story for another time:-}}
 
Great info Dale! I do want to order some of the attachments, the one you mentioned and the one for wine bottles
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 I like the idea about using the paper towel, the first thing I vacuumed were some steaks and even using the "moist food" feature some of the blood got sucked out EWWWW!!! I bought a box of the replacement roll kit when I bought the machine. I also want a good dehydrator, I bought one for about 40 bucks and walmart not too long ago, it works fine, just takes a good long time for peppers and it's kinda loud. I bet some of these nice folks could enlighten us on the subject.
 
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Cheryl I can't believe that you haven't had open of theses things yet.... I thought you had all the little gadgets and toys.... So does this mean that the next time we do an exchange I'm gonna get some all squeezed up nuts....OUCH
 
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try putting the shredded cheese on a cookie sheet with wax paper and let it freeze spread out then vaccume pack it.    We do it that way as well as for berries and such that would just crush when we seal them up.

Steve
Of course we vacumned our smoked cheese.  One thing that did *NOT* work was vacumn sealing shredded cheese in the vacumn bag.  It got compressed and turned into a cheese brick. 
 
These things go thru a lot of bags and my wife and I have been using one for over 15 years maybe 20.  Here is a little trick we came up with. Make your bags about 15" long and you can cut them at the seal line when you need to open and then turn inside out and wash with soap and water then dry and reuse them over and over - this cut my bag consumption down considerably - I will also post here when they have bag sales at Foodsaver for you. It is usually 25% and free shipping

Congrats to ya and did you know you can boil with them too - Could be another way to skin a cat - just sayin
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I like the idea about using the paper towel, the first thing I vacuumed were some steaks and even using the "moist food" feature some of the blood got sucked out EWWWW!!! I bought a box of the replacement roll kit when I bought the machine. I also want a good dehydrator, I bought one for about 40 bucks and walmart not too long ago, it works fine, just takes a good long time for peppers and it's kinda loud. I bet some of these nice folks could enlighten us on the subject.
The manual talks about putting a paper towel inside.  My wife did not like the idea of it being sealed up and so tried this other trick.  She's been doing a lot of web surfing over the past month.  Another idea she picked up was to put the meat into the unsealed bag and partially freeze it before doing the vacumn and seal.  Yet another one was to put the meat (or whatever -- things like flour can get sucked up also) into a regular bag, unsealed, with the opening down.

She also recently bought a dehydrator from Walmart for about the same price.  Lots of web surfing to get ideas on using that also.
 
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