Small VacPak issue

[richtee]

I was Vacpak'ing some jerky this AM and a few min. after I was done, I noticed 2 of 6 packages lost their seal. Hmm... I says to myself... "self, what's goin' on?"

All the seals looked good. AhHA! Whilst sucking it down, the hard sharp edges of the jerky went thru the bag causing small pinholes in the bag!

Solution: Placed jerky in a foldover top "sandwich" sized bag first, then sealed. Machine draws the air out of both bags, and extra layer prevents piercing.

Word of caution: Make sure none of the interior bag is hanging out near the soon to be sealed vac bag sealing line. It will not seal then, or if ya catch it in time double seal before it re-inflates.

 

[walking dude]

good point..........thankx for the idea

d88de

 

[richtee]

My Pleasure D"EightyEight"de. ;{)

 

[goat]

I have had that same problem vac sealing shrimp.

 

[richtee]

Hopefully you have the same solution now! :{)

 

[goat]

Not a problem now, my vac sealer quit sucking!! I have a lid gasket ordered and I hope that fixes it.

 

[walking dude]

goat........shouldn't you of rated that reply at least PG-13?

heheheh


d88de

 

[moltenone]

yep you have to watch how you load your bag's,also i found that you need to let the heat strip cool for a little bit before taking the bag off the sealer.

Mark

 

[deejaydebi]

Interesting ... I haven't had that happen yet. Thanks Rich!

 

[twistertail]

I have had that happen with jerky also. I put the setting back a notch so it didnt seal it as tight and that seemed to work. Jerky usually doesnt last long enough to bother with sealing it up anyways!

 

[richtee]

True, but as I sometimes get good money for the packaging around my jerky, it looks great. Yes, the package. I cannot legally sell the jerky, of course! Would NEVER do that!

 

[triple b]

Good idea,thanks for the sugestion.

 

[dono]

Rich, your post got me thinking, I don't own a sealer yet, so I checked on e-bay and I see there's a very large selection at very different prices. so, fill me in what's good , what's not? what should I be looking for in a sealer? how much should I exspect to pay for it? how much longer will my meat last if it's sealed before freezing?

 

[richtee]

I have the Foodsaver Pro lll. Honestly, I bought the best I could find for home use. don't skimp. I think mine was like $180 total. Stick with a name brand- perhaps others with different units will chime in as well here- You can reasonably expect a year in the freezer without problems with a properly sealed bag. I'll lay money on 2 years if given small odds :{) I pulled out a bag of brisket the other day that has been in there 7 months. Perfect.

 

[twistertail]

I've got a foodsaver also, not the pro model though. Mine was around $100 and I really like it. Not sure what the difference was between the different models, maybe just a stronger vacum? I think within a year you can make up the cost of buying one by being able to store leftovers longer and buying meat on sale and sealing it and freezing it.

 

[walking dude]

i have the food saver pro II..........smokebuzz was over last weekend, and saw ours........he said was was much larger than his foodsaver, that wasn't a pro model.........i think the pro models are wider, so you can used wider bags.......plus ours has a sliding cutter built into the lid.......to cut the bags from the roll after sealing.........bout 180 for ours, but this was several years ago.....as Rich as stated, they already have the Pro III out now..........

hth

d88de

 

[twistertail]

I looked on the food save site and they dont have the one I have anymore either. Mine has the slide cutter also, nice feature. How big are the bags that you use? I have only seen 2 sizes and mine is wide enough for both, I think 8" and 10"? Maybe mine is a pro model, heck I dont know. They did have some bags on sale on the food saver site.

 

[walking dude]

that sounds bout right........will have to look for the sale, them puppies are pricey.........

on a side note.........djdebi mentioned that the turkeybags and chicken bags......the oven roasting bags, can be sealed using these devices


d88de

 

[deejaydebi]

The Oven bags are more expensive and you have to seal them to two steps to get the width of the bag.

twistertail -

I only buy the rolls of bag. That way you can make the size you need. There's to much waste if you buy pre cut bags and they are pricey so it saves money. for really small bags I seal in to directions you can make bags for postage stamps if you want too. Great for TV dinner style meals too.

 

[Dutch]

I have a FoodSaver sealer too (can't remember which model at the moment). I use the seal feature to reseal bag of chips and bagged salads-helps keeps them fresher longer.