Sous vide - other half - affordablish vacuum sealer [General]

2011 Apr 15
Francis
Hi Guys,

Any ideas?

I'll start things off with this $40 US (shipping included) hand pump with guage on ebay:

tinyurl.com/3evnb4s

2011 Apr 15
Here is a plastic impulse sealer for $50 US (shipping included) on ebay:

tinyurl.com/4y79jqg

2011 Apr 16
Cabela's has a food saver unit on sale for 70% off. They ship to Canada.

www.cabelas.com

2011 Apr 19
I guess it's the bags that are expensive anyway, not the vacuum unit. They have fine grooves in the inside surface to provide channels for the air to get pulled out. This is relatively expensive to manufacture.

2011 Apr 19
I saw food saver on sale at Superstore in Westboro for a really good price but do not recall what that price was.

2011 Apr 19
I'm finding out it a bit like inkjet printers . . . cost of consumables is a lot more significant than the cost of the machine. :-)

So far the best price I've found is Costco.

There is a place in BC that makes a foodsaver compatible bag, and rolls, that appears to be selling for 30% less than Costco, but then they charge you a lot on shipping.


2011 Apr 23
I'm also seeing people using "the water method" on youtube videos. No sealer required, just a zip lock bag. You push the bag underwater, working the air out towards the top. When you get close to the top you tilt the bag sideways, zipping the lock as the top gets submerged until the last of the air at the top corner goes out and the zip is fully closed. It works way better than using a straw.

2011 Apr 25
I just got really good at sucking the air out of a plastic bag and that method has served me well for 30+ years. Nobody sucks like me.

2011 Apr 25
I got my son to suck the air out when I first did salmon sous vide. But after that he refused. Actually the water method works quite well.

2011 Apr 25
I sucked the air out of a bag full of raw chicken once. only once. never again.

2011 Apr 26
Canadian Tire should have a cheap food saver,I think you buy rolls of plastic for it.

or else what about using that Saran Wrap? product that is like a air tight seal for frozen foods.
It is like these plastic sheets that are blue and stick together.

don't think they are waterproof,so you would have to use a ziplock bag too..but it should work...I think

2011 Apr 26
Cooking issue has a great primer on using saran wrap for sousvide.

www.cookingissues.com

2011 Apr 26
Ideas in Food has a write up on cooking in plastic as well, and they say as long as it's food grade plastic, it's safe.

Plus cooking at low temperatures, and with moisture, decreases many fold the production of acrylamides, which are proven potent carcinogens.

2016 Nov 21
It's not essential for low-temperature cooking, which sous vide can be a kind. It is easy to cook the meat bagged in water. Additionally you can cook in additional flavorful liquids (e.g. curried coconut milk).

I've gotten better results with a vacuum sealer than without. In addition, i find it's easier to use sealed bags than zippies when considering storage and organization after cooking.

Regarding types, a maxkon vacuum sealer machine at Crazysales www.crazysales.com.au
is actually fine for beginners. I'm still using mine. I'll upgrade to some chamber vacuum sealer in a short time.

2016 Nov 22
NU6408: justed wanted to add that I procured a chamber model 2 years ago and while it was not cheap, the bags are and it is about 10000000x better than those cheap units. We do a lot of food saving, both meat and veggies and I expect it to pay for itself in a few years.

2016 Nov 22
I usually like to cook my SPAM sous-vide. This should work very well.