Vacuum Sealer Recommendations

[boozaro]

Hi - First post here, so I hope I haven't already screwed up and put it in the wrong place. I did look, and this seems to be the most appropriate. Hopefully. Also, I did search the forums for related posts, but most were older - 2012-2014. So I am hoping it' okay to bring up the question again. That said...

I am looking for a vacuum sealer to seal up smaller portions of rice & beans. Maybe some other stuff. My initial thought was rice. I like the idea of smaller portions, so we don't have to break open a massive quantity.

I was also planning on putting the sealed bags in food-grade buckets/gamma lids with oxygen absorbers - kind of a backup and for more durable storage.

I am hoping to store this food for an extended period of time - 4 years or more. Kind of a set it and forget it. Referring to the rice & beans - not the meats & veggies, of course.

Questions:

1. What vacuum sealers have you all found to work best? (I will also use this for freezing meats & veggies)
2. Would it be wise to put a silica bag in with the rice when I seal it - just in case there's any moisture?
3. Is the vac sealed bag & the bucket way overkill?
4. Is there a better solution to storing things, such as rice & beans?

Thanks for any input.

 

[Arcticdude]

It's good to see more prepper related threads here. Too much China flu crap lately.
I've had several vacume sealers over the years. At first I was buying the cheap department store varieties. I know; ya get what ya pay for.
My last vacuum sealer was a stainless steel commercial one from Cabelas. I think I paid around $500 for it. I've had it for over 10 years now and have put up hundreds of pounds of fresh and smoked salmon, jerkey, and other cuts of meat, plus vegitables. I also like to use it for marinating meat. I've never vacuum sealer rice and beans before, but I'm sure other members have.
Just buy a good one and you'll have it for life.

 

[boozaro]

It's good to see more prepper related threads here. Too much China flu crap lately.
I've had several vacume sealers over the years. At first I was buying the cheap department store varieties. I know; ya get what ya pay for.
My last vacuum sealer was a stainless steel commercial one from Cabelas. I think I paid around $500 for it. I've had it for over 10 years now and have put up hundreds of pounds of fresh and smoked salmon, jerkey, and other cuts of meat, plus vegitables. I also like to use it for marinating meat. I've never vacuum sealer rice and beans before, but I'm sure other members have.
Just buy a good one and you'll have it for life.

Thanks, Arcitcdude- I'm a firm believer in the "you get what you pay for" motto. I tell my son (and everyone really), when you're buying a tool, buy the best, most expensive one (if they are relative) you can afford. Because if you don't, it'll break when you need it most. Unless it's something I know I'll only need once, that advice is always in the front of my mind.

Thanks for the Cabela's referral. I'll check it out now.

 

[Brent S]

As far as brands of sealers go, I have had two over the years. Both came from Walmart and were around 100.00 each. I think I got 5 years out of each so am fine with the cheaper ones. If it goes out on you then you’re not out a lot anyways. I think buying good bags is more important than the sealer. I can’t tell you the brands other than Food Saver that I’ve used, but have had some that didn’t keep a good seal. I think the silica bag is a good idea, and have used the oxy absorbers in containers as well. I too think the smaller portions idea is good. I have loads of #10 cans of freeze dried foods but who wants to eat that much of one kind of food in a short time. Try some out and check every six months for a good seal. I’d like to know how well they last too.

 

[boozaro]

As far as brands of sealers go, I have had two over the years. Both came from Walmart and were around 100.00 each. I think I got 5 years out of each so am fine with the cheaper ones. If it goes out on you then you’re not out a lot anyways. I think buying good bags is more important than the sealer. I can’t tell you the brands other than Food Saver that I’ve used, but have had some that didn’t keep a good seal. I think the silica bag is a good idea, and have used the oxy absorbers in containers as well. I too think the smaller portions idea is good. I have loads of #10 cans of freeze dried foods but who wants to eat that much of one kind of food in a short time. Try some out and check every six months for a good seal. I’d like to know how well they last too.

Excellent point. I hadn't given a lot of thought to the bags yet. Thanks, Brent.

 

[DrHenley]

I wish I could recommend one, but the best one I had got stolen and now they don't make that model anymore. The one I got to replace it looked the same but didn't work the same.
I only use GameSaver bags now after having a number of packages lose their seal.

 

[Danil54grl]

We had to replace ours last year and ended up getting the same one that @Arcticdude mentioned, Cabela stainless commercial model. The cheaper ones just do not hold up in my opinion. . . My biggest problem was once I got all the air out and hit the seal button, air would flow back into the bag. So far I have liked the Cabelas model and use it for freezer items and also freeze dried items with no problems.

 

[DirtDiva]

I think the first one we ever had came from Walmart. Second from Cabelas. Cabelas lasted better than Walmart. Then we had problems with a smoker from Cabelas that the company did not stand behind. Kiss of death with my husband! The last time we replaced it with a LEM Maxvac 500. We now pretty well exclusively use this company for all the products like that. The sausage and meat seasoning are really good. He also bought the sausage mixer and sausage stuffer from the same company. This company has been great to stand behind their products if there is any problem at all. They are not the cheapest but they sell good products.

https://www.lemproducts.com/category/all-vacuum-sealer-products

 

[boozaro]

I wish I could recommend one, but the best one I had got stolen and now they don't make that model anymore. The one I got to replace it looked the same but didn't work the same.
I only use GameSaver bags now after having a number of packages lose their seal.

Sorry to hear about the theft, DrHenley. There's only one place for thieving scum.

Thanks for the tip on GameSaver bags.

 

[boozaro]

We had to replace ours last year and ended up getting the same one that @Arcticdude mentioned, Cabela stainless commercial model. The cheaper ones just do not hold up in my opinion. . . My biggest problem was once I got all the air out and hit the seal button, air would flow back into the bag. So far I have liked the Cabelas model and use it for freezer items and also freeze dried items with no problems.

Well, that's another vote for Cabela's. Nothing like word of mouth to seal the deal. . Sarcasm is my usual goto - not puns. Gotta up my game.

Thanks for the input, DirtDiva!

 

[DrHenley]

Sorry to hear about the theft, DrHenley. There's only one place for thieving scum.

I even caught the azzhats in the act on camera (it was in the ice chest). But the police didn't even try to find the scum.

 

[Brittany]

I even caught the azzhats in the act on camera (it was in the ice chest). But the police didn't even try to find the scum.

Wow, that’s terrible.

 

[Croaking Frog]

I am new to this but have a look on ebay and Gumtree. You can get some great bargains. I got a new one that someone got as a gift that retails for 250 for 60 bucks and it works really well. I guess it depends on its use to what you should get.

 

[Robinjopo1]

I'm on my second Food saver. The newest has more options and I have the canisters and the jar sealers, both wide mouth and regular. It jar sealer is good for the dehydrated herbs and veggies.

 

[Frozen Tundra]

I've got a smaller food saver that's about 15 years old and still works great. When I fire it up, my kids give me a hard time about "remembering that sound" from when they were little! It's loud and sounds like its about to explode, but it keeps ticking. I double seal all my bags, and spend the $$ on high quality bags!

 

[Maudite]

Let me throw another option your way, which is to use a vacuum chamber (https://www.amazon.com/LAB1ST-Gallon-Stainless-Degassing-Chamber/dp/B0798L4T1R/ref=sr_1_6? crid=1XQGCT6W0Y4Z9&dchild=1&keywords=lab1st+vacuum+chamber&qid=1595446232&sprefix=lab1st+%2Caps%2C137&sr=8-6) and a vacuum pump (https://www.amazon.com/Kozyvacu-TA350-Single-Stage-Refrigerant-Recharging/dp/B01N6IOBWF/ref=sr_1_4?crid=2I3MFT6QU601B&dchild=1&keywords=vacuum+pump&qid=1595446374&sprefix=vacuum+pu,aps,152&sr=8-4). This systems allows one to drycan large quantities of dry goods. Currently, I've vacuum packed oats, rice, beans, sugar, salt, flour etc all in mason jars. From experience, mason jars are more rodent proof then Food Saver bags. Additionally those jars range from half pints all the way up to gallon size which makes portion control fairly easy. To control moisture (more so when storing sugar), a tbs of cheap, white rice works just as well as a silica bag....