I have no connection with the foodsaver company other than as a satisfied customer and I have recieved no compensation for this review.
The unit itself is nice looking; it stands vertical and takes about 6" horizontal, so you can use it on a standard-width counter without too much difficulty. It's automatic. You put your food into the bag and insert the open end of the bag into the unit. It pumps the air out, and then heat-seals the bag. You cannot remove the bag while it's doing this. You can press the "seal" button at any point during the pumping, which turns out to be handy if there's liquid in the bag.
As it removes the air any liquid goes into this drip tray. It's not too hard to get to it, but if you're not pressing the button to seal soon enough, you have to open the machine and clear this tray for each bag, which is a bit of a hassle. If you press the seal buttom as soon as you see the air out, so that not much liquid is pumped, you can avoid this little chore.
If too much liquid is in the seal area it won't seal well -- best to test each bag as it's sealed to see if the seal happened. With bags with a little liquid in them this is easy -- i just tipped them upside down over the sink. Dry bags you might have to look at carefully.
If you are sealing things that don't have liquid, like pork chops, the drip pan isn't really an issue.
I don't have a handle on how much it costs per bag yet. I'll be using it to seal meat when I slaughter, so if it's a penny a package it's not going to bother me much. When i buy supplies I'll update this entry.
First day impressions: With the liquid/drip pan issue being the only minor problem, good.
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3 comments:
I have a cheaper Foodsaver sealer and have resorted to wrapping everything even vaguely moist in saran wrap first before putting it in the Foodsaver bag. Otherwise fat and moisture gets smeared onto the bag on the way in, plus the machine sucks the moisture out through the open end, preventing it from sealing well.
I have this model as well - I have to fight with it for some reason every time I use it.
Bugs me that you have to have almost two inches of wasted bag space since teh bags cost so much.
Today I have a problem with it that I have not solved yet. I used my canister to marinate a roast with. some of the marinate got sucked into the vaccuum tube through the valve. I cannot for teh life of me figure out how to clean this part out.
anyone know?
Never mind -
I just took the bottom off this thing cause I could not see any other way to clean that tube -
upon removing the 8 screws on teh bottom I found what looks to be an area that was never ment to be serviced or cleaned but it would be disgusting to NOT clean it.
So I see the reel for the tube and I notice more screws to detach that. I had to take that off to clean the tube - there was no other way.
Remobed the 4 screws holding that down and BOOM! A Giant spring flew out and hit me square in the face - Looks liek a small lawn mower recoil. white grease everywhere.
removed the tube - cleaned it. now the thing will not go back together. I will get it - it will take hours probably.
But I will tell you something, This things built like a load of crap. I cannot believe I made this purchase. I feel really stupid for doing so.
I am more than a little angry with costco at the moment.
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