" I don't think I've ever met a Liberal whom I didn't like on a personal basis. That said, if your goal is to change minds and influence people, it's probably not a good idea to begin by asserting that virtually all elected Democrats are liars. But what the hell."

		Every dollar helps		Click

Tuesday, May 21, 2002

    Last week's piece about Space Bags® reminded me of the Food Saver® since the same guy does both television commercials.  Of course I bought one about a year ago and here's what I learned.

    First, does it work?  Yes, kind of.  I purchased a reconditioned FoodSaver® 550 for about $99 and have had no problems with it working up to its capability.  The problem is with the automatic sealer.  The heating element that seals the bag turns on automatically and very often, especially with meats, it's way soon. The only way to get a total vacuum seal on anything that's at all juicy is to freeze it first, then run it through the bagging process.  Even then meats left frozen for longer than a few months seem to shrink up allowing ice to form inside. The two most expensive models, the VAC 1050 ($179.99) and PRO II ($319.99) have manual seal capability, but at a much higher price. I can't figure out why the less expensive models don't offer a manual seal, but there you are.

    On dense items like fruit  the system works great.  A few weeks ago we found a deal on strawberries and bought 4 pints.  I sealed them and the berries were still fresh a week later when we ate the last of them. We bought 4 more pints and I didn't get around to sealing those; they were rotted out in two days.  Romaine lettuce keeps for 7-10 days sealed and cheeses keep forever without getting moldy while cookies, brownies, etc. also seem to last forever (well two weeks tops before we eat them).

    The sales pitch says you can wash the bags and re-use them.  That doesn't work for us.  Once through the dish washer and the bag gets brittle and won't hold the seal. Hand scrubbing is a pain.   Opening a bag, removing some of the sealed product and resealing in the same bag does work well.  FoodSaver® "bags" cost 22.95 a double roll from the manufacturer but sell for about $18 on the street.  In a year I've used almost 4 rolls (two packages).  Some products like potato chips and pretzels come in bags that you can not only reseal, but vacuum seal (although this isn't a good idea with chips which are crushed in the process).  By and large however, you must use the FoodSaver® bags for the vacuum to work.

    My system came with two universal lids and a jar sealer.  The lids work well on coffee cans, etc. while the jar sealer allows you to suck the air out of the marshmallows which is a neat thing to do. There are lots of uses.  If I had it to do over I'd still buy a FoodSaver® but only the VAC 1050 with manual seal selection, and then only if I could buy it for $120-$130.  There is no doubt you can save money on foods that normally rot,  but only if it's used.  In our house I'm the only person who'll bother with it. One test is, if nobody in your house will refill ice cube trays then don't waste money on this product.  And don't pay full price, shop around.

| E-MAIL Real King of France at 5/21/2002 08:17:00 PM PERMLINK Rating the Food Saver® (0) | HOME

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