Thread: Vacuum Sealer

My old vacuum sealer isn't cutting the mustard any more,
is there a new kid on the block that is better than any other brand?
what do you use and is it an average Joe or a top gun?
recommendations please.
cheers

Ours is a Sunbeam bought from Harvey Normans quite a few years ago; the model where you use the rolls of plastic food-saver bags.
Been a bloody good machine and has been use a lot with whitebait, venison, pork. Done hundreds of kilo's since we've had it but is now starting to show a few hiccups. Spose thats to be expected.

Originally Posted by Bos

Ours is a Sunbeam bought from Harvey Normans quite a few years ago; the model where you use the rolls of plastic food-saver bags.
Been a bloody good machine and has been use a lot with whitebait, venison, pork. Done hundreds of kilo's since we've had it but is now starting to show a few hiccups. Spose thats to be expected.

+1 and the long rolls on trade me save you shit tonnes in bag roll.

Russell-Hobbs from Briscoes when on sale

I use a cheapo one that takes the textured bags. Went between Warehouse and Mitre 10 as you can trade them off with the "beat it by 10% " deal.
For bags I go to Contour packaging here in Tauranga, 100 A4 sized bags is around $65 I also buy the plain vacuum bags for things I can squeeze the air out of ( such as stews in liquid )and just use the seal feature they run about $17 / 100.

Mine would be about 6 years old now and probably done close to a thousand bags all up. Its a no name "as seen on TV" model.

It longer does an Auto seal when the are gets sucked out but I hit the manual switch to start the seal cycle when I guess its right.

I reckon the budget ones are good value for money. I have seen a model that has a metal tongue that goes into the bag to remove the air, when its done you press a button and the tongue retracts so you can seal it........ they look pretty shitty and I wouldnt get that one.

I just brought a Russell Hobbs one from Briscoes, and rolls of bags from the warehouse 12$ for 5meters seems to work well !

Originally Posted by SGR

I just brought a Russell Hobbs one from Briscoes, and rolls of bags from the warehouse 12$ for 5meters seems to work well !

Think its like $17 for 28m on trade me

cheers people, will have a look around on my day's off.
are those double sealed or single?

+1 sunbeam. Smiths city.

My cousin got a minced from this outfit in Australia which they said seems to do the job they have vacuum packers as well as Meat Slicer - Meat Grinder – Luvele AU
https://www.luvele.com.au/collections/mincers-slicers

Russell-Hobbs is single seal. You can of course double seal manually if you want to. I occasionally do this when there is too much moisture in the food for whatever reason.

I’ve got a sunbeam one,when I seal its the bag is nice a tight, after freezing it it’s like some air has got in and the two sides of the bag aren’t sucked together anymore, is that normal? I see the ones in the supermarket and they are sucked in really tight even after sitting there for ages?

Originally Posted by nickbop

I’ve got a sunbeam one,when I seal its the bag is nice a tight, after freezing it it’s like some air has got in and the two sides of the bag aren’t sucked together anymore, is that normal? I see the ones in the supermarket and they are sucked in really tight even after sitting there for ages?

That means your seal wasnt sealed, this can happen when moisture/blood/juices are sucked into the seal area or particles of food are in the seal area.
Best fix is to make the bags bigger and be carefull when filling the bag to keep the seal area clean and try not to bag dripping wet stuff.

I double seal anything damp also.

Originally Posted by veitnamcam

That means your seal wasnt sealed, this can happen when moisture/blood/juices are sucked into the seal area or particles of food are in the seal area.
Best fix is to make the bags bigger and be carefull when filling the bag to keep the seal area clean and try not to bag dripping wet stuff.

I double seal anything damp also.

Good advice that, I also dry the fish or whatever on paper towels before it goes in the bags to be sealed. Seems to give a better finished product.
Currently have a Sunbeam one, single seal only. It has about 60 seconds reset time once you have done a few bags. Not something I thought about when we brought it.
Only god knows how much fish its done along with 8 deer, a heap of goats, a few pigs and sheep.
Well worth it
its warm

bought one from Aliexpress, and buy all my bags from there. Cheap as chips.