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We received a new vacuum sealer (FoodSaver) for Christmas and while its primary duties are for our home kitchen (sealing food for freezing or long-term dry storage), I've already vac sealed a set of flares, batteries, and some dry food for the boat. It's admittedly addictive and satisfying to see the air suck out of these items in a water-tight brick.
Has anyone else used a vac sealer for their supplies? I'd like to hear some uses.
I own three, one at home, one on the boat, and one at the office.
Some of my favorite uses
1) the jar adapter lets you vaccume seal anything that fits in jars
2) sealing documents and papers. Like wills, passports, titles, ect... They are still readable, but immune from water damage.
3) spare parts (though not rubber or anything with volatile compounds that can evaporate). It keeps parts together, visible, and sealed.
4) one serving meals that can be frozen and reheated easily
5) clothes. Keeps them dry and tightly packed.
6) medicines
7) money
8) I seal things like packs of common nuts bolts and washerstogether. I may have a few of the same size, but this way I can grab a bag and have everything there.
Basically anything that needs to be kept dry no matter what is a good canidate, or as a way to keep a group of things together.
Protecting stuff from salt air is also a favorite, like replacement electronic parts, spare radio, batteries, ect..
Definitely, one of the most useful 'household' appliances you can have on a boat...
One of their best applications, especially on a small boat like mine, is for the maximization of stowage of otherwise bulky paper products... Rolls of paper towels, toilet paper, can be compacted into flat little 'bricks' that can be stowed anywhere... Seems like every cruise I take, I unearth another roll of paper towels I sealed and tucked away somewhere years ago
Another great home gadget is a paper laminator... I don't carry one aboard, but virtually anything printed on paper of any value on my boat, has been laminated...
I've always wanted one for cooking. I've played around with using ziploc bags for easy clean-up cooking. I've put the vegetarian egg scramble in one bag, the meat-and-goodness filled egg scramble in another, and some black beans in a third. They all go in a pot of boiling water. You haven't dirtied any dishes cooking, and you have a pot of clean, hot water to use to wash up the plates and forks and such. Sort of low-rent sous vide cooking.
A vacuum sealer would make that a lot easier, and would eliminate the occasional blow-out of a failed ziploc. Combined with the idea of vacuum sealing toilet paper and such? Brilliant!
I've always wanted one for cooking. I've played around with using ziploc bags for easy clean-up cooking. I've put the vegetarian egg scramble in one bag, the meat-and-goodness filled egg scramble in another, and some black beans in a third. They all go in a pot of boiling water. You haven't dirtied any dishes cooking, and you have a pot of clean, hot water to use to wash up the plates and forks and such. Sort of low-rent sous vide cooking.
A vacuum sealer would make that a lot easier, and would eliminate the occasional blow-out of a failed Ziploc. Combined with the idea of vacuum sealing toilet paper and such? Brilliant!
Yea, I don't think zip locks are really meant to take the heat. The vacuum bags have a very different material, stiffer and stronger. The bags are quite expensive but can be reused for dry goods, just keep making the bag smaller each time. I hate going into Wall-Mart but they seem to have the cheapest supplies. And for some reason wholesale clubs have good deals on the machines with large collections of bags. The wide mouth jar adapter is good if you happen to have canning jars around.
They show people using it to compress sweaters and what not, but the bags are quite expensive for that. I recently saw a collection of plastic containers that had a manual vacuum pump to pull out the air from that and looked reasonably low cost may have to try them(Zevro brand). I have also used the wine corks for years, but rarely don't finish a bottle I open, so don't even know where that system is!
If you reheat vacuum sealed food in the bag putting a trivit or folded dish towel in the bottom of the pot avoids melting the plastic. You can even reheat in sea water.
If you buy Foodsaver brand you can register it with the company online and get electronic coupons for bags and rolls several times each year.
The ziplock bags, even the thicker freezer bags, are not impermeable. I'd guess the vacuum bags are made from a different material for different purposes. And that the ziplock bags are either untested or unfit for boiling, maybe the plasticizers migrate out.
Plasticizers routinely migrate out of "rubbers" and plastics and perhaps that would be made worse in a vacuum bag. Or maybe not. If you just sealed them without a hard vacuum, and used Armorall (etc) or talc before putting them away....Is there still time to apply for federal grant money to study this?
I have never had a wrinkle problem, but I am careful to roll things up not fold them. That being said I also don't leave them in the bag for long, a few weeks at the longest.
I should also point out that the vacuume saver jars are terrible. I have had a few and they all fail in weeks. However the large mouth jar sealer is amazing, but it does raise the problem of having glass jars on board.
I have never had a wrinkle problem, but I am careful to roll things up not fold them. That being said I also don't leave them in the bag for long, a few weeks at the longest.
I should also point out that the vacuume saver jars are terrible. I have had a few and they all fail in weeks. However the large mouth jar sealer is amazing, but it does raise the problem of having glass jars on board.
Yes all the plastic containers they sell fail quickly. I like the idea of the jar sealer though. It is nice to have a stiff walled container for soft items I don't want to crush.
I'm not a fan of heating plastics in food, but FoodSaver (Jarden) says that their bags are made from polyethylene glycol and nylon, and don’t contain BPA, phthalates, or other plasticizers with EA (estrogenic activity)-leaching additives. Still, I avoid it. I don't want to read a study about some plasticizer or other surprise down the road.
That being said, I am vac sealing all kinds of leftovers in small portions for the freezer. I'll just remove it before re-heating.
Another incredible new application for the FoodSaver ... it can reseal mylar potato-chip type bags (vac sealed or just sealed without vac).
Yesterday, I just stuck three pairs of vac sealed socks in my forward berth. My life is forever changed.
David, if you're using the mylar chip bags for your socks, they may be a little salty and crunchy when you go to wear them. You might want to turn the bag inside out next time.
The manufacturer may not recommend boiling, but it works just fine. It might leach crazy plasticizers into the food, I'm not sure, but the bags hold up well in a pot of boiling water. I've done this several times and have experienced only mild side-effects, including ankle bearding, wandering nipple, and brain tooth.
But in any case, vacuum sealer sounds like a much better idea. I'm sure the sous-vide bags are designed to be used at temperature and not plasticize your food.
Good candidates are either things that can compress well, things that are messy/small or things that can be stored for emergencies. I tend to use zip locks for everyday stuff as the sealer bags are so expensive. The space bags I use for big stuff
Emergencies
A few diapers
Small medkit
Home made mre
Home made survival kit
Messy
Plastic fishing bait (eg gulp)
Dried foods
Compressible
Set of clothes
Couple of tips
If something can get "scrunched" by the vacuum (eg clothes, documents), insert a bit of cardboard to keep the shape.
Things that had a bit of fluid, like meat, never could seal as the liquid would be drawn out. Sea lamely now has a special bag that stops this and they seal better.
I wish their was a 12V version and the bags were more available in huge Caribbean!
Has anyone tried the new handheld "portable" version?
Based on some of the enthusiastic comments here I just ordered my Foodsaver sealer. I got the 12-volt version thinking that might be useful on board. So thanks all.
It just arrived, and so far I am incredibly impressed. I've had sealers in the past. This one works way better, seems well made, and the 12-volt plug makes it perfect for our boat. My only concern is the sheer size. It is fairly large, but I'm sure we'll find a good storage space for it.
Although I went through Amazon, and got it a lot cheaper.
I tried to purchase directly through both Foodsaver.com and Foodsaver.ca websites (I'm Canadian), but neither sites responded to an email I sent. Despite the apparent poor customer service, I'm still very impressed with the sealer ... so far.
Hi vtsailguy, I'm not sure I understand your question. I'm sure you can always run your existing sealer via a DC to AC inverter. Probably not the most efficient way to do it, but I'm sure it would work. The one I bought uses a direct DC power connector (standard 12-volt plug), drawing 6.3 A. It also has an AC connection.
I don't know how it is wired internally. Perhaps that info is available through Foodsaver.
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