Vacuum Sealing Food

Can't help you with that particular brand, but so far as vacuum sealing goes, we have had a lot of success. Vegetables such as cabbage, corn, peas, beans, carrots etc last many times longer in the fridge than if not vacuum packed.

Meat keeps about twice to three times as long as it would but you can freeze meat anyway. Some salad items work well but we did find that lettuce was a problem. The vacuum sealing sucks all of the moisture out of the lettuce and it is very dry when you open it to use it. Still crisp, but dry.

Bread is a no-no because it collapses and loses all of the air in the little air pockets. All in all, it has extended the time we can still be eating "fresh" produce to a maximum of 3 weeks from purchase. As we will be camped out for at least that long, it gives us a good head-start before we have to switch to canned/dehydrated/frozen food.

Cheers,

Russ

Mr/Mrs vcbb ,

I have a "Magic Vac " unit which I bought at a 4wd show . We think it's just the best gadget for the same reasons Russ mentions above .

Our local butcher also packs meat in dinner size portions and we often take away at 20 vacume packed meat meals with us .

I must try Russ's suggestion of doing cabbage . Russ , do you chop it up first ?

I have never seen a 12 v unit nor a manual pump , so I cannot help you there . We do not take ours on trips , we just use it for taking stuff from home .

Cheers ,

Willie .

Vacuum packed meal size portions of meat sealed in plastic is great as it does not leak in the fridge. that on its own makes it all worthwhile.

The trap is in the plastic bags with the cheaper sealers, you need the ones with a checkered pattern on one side to enable air to pass, and someone has the market sewn up. They can be quite expensive at electrical retailers whether they come on a roll or as ready made bags. Shop around for a source at reasonable cost. I found my local Butcher's Supplies shop the best bet, 50 bags at $30 odd depending on size.
You can reuse them so it's not all bad, nor recommended for meat though.
The best thing for me about vacuum sealed food (meat, cheese etc) is that if you are living out of an esky for a few days it doesn't matter if stuff ends up in the water at the bottom of the esky whereas with ordinary bags no matter how tight you try to seal them water always gets inside.

We have one of the ones off of ebay and have found thast it works great. So what have we have packed

* meat that lasted foe 3 weeks on a trip across to SA and back WA in summer
* we make up coleslaw in mael sizes and then just add the dressing when opened. * sandwich meats in to portion sizes for lunches.
* oiions choped for the BBQ
* curry pre made and just need to be heated
* picel onions and gerkins for lunches
* divide a kg of cheese up into dayly portions
* vegies eg. Pumpkin in to mael size portions
* meat with maronade (nothing beter than meat that has been marinating for a week or so for flavour)
* nuts so they stay fresh

As far as bags go I just go the local butcher supplier as our machine does not require the fluted bags and pick up pack of 100 for around $11 (average sized bags)

The best thing that we have found is that we are able to fit more in the fridge as we now do not have as many jars or containers in the fridge and most things vac rather flat so the can easily be packed.

Never use them personnaly vcbb - tend to do food as per reply in other current food post.

Several friends have got them - one or two have used them once or twice then given up and at least one never even used these after purchase.

Robin Miller