What You Need to Know About Buying a Vacuum Sealer Machine
If there is one piece of food storage gear that I use more than all others combined, it would be my trusty vacuum sealer. Not only is sealing meat and other foods in an air-tight bag essential for longer-term freezer storage, the jar attachment allows me to dry-seal mason jars. Storing dried goods in mason jars with a vacuum sealer is, in my opinion, the best option. I need no expensive oxygen absorbers, and I can seal all sorts of dry goods for years – even decades! Beans, rice, pasta, and dried vegetables are just a few of the things I store using this method.
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What Kind of Vacuum Sealer Should I Buy?
There are a million options out there for vacuum seal machines. And while there are a bunch of off-brand and no-name companies that make these machines nowadays, the FoodSaver brand is still pretty much king for consumer-grade vacuum sealers.
The specific machine that I use is the FoodSaver FM2000. It’s a pretty basic model with no extra bells & whistles. However, it does feature the “accessory port,” which is necessary for using the mason jar attachment. I’ve had this machine for about 10 years, and during that time I have sealed hundreds of bags and thousands of jars. The machine works as well as the day I bought it, and I would probably buy this same model again if this one eventually dies. It’s a no-frills workhorse that makes quick work out of vacuum bags and mason jars alike.
On the other hand, there are some other pretty impressive FoodSaver models out there these days, such as the FM5200. The FoodSaver FM5200 has some pretty neat features, such as internal storage for the roll of sealing bags within the machine, making it very fast and easy to measure, cut, and use.
Don’t Forget the Bags
And since I mentioned vacuum seal bag rolls, I’ll add this: While the machines usually come with a small “starter kit” of pre-made vacuum seal bags, you will run out of these quickly and have to re-supply. But I recommend not buying boxes of pre-made bags, but rather the large rolls. They come in different widths, and you can make your bag as long or short as you need. The rolls are cheaper, and you will have less waste.
Not only that, but you don’t have to use the FoodSaver brand bags. I have been using a cheaper brand of bags called Nutri-Lock for years and they work amazingly well. I like to buy this Nutri-Lock 2-Pack of vacuum seal rolls, as it comes with one 11-inch wide roll and one 8-inch wide roll.
In Summary…
If you’re somebody who is interested in food preservation for freezer or dry storage, you are a perfect candidate for a vacuum sealing machine. They are quite easy to use, and offer versatile sealing solutions for both bags and jars. And while there are lots of cheap and “no-name” brands out there that may be perfectly fine, I always recommend going with the “real deal” FoodSaver brand when it comes to the machine itself. As for bags and rolls, I’ve found that some of the cheaper brands work excellently.
