FoodSaver buying advice

[Walt]

Look @ the pictures in my post under Beef - "Walts brined & injected brisket".  I use the 2300 to seal up whatever I am brineing. Sometimes its 2 pork shoulders & 20lbs (or so) of liquid totaling 40+ lbs. The trick with liquid is to place the sealer on the edge of the counter & hold the bag in a chair or on your knee so the bag is vertical & use the manual seal function as soon as the last air is evacuated. I also make 2 seperate seals on each end.  You could try this method with whatever you buy but I can only verify its effectiveness on the 2300.

[NDKoze]

Kari, sounds like you have a plan!  Just don't watch any YouTube videos on how chamber vacuum sealers work, or you'll be bit!

Too late! But luckily I can't justify the price of a chamber system for the small volume of smoked food I produce, and my relatively small garden. Sounds like it would be great for my liquid foods though, which would be about half of what I would like to freeze that way. Guess those will just have to continue to go in the plastic freezer containers, as it appears that vacuum sealers do not work well for soups and sauces without a lot of fuss/prefreezing, etc.

Not having a cutter would be a deal breaker for me.

[SconnieQ]

The trick with liquid is to place the sealer on the edge of the counter & hold the bag in a chair or on your knee so the bag is vertical & use the manual seal function as soon as the last air is evacuated. I also make 2 seperate seals on each end.

Thanks Walt! Sounds like you and Gregg have had good success with the "gravity" method for sealing liquids. The double seal at both ends is a great tip too! I'll definitely be giving that a try. It would be a big bonus for me if I can get that to work with whatever I end up buying.

[gregbooras]

I just ordered  an Ary Vacmaster 260 from Amazon for $158, shipping included. The first one was DOA-its replacement arrives tomorrow(excellent customer service from Amazon incidentally). Once I have used it for a while I will write a review.

Hey Roger,

My foodsaver is about 4 years old and I am thinking about purchasing the Vacmaster 260, are you happy with the unit?

Also I normally buy the Weston 30-0102-W 11-by-16-Inch Vacuum-Sealer Food Bags, do you know if they will work with this unit?

Thanks Greg

[Limey]

Greg,
I have been delighted with the performance of the Vacmaster 260. The only problem is that the vacuum is, if anything, too strong. The other day I unthinkingly vacuum packed a banana bread that I had made from a local banana tree without using the pulse function and watched as my six inch high bread became two inches high! Oh well one lives and learns. All in all an excellent unit. I purchased extra bags made by Vacmaster so I don't know if  the Weston bags will work. They will certainly fit and my guess is that they will probably work.
Roger

[gregbooras]

Greg,
I have been delighted with the performance of the Vacmaster 260. The only problem is that the vacuum is, if anything, too strong. The other day I unthinkingly vacuum packed a banana bread that I had made from a local banana tree without using the pulse function and watched as my six inch high bread became two inches high! Oh well one lives and learns. All in all an excellent unit. I purchased extra bags made by Vacmaster so I don't know if  the Weston bags will work. They will certainly fit and my guess is that they will probably work.
Roger

Hey Roger,

Thanks for the quick reply, I just added this to my shopping list!

Greg