Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Vacuum sealing, my first attempt and a product review


Alright, I have stepped out of my normal routine to try something new, and of course, I will not be the only beneficiary of this. There is a product review at the end, so if that is what you are looking for, make haste with the scroll bar.

If however, you want the how to as well, check out the pics and easy to follow steps.

I had the luck of getting tons of free candy, and I like that.

Today so far I have done 3 different types of mint gum, bubble gum, and Nerds Rope.


Step 1: Gather what ever it is you will be sealing, in this case, Nerds Rope.

Step 2: Fill the bag, I used the gallon size, with the contents.


Step 3: These bags are like zip locks with a valve. Zip the top, locate the valve and put the hand-held sucker on the valve to remove air.



Complete! You can see in the back ground the complete bag of Nerds Rope, but for now, Gum!

Double mint

Spear mint


Finished products
Wintergreen finished product

Nerds Rope

Bubble Gum



The Vacuum sealer of choice was this little $20 model from wal mart. I was not expecting much so overall I was surprised with how well it worked.

The first assumption I had was that it would not get enough air out. I was surprised too see it got a sufficient amount out of the bag, and the bags appear to be holding the air out. The second assumption I had, was that these were 1 time use bags. However, I see no reason why you would not be able to reuse these bags, over and over. the part to reach failure first would be the zip lock top I would assume.

I will say, when new, it has no battery charge, or very very little, and it takes forever to charge up. Once charged it only gives a short amount of vacuuming power. This was the most frustrating part, Unwrapping by hand all the gum, just to find out that the device had only charged enough to suck half the air out of the bag. I found my self wanting this to go faster to the point that I started sucking extra air out of the bags with my mouth, so I would not waste what little charge this device held on the easy to vacate air.




My biggest concern with vacuum sealers is the cost of bags. This concern was calmed when I discovered these bags can be reused. The store had 12 gallon sized bags, the same price as 20 quart sized bags. I figured at the same price of $8.83, go with the larger overall size the gallons offer.

When I can stuff I pay 83 cents for the jar, lid, and ring. This is for quart sized jars, again, you get more space for your money using quarts vs. pints. These bags come out to 44 cents each for the quart, and have even a slightly better space to cost ratio when you buy the gallon size. At about half the price these bags are a great investment. True you cant use this for storage of asparagus, unless you have tons of unoccupied freezer space, but in the case of Nerds Rope and gum, these bags at half the price are the best option I've seen.

I will say I am working to perfect a technique that will yield these same results for about 3 cents rather than 44, but again, I am perfecting the technique, meaning its been a pain in the butt, and has yet to produce solid results. Once I get it working I'll post it here, but for now, this is a very viable option.

2 comments:

  1. Hello. I'm Annie Ridge .thank for your helpful tips. that help me so much! I'm planning to buy Foodsaver 4840 but I have lack of the way to use it.

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  2. Thanks for the review.. I am sure it is nothing in comparison to the vacuum sealing my first attempt. Please click here more : vacuumsealersexpert.com

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