Any info about vacuum sealers (removes oxygen--not the closers like Daisy-Seal-A-Meal) would be appreciated. Brands? Prices? Where to find. Strengths. Weaknesses. Thanks a lot.

-- Ellen (pang@aol.com), December 07, 1998

Answers

Sears has one by "Dena" (I think) for about 40 which vacs and seals bags only. Damart, If I remember aright has one that does jars but is a BIT more pricey (about 2X as pricey).

chuck

-- Chuck a night driver (rienzoo@en.com), December 07, 1998.

As I believe it was Hardliner said "Yelling NO at the monitor doesn't work!!" The Dena one works fairly well with the bag material supplied, but do NOT try to seal jerky which is made from sliced beef with it, because you get punch through by the jerky everytime.

Keep looking for the Dazey Seal a Meal bags, as they were the best sealing bag around, if only they came in sizes. I have a number for Dazey but they haven't answered my calls yet.

Chuck

-- Chuck a night driver (rienzoo@en.com), December 07, 1998.

I bought the Food Saver at Costco for $200.00. I took it back. Sealed macaroni and it punched through the bags. Sealed split peas, they did fine until I went to put them away the next morning and air got back into them. Then I found one at a thrift store for $5.00, complete with bags, etc. Tried it out and the same thing happened. So I give up. Supposedly the bags can be reused, but beats me how.

-- bardou (bardou@baloney.com), December 07, 1998.

There's a lot of information on commercial systems, couldn't find anything on efficacy.

http://www.packagingcenter.com/vacuum.html

http://www.nationalprovisioner.com/CGI-BIN/SM40i.exe

http://www.kitchenkrafts.com/4canning.html

This one offers a home-scale unit. http://www.asontv.com/products/881343324.html

-- Tom Carey (tomcarey@mindspring.com), December 07, 1998.

If the Dena system is sufficient for dried vegetables, fruits, etc. Any suggestions for the beef jerkey?

-- Christine A. Newbie (vaganti01@aol.com), December 07, 1998.

I have a suggestion for the poking through problems: leave the item in it's original package except punch a little hole in the inner bag to enable removal of all air, then vaccum seal.

I know this won't always work for larger amounts of stuff that you want to repackage in smaller meal-sized quantities, but the idea might work if you use a ziplock or clean recycled bread bag or something of equal durability/thickness inside the vaccum bag.

-- Karen Cook (browsercat@hotmail.com), December 07, 1998.

I believe you are talking about the Deni sealer. I just bought one. It makes great cute baggies! It seals great! As for vacuum, well...it leaves something to be desired. But it was cheap (under $40.00). I guess you get what you pay for after all. It's adequate, but if you want a truly good vacuum seal, this one ain't the one for you. I find that it takes *most* of the air from the bags but not all. Bobbi +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ "It's fun to do the impossible" ---Walt Disney--- +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Y2k? http://www.buzzbyte.com/ Got water? Got Beans? Take the Y2k Preparation Quiz!

-- Bobbi (volfnat@northweb.com), December 07, 1998.

See also these prior discussions:

Vacuum Sealer

http://www.greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch- msg.tcl?msg_id=000C0s

Building a Food Dehydrator

http://www.greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch- msg.tcl?msg_id=000Fmq

-- Jon (jonmiles@pacbell.net), December 07, 1998.

Ellen, we got ours (Tilia) from a Canadian company.

$230 canadian or about $153 US shipping $20 canadian or about $13 US

www.cariboucry.com/fs/fs.htm#ov or 888 553-2553 Canada 416 251-9255 416 231-3938 Fax

Prompt delivery (about 1 week).

MVI

-- MVI (vtoc@aol.com), December 07, 1998.

Just ordered one from Caribou Cry - should receive it tomorrow. Have you tried yours yet. I planned to dehydrate carrots and make jerky this weekend and wanted to give it a try...Thanks for any thougthts.

-- Susan (mills1@america.net), December 08, 1998.

Just got back from the preparedness show in Denver- updating material for my book. Saw plans for an incredible vacuum machine that is easily made in the home workshop. The sucker can pull 28 mb. of vacuum- you use the compressor from an automotive air conditioner unit- around $20 at any junkyard. Machine is manually operated.. Send $10 for the plans to Tom Halverson, Rt. 1, Box 275K, Guthrie, Mn. 56461. IMHO the barrier bags on the market are not very effective- not puncture resistant enough. Use this machine with any jar with a lid. You can adapt for use with barrier bags. Complete machines are availble- backordered one month for about $150 plus shipping.

-- skipper clark (skipper@cncnet.com), December 09, 1998.