We purchased the FoodSaver a few years ago so we could purchase meat in bulk. The machine and bags are a little pricey to purchase, but I think worth it in the long run with the savings by buying in bulk. Our machine worked great for the first couple of years, but it now has a hard time making a seal. It is probably time to purchase a new one since it can get really frustrating when you are trying to get several items sealed at one time and it takes multiple attempts to work. All in all I think it is a great machine, but I wish it would have lasted a little longer.

jdion

Denver, CO

I like the idea behind it. We always have leftovers and I thought it would be a really good way to keep things longer so they would actually get eaten.... not wasted. It works well but the bags don't hold up. And, for the price I'd like to be able to use them longer. Also, the containers are a little small. It does get kinda old having to suck all the air out of your food everytime you take something out. We were using it for our blocks of cheese and we are just in it so much that we ended up quitting sealing it and then it defeated the purpose. It seemed to hold a charge for awhile. But, I'll be honest, its sitting behind my food processor now and I dont' really give it much thought... I'd like to see an improvment on the bags - and a better price.

TifMunro

Fairmont, WV

I have the FoodSaver Vacuum Sealer, Advanced Design. It comes with 2 Vacuum Packaging Canisters, a wide mouth jar sealer, food saver rolls, and the food saver. We often buy foods in bulk, but we are a small family, so we have lots of food left over. The food saver is nice because you can take some of that food, put it in a food saver bag, and seal it up, to let it last longer. It really does work! I pulled a roast out of the freezer that had been in there for 8 months, and it looked and tasted great...no freezer burn on it! I think that is the best use of the food saver. We take meat, raw or cooked, and put it in the bags to seal, and then open it later for fresh food. If you make the bag a little bigger than you need, and flash freeze your items, you can open the bags, take out what you need, and re-seal them. We have also used the canisters with success, for cereal, crackers, and produce and it has definitely helped them to last longer and taste fresh. Another benefit of this is that you can re-seal mylar bags (like potato chip bags). It works! The FoodSaver is easy to use, but a pain to store. It is huge! We put it in a closet, and it can be stored on its side if it is locked, which is how we do it, but it isn't convenient. The main problem with the food saver is that it is expensive. Buying rolls of the bag material is really expensive, so I don't recommend saving everything this way. If I know I will use something within the next 2 or 3 months, I'd rather not seal it.   But is it a good product? Yes. If you are looking for something to save and seal your food, this is a great product! You will love it.

ourcatfrank

Sterling, CO

I love my FoodSaver Vacuum Sealer. I buy large packages of chicken and beef on the weekends, cut and clean them up, pat them dry, place small amounts in the vacuum bags and then freeze them. During the weekdays, I just place the frozen bags in water until thawed, throw them in a casserole and cook dinner. The meat is never freezer burnt and stays good for a very long time. My first FoodSaver Vacuum lasted for 4 years. It worked well at first, but then the seal would detach or get a crease in it. But, after a couple years, I learned to work around most of its quirks and was always satisfied. When it failed, I was so disappointed that my husband actually bought me a new one. Now I'm happy again. I now have a new use for the vacuum sealer. I buy food in bulk, remove a portion for immediate use and the reseal the bags and put the food back in the freezer. This has reduced my food cost dramatically. This product is definitely worth it.

bmccune

Wichita, KS

My husband gave me a Food Saver for Christmas a couple of years ago. it is a amazing kitchen tool. I don't get freezer burn anymore. I can make Christmas cookies early and they will taste fresh months later. All the meat we buy gets sealed. The Food Saver canisters are handy too. I keep marshmellows, coconut, crackers, cookies, and some of my baked goods too. It keeps them fresh tasting . This kitchen machine saves us loads of money. We don't have to throw anything away because of damage from the freezer or things going stale.

woodys

Seattle, WA

Don't get me wrong, I love my food saver! I have an upright one, which I wanted because of the look but was afraid to buy because of some poor reviews. I have had no issues with the food saver at all. It works great and I love it. So easy to prepare things for the freezer, I know everything is save and will keep longer, and this is all well worth the price. I went for a few years without one when the old one was too inconvenient for me... didn't keep the bags inside it, a bit of a pain to use, took up a lot of space. I figured it really wasn't worth the cost of the bags, but I was wrong. Everything got a bit freezer burnt relatively quickly. I wasn't happy at all with the results. I tried some hand held vacuum sealers but they were awful, didn't work at all. So I finally got another food saver. I do not use it all that often, but I am happy it's there when I need it. It seals the food in nice and tight, saves room in my freezer and helps suck the flavors right into the food when you marinate! I would like a way to do smaller bags, I freeze some things in small portions and it's a bit of a pain when you have to have so large for the food saver, but still, I'd recommend it to anyone.

wtrmlnlabs

Jersey Shore, PA

I have experienced first hand how great a Food Saver can be. My husband's cousin gave us a lot of her leftover hunting game one year when her freezer broke down so that the food didn't go bad on her. We ended up with a load of Halibut and Moose Roasts to go through. At the time I stuck them in the bottom of my freezer and forgot about them. Fast forward five years when I was cleaning out the bottom of my freezer and found a leftover moose roast. I figured it was probably freezer burned by now, but was really broke and wanted to try and make it work. So, I defrosted it, cut it open and darn if the meat wasn't perfectly fine! We had a great moose roast one night for dinner after FIVE YEARS in the deep freeze. Get that out of a ziploc freezer bag...I dare you! So, when I found a Food Saver on sale at our local grocery store I had to get one. I've Food Savered everything from meat to produce in my Food Saver since then and I can safely say IF you can get the thing to seal a bag, you are good to go and food will keep forever. My biggest problem is GETTING a bag to seal. For some reason, even if you give the Food Saver plenty of bag to "chew on" as it were, it only seals perfectly about once in 10 times. I've got bags that end up looking like a literal road map by the time I get done plugging up the holes in the vacuum seal with all of the criss-crossing seal lines on the suckers. Also, when you put them in the freezer do not expect that they are going to freeze quite as nicely (that is fold or collapse) like a freezer bag to give you room in your freezer. Food Saver bags freeze STIFF and if you try to fold them too much they will break open vacuum-seal wise and you'd have been better off squeezing as much air out of a Ziploc bag as you could. I do think these are worth the investment, don't get me wrong. I'm just warning you that they can be a lot of work to get a proper seal on your bags, so choose your contents to food saver wisely, especially since the bags are expensive and you do not want to waste them.

shadowcatrules

Wasilla, AK

    My wife has used our Food Saver Vacum Sealer more than I have and she wouldn't be without one. We have the model V2840 and it seals very nicely. We had some beef short ribs stored in our freezer in a vacum sealed bag for almost 3 years and when I pulled them out to grill them, it was as if they were just bought fresh from the market. We have vacum sealed bread, nuts, cheese, various meats, vegetables and more with our Food Saver vacum sealer and everything seems to come out great. We are so sure of it that we just recently froze some beef that was on sale so we could use it for next Christmas. We can buy large sizes of items at a reduced rate and seal what we don't want to use for later. It takes a little to get the hang of how to operate it but once you do, it takes very little time to make items freezer or pantry ready. If you are on a budget, this is a great way to do up items for a later time but still take advantage of a lower price on sale items. The bags are a little expensive but you can buy them when on sale and we also re-use some of ours by cutting the size down and resealing them for a smaller items after using for a first item. This is a much better way to keep things than using ziplock style freezer bags because things don't get freezer burnt.   

hospitality

Lambertville, MI