Food Saver machine for camping food

[Corey]

I got the V3835 which is not listed on Food Savers homepage, their newest one is the 3840.
This on the side of the box has a Fred Meyers tag on it, so I think it was specifiably packaged for Freddies, and it looks identical to the 3840.
Some info on this model.
http://www.shopping.com/xPO-Tilia-FoodSaver-V3835-Vacuum-Food-Sealer-with-SmartSeal-Technology

I bought a dual pack of 11"x16' rolls of the bags you cut yourself, and a box of 20 1 qt. bags.

All the bad reviews I have read online must be half of user error, as this newbie to the world of vacuum sealing had zero problems.

I used one custom cut bag from the roll which I cut with a built in cutter in the machine for the avocados.
The cookies and the D, AA, and AAA batteries are also in a 1 qt. bag.

The machine worked as it was suppose to, I was very impressed.



I will keep an eye on the avocado to see when it turns brown.
I am not sure if I can freeze them or not.

I bought a cantaloupe to test this out on too, but I have to let it ripen up some.
I know you can freeze cantaloupe, so after it is ripe I will slice up a half into smaller slices and place in a few custom cut bags and freeze them.

Will be trying this out too on those dollar dinner pasta dinners from Safeway.
I have the stroganoff one here, so I will cook up a box which makes about three to four servings and dish it into the qt. sized bags and partially freeze them first before using the machine.
This is to prevent the juice/liquid from the pasta getting sucked into the machine.

If this works successfully, I can then put them back in the freezer for a long time, then take a few for a camping trip and store in the ARB fridge.
Then put a bag in boiling water on the camp stove and reheat them.
Not sure if I have to make a slit in the bag or not.
I would think that would introduce the water into the bag, or maybe you have to make a slit from keeping the bag from blowing up

Anyways, I think these machines are pretty cool, and it will save a lot of prep time for camping/overlanding dinners.

With this new machine with the SmartSeal technology, the process starts automatically as soon as I insert the bag.
If at anytime you notice your food getting squished to much, simply hit the seal button and the vacuum process stops sucking out air and the heat seal starts up right away.

PS, some good reviews and bad reviews on Amazon.

 

[Corey]

Five plus full days of the avocado sitting in my fridge in the sealed bag.
From this at 4:30 PM PST

to this a few minutes later

I am satisfied with the machine so far.
Now I have to start making up some stroganoff dinners for camping and freeze them after sealing them.

 

[matt s]

Perhaps an unthought of use. When I first got mine years ago I vacuum packed everything, just because I could (socks, flashlights, you name it). It was fun. One thing I did and now still do is toilet paper. An "emergency" roll vacuums down to almost nothing, stays clean and dry, and anyone who ends up needing it thinks your the coolest camper around. I keep one in the truck or in my pack for almost any adventure.

 

[Capt Sport]

Like vacuum packers? Then you might find this interesting.

I had one of the clam shell professional model food saver machines, I never really like the performance of the machine and it eventually quit working all together. I used the machine predominately for packing fish, and you had to "slightly" freeze the filets before you could vacuum seal them, which was PIA. That and if there was any water or moisture in the bag they didn't seal well. Needless to say I lost more fish than I care to think about due to bags that didn't seal well due to freezer burn.

Now I will say that vacuum packing works great and I love the idea and of the packages that did seal it worked great. I also by chance got to tour a facility that made commercial machines and learned a lot. Seems the way to go is a chamber style vacuum packer which will allow you to pull more vacuum and seal meat/food even if it's wet. I even witnessed a vertical chamber machine seal a bag of water with out a bubble of air in it.

Well as you can expect these chamber machines are rather expensive, however I did run across a guy (on the web) that made his own which he claims works great. I haven't yet built one, but I do plan on doing so as vacuum packing just works so well for all of the reasons mentioned previously in this tread.

Here's the link to the plans etc , oh yeah not affiliated in anyway just passing along what I feel is useful information to fellow Expo'ers (Is that a word?)

http://www.fishyfish.com/bobbruce/vacuum_bagger.html

And, now after reading this entire thread I'm hungry lets :chowtime:

 

[jesusgatos]

I've got an idea that might help with the problem of stuff getting sucked out of the bag and into the machine. I'll try it out and let you know how it works. This would be in the cheap/free category and I think it might eliminate the need to pre-freeze things.

 

[Haggis]

Here's a good trick. Cut a bag as long as your cooler, fill it with a gallon and a half to two gallons of water or so, seal using the "Moist" setting and freeze it laying flat in the freezer. Lay one of these frozen bags in the bottom of your cooler, than put in a layer of frozen sealed foods on top of that. Place another frozen bag on top of the food stuff, then another layer of frozen food followed by another frozen bags and so on and so forth. Our last trip we used four of these "Ice" bags with good effect. They lasted 6 days in our Coleman Extreme cooler riding around in the back of the truck. When thawed out you've got a clean source of water, theres no water sloshing around in the cooler and you can still reuse the bags once you get home. We just leave 'em sealed and refreeze them when we get home. Way better than buying ice every couple of days.

 

[matt s]

Mark that is a really good idea.

 

[calamaridog]

Needless to say I lost more fish than I care to think about due to bags that didn't seal well due to freezer burn.

We used to loose more fish to freezer burn using all the other methods prior to the Food Saver machine.

Now I will say that vacuum packing works great and I love the idea and of the packages that did seal it worked great.

Agreed. I'd say that about 5% of the bags we seal will end up not holding a vacuum after a few days. I rotate those bags into the house freezer and use them before they can develop freezer burn.

In the last couple days I've opened bags of grouper, tuna, and yellowtail. All of them were 8-12 months old and all were fit for consumption.

 

[Corey]

Stopped off at Safeway after work Thursday and picked up fresh veggies for shish kabobs over the holiday weekend.

To save time when making them today, I cut up the following yesterday and vacuum sealed them.

First bag = white mushrooms
Second bag = Walla Walla Sweet onions and cherrie tomatoes
Third bag = red and green bell peppers

Not vacuum sealed where the pineapple chunks, canned potato slices (usually get whole small potatoes (but all were sold out), and the meat.

Assembled a short bit ago, much faster than having to cut it all up at once and assemble the shish kabobs.

I read many have had problems with these upright sealers, and some were from just putting the bag in straight.
You have to take the right corner of the bag and insert it on the left side of the machine, and rotate your bag in, then push up.
The process starts automatically, and I have not had a single problem with this machine yet.

 

[Paul 3]

Probably a stupid question, but how much longer would you say vacuum packing keeps food? For instance if I bought a few steaks at the butcher, not frozen, vacuum packed them and threw them in the fridge how long would they keep?

I like the idea of being able to prep food before the trip. I'm just curious how much longer, if at all, can I keep items such as beef, fish and chicken (without freezing it)? Sorry for the noob questions.

Paul

 

[dbreid]

I am late (way late) to this thread, and much of what I will say has been said, but I have had one of these for a few years, and love it.

The funny part is that I came at this from a different angle. Initially, I didn't care at all about food, I just needed a way to keep spares organized. One of my trucks is a heavy duty rock crawler/trail truck, and I carry full sets of spare driveshafts, axleshafts, wiring, fusible links, brakelines, locking hubs, etc.

So I got sick of my trail spares being jumbled, and 99% of the time I don't need them anyway. So I made up "trail spare kits" with the foodsaver. I bought the long "rolls" of the baggies and organized all my spart parts and bolts and stuff into sets. Need the "I broke a hub" kit? Well that baggie has all the hardware sealed up in a bag, with another baggie with assembly diagram and personal notes, as well as the correct size allen key all sealed up in the same baggie. So I don't need to find 10 things in my truck. I need to find ONE. I also packed sets of spares like valve cores, brakelines, you name it.

I also invited my buddies over and we all had a sealing party. quite nice, because my parts stay clean and organized, and the rest of the truck doesn't get grease all over it.

Then I morphed into using it for food. People have already said all that needs be said, but I find it most useful for making "portions". I chop up veggies and cheese and stuff for breakfast, and then when my GF and I have breakfast, I hold up the baggies and she can choose what she wants in her omelette. No onions today? OK, maybe we'll use those on the steaks tonight.

My advice on machines is: Get one that will seal WITHOUT vaccuum. Mine doesn't, and it is annoying.


HTH

Dan

 

[jesusgatos]

I haven't had an opportunity to experiment with my new foodsaver yet, and I'm wondering how well vacuum-packing substitutes for refrigeration. Any guidelines or practical experience with how long/well different foods that should be refrigerated will keep when they aren't (refrigerated)?

 

[Corey]

My adive on machines is: Get one that will seal WITHOUT vaccuum. Mine doesn't, and it is annoying.


HTH

Dan

Very interesting use of your machine Dan to organize your trail parts.

On this unit I just bought it has the option to hit the seal button manually when it is drawing out air which is pretty nice if you do not want to crush something.

 

[alyarb03]

I like foodsaver. Party at my home, lots of food wastage. Then my friend suggests me a vacuum sealer. Now, I stored my good food for future use. I also shop deep, deep sales for meat, fish, and chicken.

 

[762X39]

I haven't had an opportunity to experiment with my new foodsaver yet, and I'm wondering how well vacuum-packing substitutes for refrigeration. Any guidelines or practical experience with how long/well different foods that should be refrigerated will keep when they aren't (refrigerated)?

Vacuum sealing is not a substitute for refrigeration. I am on my 2nd foodsaver and think it's the greatest thing since sliced bread. I laughed when I saw 1 post complaining that you had to partially freeze some moist items before you could seal them. The instructions clearly stated as much and if you watched the video that comes with the machine or online you would know this. It is not an inconvenience but simply how it is.