FoodSaver Vaccuum Packer Ideas

[westfork]

So I picked up a FoodSaver Vaccuum Packer the other day on sale at Bass Pro and am pretty pumped about sealing up my small game harvests this fall/winter for freezer storage. I'm about to make some jerky and maybe experiment with making my own dehydrated meals for backpacking.

Does anybody have any other creative uses for this thing? Any useful tips?

Are there any cheaper but just as good rolls of material I can use for packing my stuff?

 

[Westside]

 

[melensdad]

When we got ours my daughter put a single blueberry in a vacuum bag. As you can guess, it didn't work so well.

She also tried to vacuum pack a loaf of bread. Turned it into 'flat bread.'

 

[walbertb13]

If you are into the canning foods thing, these bags work great. Also, a buddy of mine takes his hunting clothes and hits them with no scent spray, then he seals them in the vacuum bags. He doesn't open them until he is in the field. As for the dehydrated food thing, any non perishable food would work...crackers, jerky, and fruit. I recommend getting a dehydrator. You can dehydrate just about any food and even make jerky with it, then seal it up in the vacuum bags for later.

I assume you are using the dehydrated food for hunting? If so, pick up a few MRE's and see what they have in them. I just recently finished up some Army training, so just talking about MRE's makes me feel a little uneasy! Best of luck!!

 

[eldirector]

My wife gets her rolls at Sams Club. Not sure of the brand. She vacuum seals darn near everything. We break down our meat and veggies into single-meal portions, vacuum seal, and freeze. She even has some pre-cooked stuff (browned burger, chicken, etc..).

We also have the vacuum sealed containers. Seems to keep our dry goods fresh forever, and they work great for left-overs.

One of her tricks is to freeze soup, stew, chili, or whatever overnight in tupperware, then drop it into a vacuum bag (out of the tupperware), seal it, and put it back in the freezer. Lets her vacuum seal liquids in the regular bags/rolls.

 

[eldirector]

When we got ours my daughter put a single blueberry in a vacuum bag. As you can guess, it didn't work so well.

She also tried to vacuum pack a loaf of bread. Turned it into 'flat bread.'

Freeze them first. Just overnight, not necessarily frozen into bricks. Just hard enough to not crush.

As I posted above, they also make vacuum sealed containers. Looks just like tupperware, only has the vacuum attachment and a much better seal.

 

[csaws]

We have tried other brands of the bags and keep going back to the foodsaver ones... they seem to be the best.

 

[westfork]

thanks for the ideas - keep them coming.

i've used our dehydrator for jerky but that's about it so far. i'm looking forward to creating some dehydrated meals that i can seal up single serving sizes to take along while backpacking.

i read in the instructions to freeze liquids (soups, sauces, etc) before sealing. glad i read that or there'd probably be quite a mess to clean up. makes sense to do this with rolls or other squishy freezable foods, as well. that's a good tip.

i also read that you can boil (or add boiling water to) the bags to reconstitute your meals which can be handy on the trail but not sure if i'll try that or not. foodsaver says the bags are bpa-free but does anybody know if the food will have a plastic taste after heating the bags? a lot of backpackers swear by using gallon ziploc bags to reconstitue dehydrated meals but i'm on the fence about the hot plastic vs. food i eat thing.

i threw an AR mag in a bag to test it out and it sucked the follower down into the magazine. the pressure from the vaccuum caused the bag to sort of implode causing this. p-mags with a the cover installed might not have this problem. a small piece of stiff cardboard covering the top of the mag might also keep this from happening.

 

[eldirector]

i also read that you can boil (or add boiling water to) the bags to reconstitute your meals which can be handy on the trail but not sure if i'll try that or not. foodsaver says the bags are bpa-free but does anybody know if the food will have a plastic taste after heating the bags? a lot of backpackers swear by using gallon ziploc bags to reconstitue dehydrated meals but i'm on the fence about the hot plastic vs. food i eat thing.

We've tossed the bags in the microwave a few times (after cutting a vent, of course). No unusual taste, but we just warmed the contents instead of trying to cook them.

Never thought about vacuum-sealed ammo! Why not?

 

[bigg cheese]

Newegg has one on sale today. Go to BFads.net, click on Hot Deals, and scroll down to the sealer. I already have one like this, and using the promo code, you can get one for 23.99 -- i bought three

 

[Exodus]

I made a few dryer lint with vasoline packs, went from roughly golf ball sized to size of a condom, to through in my packs.

Not sure of your guys' models but on mine you can hit the vacuum and seal button and it will stop sucking so you don't crush items then just hit the seal button.

I picked up some cheaper brand bag rolls but I have yet to try them out.

 

[bigg cheese]

The rival brand will seal on its own when it can no longer suck anything out. Kinda sucks for green peppers though since they're so juicy. I have to prefreeze them for about 45 minutes to get them hard enough not to juice themselves. Either it won't stop sucking, or it will try to seal, and the water in the middle of the two sides of the bag won't let it melt properly.

 

[bigg cheese]

I picked up some cheaper brand bag rolls but I have yet to try them out.

Seal-a-Meal brand works for me. Found some on clearance at target last spring, and I bought the whole shelf of it -- still going strong .

 

[Fishersjohn48]

I do all of my fish this way. The liquid can be a problem so I take a half sheet of paper towel and fold it over so it's about 3/4" wide and place it inside the bag between the fish and the area that will be sealed. The paper towel absorbs all of the liquid so that it doesn't prevent the bag from sealing. Works like a charm.

 

[westfork]

ok so how about this...

can i take the rolls of bags, cut them down to a small strip, seal that strip into smaller squares (leaving the 'top' unsealed), put something inside (like the dryer lint/vaseline mentioned above), then vac and seal that strip to make little individual packs of product?

i'm thinking that's what exodus did but not sure on the technique to get to that size of package?

i need a rainy day and some spare time to really experiment with this thing.

 

[Exodus]

ok so how about this...

can i take the rolls of bags, cut them down to a small strip, seal that strip into smaller squares (leaving the 'top' unsealed), put something inside (like the dryer lint/vaseline mentioned above), then vac and seal that strip to make little individual packs of product?

i'm thinking that's what exodus did but not sure on the technique to get to that size of package?

i need a rainy day and some spare time to really experiment with this thing.

That's what I did just made smaller bags by using the sealer. My wife messed up a large bag when we first got it and I saved it and used it. It took a few tries to get it just right.

 

[ThrottleJockey]

Socks, and any other bulky clothing that goes in your bob. I keep socks and other stuff sealed behind the seat of my truck too.

 

[walbertb13]

I suggest sealing instant mashed potatoes and oatmeal for backpacking as a quick snack or meal. I've had luck turning the ripped bags into individual smaller bags. It was actually cheap to buy the larger bags and do this than to buy the small bags themselves.

 

[bigg cheese]

tried the rolls?

 

[westfork]

next i'll try 1k rounds of .308 laid out flat like this.