Let's talk... Vacuum sealers, freezing and reheating.

[Paul Hart]

I was looking and they vary wildly in price. Are the cheap foodsaver ones ok?
Short of a sous vide, how are you reheating? Boiling water?

[teesquare]

This is where it will take a bit of thinking: I have had a basic Food Saver for 15+ years - works like new. Other seem to have issues with them.

The basic design that I speak of has the vacuum uptake tube in the UPPER, or overhead section. NOT in the lower one. That is important. This prevents you from accidentally sucking any liquids into the pump and killing your vac sealer. Dn't fall for the fancy designs, the up right ones have had issues, and I have  had 3 of those - no good.
THIS basic design....   http://www.foodsaver.com/vacuum-sealers/foodsaver-fsfssl2461-026-manual-vacuum-sealer/FSFSSL2461-026.html#start=37&sz=12

is the best one they have made to date - tho it is one of their oldest designs.So, why do you suppose they keep it around?

Disclaimer: I have mush larger vac sealers. But, again - bang for the buck, and with a small amount of care - this one will last you a long time. It is not design for rapid cycling, and doing 50 bags an hour. But, for casual household use - it is fine.

[Las Vegan Cajun]

I have the basic FoodSaver model and for home use it works great.

[sparky]

i got the fm2100.  love it. 

[muebe]

I use the foodsaver upright model and have no complaints.

As far as reheating if you don't have sous vide device you can reheat the bag in the water. I would let the bag come up to temp with the water and not drop it into a boiling pot of water.

Most cases reheating only requires a temp of 140F so boiling water is too hot.

[Wingman]

I have the Gamesaver Deluxe (same basic design as T's) and have had zero problems with it.  I chose that one because of its very high ratings on Amazon.

For reheating from frozen - someone on this forum told me to boil a pot of water, drop the frozen bag in, turn the pot to low and remove bag in 15 minutes.  I sometimes do my pulled pork this way and it works great.  The bags are BPA free according to the Foodsaver website.

[teesquare]

I have the Gamesaver Deluxe (same basic design as T's) and have had zero problems with it.  I chose that one because of its very high ratings on Amazon.

For reheating from frozen - someone on this forum told me to boil a pot of water, drop the frozen bag in, turn the pot to low and remove bag in 15 minutes.  I sometimes do my pulled pork this way and it works great.  The bags are BPA free according to the Foodsaver website.

Yep - that is a good one...It is the design itself, that seems to lend to longevity with these things. That, and wiping down the seals when you are done using it.

Some brands of bags are supposed to be food safe for boiling, and for microwave use. Just read the details on them to be sure. Here are some that I found doing a search:
http://www.amazon.com/Vacuum-Commercial-Strength-FoodSaver-Cooking/dp/B00IDUX4CK

http://www.foodvacbags.com/c-2-FoodVacBags-Rolls.aspx

[tlg4942]

 Kerry bought me a Black and Decker... It worked well for about a year. It still does fine with containers and zip-locks. But I think the heating element is going out because it will only seal now if the bag is perfectly dry.   
 But hey, It was a gift and it is a cheap model.
 I guess my point is to avoid the bottom of the line models...

[Las Vegan Cajun]

Before I got my sous vide units my method of reheating vacuum sealed food, from a thawed-unfrozen state, was to place the vac sealed food in a pot of water, bring to a boil for ~5 minutes, turn off the heat and let sit in the hot water for ~15 minutes.  Another method I used was to microwave vac sealed food at 50% power until food was throughly heated.

Now that I have sous vide as an option I reheat vac sealed foods at ~140 for ~1 hour, takes longer than my other methods but the food never boils and doesn't overcook it when reheating.  Sous vide reheating is great for reheating beef that has been originally cooked to rare.  I reheat rare cooked beef at ~120 in the sous vide and it maintains its rare look and juiciness.

[teesquare]

That is a great point LVC.... Sous Vide is awesome for re-heating because you can prevent over-cooking. And - the food tastes as good as it did the first time.

[TMB]

I have this one now...    http://www.westmarine.com/buy/food-saver--gamesaver-bronze-vacuum-sealer--14366439?cm_mmc=PS-_-MSN-_-Shopping%20PLAs-_-14366439&device={Device}

It does a great job, although the seal element will get hot fast and it has to cool before sealing another bag.  When I cook for the church, I bag 4 to 5 butts at a time and around the 4th butt it needs to rest but it not a big deal.

I did own one of the first units they made (was past down to me)   and it worked great for years but it finely died.

 Again look how long it lasted, it was so old the Dee was a young man when it hit the market       

[Savannahsmoker]

Sweetie uses the Food Saver V3460 upright model and vac seals soup, black eye peas, chili, and everything one can think of and never had a problem with liquid being suck in.

She vac packs veggies in bags sized for 4 meals and meats sized for two meals. For smoked spare ribs we slice in half and bag. 
By the end of summer she will have about 50 each bags of greens, black eyes peas and field peas vac bagged and frozen from her garden.

To reheat, for instantaneous Smoked Boston Butt, we put the bag unopened in just simmering water for 20 to 30 minutes and it comes out like just came off the smoker.

Key is to reheating and flavor is simmering not boiling water and not to open the bag until done.

Chicken Soup


Veggies


Reheated and plated

[1Bigg_ER]

I made the mistake of leaving a foodsaver bag full of frozen smoked pulled pork in water until it boiled.
It was the morning of a planned party, I got distracted, bag came open, lost about 10 lbs of meat. I almost cried but fortunately I had an extra bag, watched it like a hawk.
Basically I vacuum seal BBQed goodness without any sauce, freeze. To reheat, before Sous vide, I'd bring water to a gentle simmer, take off the heat , drop the bag in and cover the pot. If water gets cold, take the bag out, reheat water and repeat.

With sous vide, heat water to 135 and drop bag in until I'm ready to eat.

[Las Vegan Cajun]

Simmer vs Boiling

Here are the results of an experiment I did on simmering vs boiling.

This is water at a full boil (208.4F)


Reduced the heat to slow simmer (205.6F)


A difference of 2.8F between simmer and boil at my altitude of 2045' and barometric pressure of 30.64.  My conclusion is that simmering for reheating is great for vegetables and any meat, like pulled pork, that has been cooked at higher finishing temps.  But for things like beef that has been cooked to rare, reheating at lower temps, that can best be done with a sous vide unit is the way to go.

[Las Vegan Cajun]

I allowed the water to simmer an additional 15 minutes on low and the temperature dropped to 184.9F a difference of 23.5F from a rapid boil.


Still to hot to reheat rare cooked meats but good enough for the veggies and pulled pork.