Saturday, January 29, 2011

Rival Vaccuum Sealer

Yesterday I got this Rival vacuum sealer. I have never had a vacuum sealer before-at least not an electric one. I used to have a suction type pump thing that I could suck air out of zip lock bags and then quickly close them but times have changed and this is what a vacuum sealer is now.
It as you can see does vacuum seal everything in nice neat plastic packages but it does have a few drawbacks. For one, why do they put such tiny cords on these appliances? I have a very small counter and very few outlets. This things cord is only like a foot and a half long! I want a 10 ft cord on everything! I couldn't use it on the table, the counter is full so it got used on this little spot between the stove, sink and toaster.
Drawback number two would be that it is so noisy. As I said, I have never had one before so I just never realized they would make more noise than a  food processor (I'm going to get rid of my food processor. I hate the noise and have trouble assembling it EVERY time! I'm going to get a manual hand crank thing instead but that's another story.).
The last drawback that I could see was that it wastes so much plastic because you have to have 3 inches to go into the machine on the sealing end.
Other than those thing, it works great.

7 comments:

  1. We have a figure of speech for this. It's "Damning with faint praise". You don't make the device sound very attractive!

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  2. I wondered if these were worth it. I am not a fan of plastic, so I never took the plunge.

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  3. I am not a real big fan of the thing so far. If it makes the food in the freezer last longer, it may be worth it, especially when I have meat chickens to butcher this year and want that meat to last a while in the freezer, however my cousin who raised all his own meat (chicken, turkeys, geese, pork) never had one and he wrapped all his in freezer paper and his did just fine. I intend to check that out later on- how well freezer paper works compared to vacuum sealing.

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  4. I was wondering about one of these contraptions as well, Becky as we will have the same issue come pig demise time later this year. I must I admit, I am not being sold on the contraption either. Thanks for the post. I am now more interested in how the freezer paper goes, as well.

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  5. Well, the bags are also only 11 inches wide, which seems big until you try to stuff some meat into it. A small roast maybe but nothing bigger. I imagine it will work for the chicken...maybe. I put small beef roast into them and they just barely fit and then it didn't suck the air out of the bottom corners. Still better than what I could do with a zip lock though.

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  6. I like mine Becky. It is noisy, and doesn't always give perfect seal but for the most part I am happy with it. Could also be used for Sous vide!

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  7. I have the FoodSaver version-but brand doesn't matter-they are just a real life saver for us. It's just Hubby and me, and I use this at least once a day, if not more. I make regular size recipes and just divy them up and freeze. I also buy bulk meats/etc.
    They're great for preventing freezer burn-stuff lasts forever in the freezer with them with no loss of quality. I think once you start using it, you'll appreciate the convenience.

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