Food Saver Bags

DTJ · June 09, 2008, 06:52:35 AM

I want to start off with thanking everyone for all of the great advice and help. I have been reading the forum for over a year now and bought an OBS about six months ago. Everyones help has made cooking a whole lot easier!!! I would have posted prior to this but I could always find my answers in older or new posts.

Okay so now here is my question....Has anyone ever tried non "FoodSaver" bags with their FoodSaver. The foodsaver ones are expensive. At work I have purchased items from a company called Uline, I was looking through their catalog and they have vacuum food bags considerly cheaper, but I do not want to spend the money on them if they do not work. Here is a link to their bags

http://www.uline.com/Browse_Listing_5563.asp?keywords=vacuum+bags

It states they are for a commercial sealer so I don't know if there is much difference.

Anyone input would be greatly appreciated

Daryl

manxman · June 09, 2008, 08:47:36 AM

Hi DTJ and welcome to the forum.

You can use non foodsaver bags in foodsaver vacuum sealers but any bags you do use have to be "ribbed", if you use foodsaver bags already you will probably know what I mean?

Very often such generic bags are advertised as "foodsaver compatible" in any case and are often a lot cheaper.

However from the picture and advert you provided it looks like those bags are not ribbed, commercial vacuum sealers bags tend to be made of smooth plastic and work differently.

If in doubt I would contact the supplier to double check unless an advert specifically says foodsaver compatible.

DTJ · June 09, 2008, 09:12:24 AM

Thanks for the info, any idea how the "ribbed" portion of the bag effects it use or performance??? I kind of thought that might be the differing factor between the bags and being able to use them opr not.

FLBentRider · June 09, 2008, 11:42:08 AM

I don't think they will work, under the "product info" link on one of the sizes:

* The length of time bags will hold the vacuum
seal depends on what is packaged:
* Meat/fish (no bones) - 20 days if refrigerated
6 months if frozen
* Meat with bones - Can't guarantee as bones may
puncture the bag.
* Dry goods/electronics- 30+ days.

MISCELLANEOUS:
* Not Compatible: Home vacuum sealers.
* Not for use in boiling water.

iceman · June 09, 2008, 12:21:40 PM

FLBentRider is right. Those bags are made for a sealed chamber type sealer. They remove the air from the chamber that the bag sits in then seal the bag instead of just sucking the air out of the bag.

begolf25 · June 09, 2008, 03:49:23 PM

DTJ,

Incase you are interested we carry some vacuum sealer bags. These are not Foodsaver brand but are very good quality. I use them myself for all my vacuum sealing.

http://www.yardandpool.com/Vacuum-Sealer-Bag-Roll-8-x-50-p696.html

http://www.yardandpool.com/Vacuum-Sealer-Bag-Roll-11-x-50-p697.html

Bryan

DTJ · June 09, 2008, 06:01:30 PM

Thanks for everyones input. FLBentRider I did not even notice that info on the web site. Bryan I will order some tomorrow!!

iceman · June 10, 2008, 11:19:18 AM

Quote from: DTJ on June 09, 2008, 06:01:30 PM
Thanks for everyones input. FLBentRider I did not even notice that info on the web site. Bryan I will order some tomorrow!!

Bryan is a good guy to do business with DTJ. Good place to shop at IMO. ;)

HCT · June 14, 2008, 08:57:02 AM

I wanted to recommend begolf for bags but got beat to it. Costco's is also offering generic bags now.

Tiny Tim · June 14, 2008, 09:06:17 AM

I got some pints not long ago on ebay, but they're still a little bigger than I wanted....is there such a thing as a half pint or a 4 inch roll? I like the actual Foodsaver brand...just because I like to know the product is going to work the way it is supposed to (got some off branded bags that were a pain in the rump to use).

Habanero Smoker · June 14, 2008, 02:19:34 PM

Quote from: Tiny Tim on June 14, 2008, 09:06:17 AM
I got some pints not long ago on ebay, but they're still a little bigger than I wanted....is there such a thing as a half pint or a 4 inch roll? I like the actual Foodsaver brand...just because I like to know the product is going to work the way it is supposed to (got some off branded bags that were a pain in the rump to use).

FoodSaver used to make a 6" roll, but lately I can't find anything smaller then 8". They don't even have the 6: rolls on their website anymore. The 6" size was great for packing single or double portions.

Kyle_Jackson · April 24, 2017, 12:37:30 AM

Hello, what kind of food sealers can you recommend? At my work we have a vacuum chamber (Minerva I think) but I really can't afford a vacuum-chamber at home, so I have to settle with a sealer. Hope you can help me, so that I can start sous vide'ing at home!

Thanks,
Kyle

Habanero Smoker · April 24, 2017, 02:15:18 AM

A vacuum-chamber is good, but you are limited by size as to what you can seal. For example I purchase St. Louis style ribs from Costco, and they are sold three slabs per cryovac. When they have a good price on the ribs, I like to stock up, and reseal them two per bag, because I generally will cook two slabs at a time. Same as with salmon, I like to seal them as whole fillets, and not cut them in portions.

Having gone through my fair share of FoodSavers, I decided to purchase a Weston Pro 3000. It has a powerful motor, wide sealing strip that is 15" long. I've never had a seal break during storage. It seals bags very quickly. It does have a safety feature that will shut down the motor to prevent it from over heating, but I've never experience a shut down and I've used it once to seal 30 bags - one right after the other.

The cons are you can make your own bags, but it doesn't have a bag cutter. I have a wheel type paper cutter that works well cutting the bags to length, but you can also use a utility knife and metal ruler to cut the bags to length. Just make sure you have a cutting mat underneath the area you are cutting. It is heavy, it weights 23 pounds so if you have to move it around a lot that may be a consideration.

Salmonsmoker · April 24, 2017, 06:54:30 AM

Foodsaver bags are expensive and have a high failure rate. I buy Weston brand bags. They have a very low failure rate and you can find different mil rate thicknesses if you're looking for heavy duty bags. I buy them in bulk on Ebay.

TedEbear · April 24, 2017, 07:24:53 AM

Wow, a 9 year old thread rises from the ashes. :)

Anyway, I bought a generic brand food sealer bags off Amazon a few months ago. They have worked very well and are a fraction of the cost of name brand. Two 11"x50' rolls for under $18 with free shipping and no sales tax.

Vacuum Sealers Unlimited - 11" x 50' Rolls - Thicker, Heavy-Duty Commercial Quality Textured Vacuum Sealer Bags For Foodsaver, etc.

As far as vacuum sealers themselves, I have a Foodsaver something-or-other. I don't know the specific model and I cannot check here at work but I've been happy with its performance for several years now.