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Hunting & Fishing Vacuum sealers

Jackomason

Poop-smith aka "Turd Herder"
Full Member
Minuteman
Dec 26, 2013
1,597
1,340
Westcliffe Colorado
Well I'm looking for a vacuum sealer, it seems ridiculously hard to evaluate how sealers stack up. I've got a couple weeks but soon I'll be butchering a long horn I've been finishing. I'd like to stay around $200 +/- but I cant tell the differences and I dont know what brand names are worth my time.

This will be used for elk and household sealing as well.

The two I've seen in person are the cabelas pro and comercial. Meh...

Thanks for any help.
 
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The Wessons are expensive but worth it. I have one of the higher end food savers and it’s constantly messing up. I keep kind of hoping it’ll completely crap out so I can justify getting a Wesson. My parents have one and they are simple to use and very strong. They’re always giving a discount code on the Meateater podcast too but I can’t remember what it is. I’m sure you can google it though.
 
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I’ve had great luck using a standard food saver. Last one I got was at CostCo. I do about three deer a year.


Works best of you freeze the meat first. Then you’re not dealing with moisture issues while sealing.
 
Thanks guys, I guess that's a good start. There are a lot of different modles but one "top 10" said they would recommend the Weston thats under my budget for year round use. Who knows really...

I probably wont freeze a all my meat. There's just way too much. Does liquid cause a lot of problems?
 
I went through the same thing a couple of years ago. I ended up buying a Cabelas Commercial sealer. It was on sale and has a lifetime warranty. I've used it a ton and it's been great. Seems to be a really well built unit.
 
I went through the same thing a couple of years ago. I ended up buying a Cabelas Commercial sealer. It was on sale and has a lifetime warranty. I've used it a ton and it's been great. Seems to be a really well built unit.

Maybe you can speak to this, the one at the store felt extremely cheap. Maybe that just the floor modle but the opening and closing action felt much better on the Pro line and more toyish on the comercial.

My boss also got the comercial and likes it.
 
When it comes to food storage/sealing I don't really skimp out. I used to use a cheaper vacuum sealer for years. Before that the wax paper route. With the time and money invested I would use a chamber Vacuum sealer. Like the Vacmaster vp210 or 215. Been using them for the last few years and what a difference. I understand it's over your budget, but it will last and worth every penny. We spend 1000s on stuff to take said game, but then get 100 dollar sealers to help store the most important part! The 210 is a great sealer and that is what I have been recommending for the last few years. They have come down to $800 or so now for the 210.
 
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whatever brand you get find space for it on the counter, we use ours to reseal everything, crackers, chips, cereal, anything in a sealed bag gets resealed.
 
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Maybe you can speak to this, the one at the store felt extremely cheap. Maybe that just the floor modle but the opening and closing action felt much better on the Pro line and more toyish on the comercial.

My boss also got the comercial and likes it.

Mine feels very solid and well built. The closing/locking is very tight. It feels like a very well built unit honestly. I haven't used a Wesson, so can't really compare. This is the only "commercial" duty vacuum sealer I've ever used, so I really can't comment on how it compares to any others, but I'm very happy with it. I don't use it every day, or every week for that matter. With Cabela's lifetime warranty, I don't think you can really go wrong with one. They will just replace it if it quits working from what I understand.
 
I'd consider what you are going to do with the meat you harvest (roasts, steaks, cube meat), how big you intend on keeping the pieces, and how often will you use the sealer. We use the sealer just about weekly for steaks, chicken, pork ribs, pork chops, etc etc etc.

I had previously purchased a Weston Pro series grinder for more than one purpose. Using the grinder for chicken or beef works great. I don't recall the specific model but I will say it's much bigger than my needs. Since it was cheaper on Amazon I got it for our kitchen. My wife will no longer buy ground beef from the store, we just make our own. Grinding our own beef is so much better and stores longer when using the FoodSaver sealer. The ground beef we make stores well in the bags, freezes, thaws, so there's nothing bad with it in any way.

I bought the FoodSaver FM5330 2-in-1 Vacuum Sealing System (shows under $200). After having worked with it for the last few years, it's doing a great job. Never had any issues related to any food going bad or freezer burn. It's limited in size for how wide you can make the bags. There are times when the bag isn't inserted properly that it will not seal, so you reposition the bag to be good to go. I have used their brand "cut to fit" bags as well as pre-sized bags of other brands. All work with no problems. The device is easy to clean, has plenty of spare parts available (if needed), and easily works for household foods. Food we place into the bags never needs to be "pre-frozen".

Spend the good money on a bad ass grinder, save a few bucks on a good sealer.
 
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When it comes to food storage/sealing I don't really skimp out. I used to use a cheaper vacuum sealer for years. Before that the wax paper route. With the time and money invested I would use a chamber Vacuum sealer. Like the Vacmaster vp210 or 215. Been using them for the last few years and what a difference. I understand it's over your budget, but it will last and worth every penny. We spend 1000s on stuff to take said game, but then get 100 dollar sealers to help store the most important part! The 210 is a great sealer and that is what I have been recommending for the last few years. They have come down to $800 or so now for the 210.

I get it, I like to spend my hard earned money on a something worth while. But there are times to go cheap and save for what you need down the road. This steer has got us on a time line and I don't have excess to spend so that's kinda where I'm at.

I'd consider what you are going to do with the meat you harvest (roasts, steaks, cube meat), how big you intend on keeping the pieces, and how often will you use the sealer. We use the sealer just about weekly for steaks, chicken, pork ribs, pork chops, etc etc etc.

I had previously purchased a Weston Pro series grinder for more than one purpose. Using the grinder for chicken or beef works great. I don't recall the specific model but I will say it's much bigger than my needs. Since it was cheaper on Amazon I got it for our kitchen. My wife will no longer buy ground beef from the store, we just make our own. Grinding our own beef is so much better and stores longer when using the FoodSaver sealer. The ground beef we make stores well in the bags, freezes, thaws, so there's nothing bad with it in any way.

I bought the FoodSaver FM5330 2-in-1 Vacuum Sealing System (shows under $200). After having worked with it for the last few years, it's doing a great job. Never had any issues related to any food going bad or freezer burn. It's limited in size for how wide you can make the bags. There are times when the bag isn't inserted properly that it will not seal, so you reposition the bag to be good to go. I have used their brand "cut to fit" bags as well as pre-sized bags of other brands. All work with no problems. The device is easy to clean, has plenty of spare parts available (if needed), and easily works for household foods. Food we place into the bags never needs to be "pre-frozen".

Spend the good money on a bad ass grinder, save a few bucks on a good sealer.

Great point. I'd like to try some sous vide and dry aging but that would be pretty casual. Thanks for the comment, there's a bit for me to consider.
 
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I bought a vacmaster pro 350 after I burned up my regular food saver.

My buddies vacmaster crapped out this weekend after about 4 years. Hopefully it can be fixed
 
I bought a food saver from Costco when it was on sale so far it’s been working great. Been using it on game,fish and bait mostly. I figure if it does crap out Costco has a good return policy.
 
I have a vacmaster vp215. Bought it from basspro using discount cabela’s gift cards.

Its pretty awesome. And since its easier to use than the cheap foodsuckers we use it everyday. In that way—I never expected how handy it would become.

It lives on a cart. Which also hold the boxes of bags. Looks good and doesnt eat up counter space.
 
The cheap vacuum sealers off amazon don't ever work for me. I've been through so many different kinds from no name brands to food saver to many more. I bought one a couple months ago that was made for fish and game. It can handle the wet fish fillets, pull the water out, and put a tight seal on the fish. I just started using it for sealing some deer chili we made and back strap and it works well on that too. Sealing fish seems to be the toughest thing to do because fish fillets seem to have the most water and that's what will mess up your sealer.

The one I found is called a fish and game sealer. It runs off a 12 volt battery or off a wall outlet which is really nice because our public fish cleaning stations never have power outlets. I haven't been on a backpacking hunting trip yet but it will be handy when we do go. It's pretty small and compact and comes with some vacuum bags. I would definitely buy extra vacuum bags though because we went through the ones it came with after one fishing trip. I finally found the link to the vacuum sealer: https://outriggeroutdoors.com/collections/fish-game-processing/products/fish-game-vacuum-sealer
 
The Weston Pro vacuum sealers are nice. I had one of the higher end Food Savers and the Weston is better in every way other than price and size (takes up more space). If you will be sealing a lot, the Weston is worth it. If you will only occasionally use it, the Food Savers are fine.

Good chamber sealers are amazing, but I'm not interested in spending a few grand on one at the moment and having used a friends Costco chamber sealer I have no interested in getting a cheap one.
 
Mileage test:
Short of "industrial experience" that I have from working in the field, we have some "home experience" here that I'll share:

To get into it on a home level, it was recommended to us to get the Foodsaver. I forget the model number, but it is black and it stands upright. To go from 'nothing' to 'this one' wasn't a bad step, but we did notice that there was a LOT of bag wastage. As in, each and every bag would be 'inches' of extra flap that needed to get cut-off.

To 'make a bag' from a roll, one needs to cut the material to length. Seal one end, then fill bag with contents, then seal the other end. This particular model that we had would 'waste' at least an inch and a quarter on EACH SEAL. That's 2 1/2 inches per bag. When you're portioning up 20-30 lbs of burger, let alone packs of steaks or chops and whatnot, that is a LOT of wastage. First off, we'd cut the 'flaps' off before freezing simply because it truly DOES take up space in the freezer. Multiply that all by a freezer-ful of products, and it really adds up.

Remember, and this is coming from 'how tight our budget was at the time' perspective, but that bag material isn't cheap. You go and do 20 packages of whatever, and you're literally throwing out (in the area of) 40 inches of 'bag'. Hugely wasteful.

So, after a fair bit of 'market research' and whatnot, we found the Cabela's "extra-wide" version that lays flat as well. So much LESS wastage, and if you set things up right (not hard at all) there is NO wastage at all on the 'first seal' to make a bag from the rolled stock. Add to that, but to 'seal' the bag with contents, you only have about a half-inch of waste. So yeah, on that note alone, we really do go through a heck of a lot LESS rolls anymore. And at the same time, we're still saving/storing the same amount of product, if not more!

The last thing I want to do is purchase something with good money, just to throw it away. The Cabela's version DEFINITELY is the way to go. Avoid 'foodsaver' like the plague,,, they make their money on the bags/rolls.
 
I've used the foodsavers and various non chamber type sealers and they do work but there are draw backs and the main drawback is the cost of the bags. The cheapest i can find bags for a foodsaver type machine are about $0,70/bag. Due to the corona virus and general want to we are butchering our own steers. After looking at the cost of the bags to vacuum seal 2 giant steers (almost 3 yo Wagyu crosses) It became apparent that I could buy a chamber sealer that works faster and bags at the 1/10th of the cost and save alot of money. Did some research and this one is what I got and it is working pretty good so far. I am curious to see how it does after the work out on the 2 steers.

 
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I’ve had great luck using a standard food saver. Last one I got was at CostCo. I do about three deer a year.


Works best of you freeze the meat first. Then you’re not dealing with moisture issues while sealing.
Ah, yep....I have a Food Saver kit and it just keeps on working.

I wonder what advantage there is to the higher end vacuum sealers....well, aside from bag material waste???
 
I've used the foodsavers and various non chamber type sealers and they do work but there are draw backs and the main drawback is the cost of the bags. The cheapest i can find bags for a foodsaver type machine are about $0,70/bag. Due to the corona virus and general want to we are butchering our own steers. After looking at the cost of the bags to vacuum seal 2 giant steers (almost 3 yo Wagyu crosses) It became apparent that I could buy a chamber sealer that works faster and bags at the 1/10th of the cost and save alot of money. Did some research and this one is what I got and it is working pretty good so far. I am curious to see how it does after the work out on the 2 steers.

Wow, if/when I have the money, THIS sort of thing is what I'd definitely 'move up to'. Thanks for sharing. Anything like this, I'd expected to be in the thousands...
 
Buy the Foodsaver rolls. That way you can build your own bag and not be wasteful. They can be found on line or in stores.
 
Food Saver works for me. Had two in 20 years and they work great. Like another member mentioned, lightly freezing the meat first helps a lot. I usually wrap the cuts in plastic wrap and then freed for a couple of hours. Then seal away. The only issues I’ve had with a Foodsaver, is if you need to pace your sealing or it can get hot and will stop until it cools down.

Never needed to go for the high commercial sealers.
 
Ah, yep....I have a Food Saver kit and it just keeps on working.

I wonder what advantage there is to the higher end vacuum sealers....well, aside from bag material waste???

The sealing element. My Food Saver had trouble reliably creating a seal if moister was between the plastic layers. My Weaston Pro seals reliable regardless of how much moister is between the layers and the seal is about twice as wide as the Food Saver one.
 
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Bringing up an old thread, not because I’m a bot like has been happening lately, but because I bought a bunch of meat today and I’m about ready to apply a 12ga to this piece of shit foodsaver. I grabbed it a couple years back and loved it. Now it sucks. Are the other brands really that better? I’ve got a bunch of Costco brand rolls that I’d like to be able to use but will toss em if I have to. I just want a good bag cutter, a sealer that doesn’t leak while it’s sealing, and a vacuum that can suck like my high school girlfriend. I’d rather not drop too much coin on one, I don’t need commercial grade (I don’t think), not buy once cry once. Maybe buy/cry every ten years?
 
You get what you pay for. Sadly, if you're wanting a good vacuum sealer, you've got to spend the money. Look at Target's web page and see what they have to offer.
 
That came out wrong. I’m happy to spend the dough. $4-$500 for one that lasts pays for itself pretty quickly if I’m tossing a foodsaver every couple years.
 
3 years later. My vp215 still works and works and works.

Still sitting on a decades worth of bags it seems.

Since my post here I've seen a pile of food savers crap out in people. And a few Cabelas sealers too.

Yeah.
 
we have been satisfied with one we bought at Cabela's, it was in the $150 range, don't use the vacuum much, it is used more on sealing chip bags, cereal bags, anything with a plastic content. Used the vacuum to reseal a hash brown bag couple days ago and it still flattened it like new. I don't think any chicom shit is what it used to be for quality.