Vacuum Sealers.......Again.

[Lawdwaz]

It's a long story but I went and grabbed one from Walmart today.  I got a pretty inexpensive Food Saver 2000FM........I had some left over bags from last years foray with a 15 year old unit and also grabbed a double pack of the wide ones. 

 

The story is I had some sausage made up by a local butcher shop.  When I dropped of the meat, I asked the shop owner if they'd wrap it for me as I was thinking I'd be short of time and it takes a while to do up 65 pounds of slippery links.  I like 6 to a package and he said no sweat.  I dropped off the meat on Tuesday and figured they'd be ready Thursday.  I called yesterday and the said they were done and I could grab them today and I did.  They didn't wrap them they just bagged them in a pretty nice little freezer bag but I noticed lots of voids and they had to be loaded with "air". 

 

When I got home I looked them over closer and they were about 70% frozen.  The way I like to wrap is with a Cling wrap then freezer paper but I didn't think I get enough air out with them in a frozen state so I opted for the Vacuum Sealer. 

 

I guess it worked OK but it's only marginally faster, those bags aren't cheap and I had trouble sealing at the end because some of the blood/condensation was thawing and getting sucked out at the seal.  Kind of a PIA...............

 

42 bags of sausage later I'm done!

 

Who doesn't like a vacuum sealer?  I guess I'm on the fence, it'll probably be much faster to do ground, huh?  I sure don't mind my old fashioned way of doing it but.....................

[Rockspek]

I just bought my first vac sealer and will be picking up my sausage at the end of the week.  Will chime in again then.

[CharlieNY]

Lawdwaz- whenever you use a vacuum sealer on any meat that has blood or condensation on it, you just put a thin strip of an absorbent paper towel at the top of the bag just below where the seal will be made. As the sealer sucks air from the bag, the blood or condensation will be absorbed by the paper towel and you will not get any of it into the sealer and you will get a nice tight seal. I hope this helps you out.

Edited January 10, 2016 by CharlieNY

[peepsight]

I buy the rolls instead of the bags. That way I can make the bag to the size I need. The sealer is just like any other tool .... the more you use it, the better you get with it.

Edited January 10, 2016 by peepsight

[sampotter]

I love vacuum sealers, or at least the product they produce when they function properly. I had a Foodsaver that had auto settings so that when you inserted the bag, it would automatically start running. It gave me fits to say the least and I physically assaulted it one day and replaced it with a less expensive Foodsaver with only manual controls. The economy model works like a charm. Sometimes I need to push down on it a little to get the vacuum to start working properly, but it worked great on 3 deer this year.

[moog5050]

My food saver has worked flawlessly except when it overheats. Then I let it rest for 5 min and all is good. I can usually get through a deer without overheating but when making large batches of sausage it will need a break. I buy rolls and they aren't cheap.

[Critter4321]

I buy rolls also but i have shopped them around and now i pay $19.88 for a 11.5 x100 foot rolls the 8 x100 or about $17 the only thing is the roll does not fit inside the machine you need to unroll and cut to length before using but other then that work the same 

 

[fasteddie]

I bought some rolls and didn't care for them . I went on-line a purchased a box of 100 Weston bags 8"X12" . Because the Vacuum Sealer has the heat sealer , I can shorten the bag or make it less wide for back straps . It's a very useful tool .

I also bought some of the 2 lb bags from LEMs to stuff the burger into  which has nothing to do with the vacuum sealer . Just thought I would mention this handy packaging item .

[Lawdwaz]

Thanks guys for all the replies.......everybody wins a package of sausage.

 

In hindsight, I shouldn't have taken as much meat as I did.  42# or so pounds of venison chunks turned into 65# of sausage. 

[mlammerhirt]

What type of sausage did you have made??

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[Lawdwaz]

A mild Italian.