Reddit mentions of NESCO VS-02, Food Vacuum Sealing System with Bag Starter Kit, Black

I would highly suggest investing in a vacuum sealer. I got mine refurbed for $26 shipped from a deal on www.meh.com which admittedly is a bit cheaper than usual but you can find them for around $50 and they generally include a roll that's several feet long and enough to make a ton of bags.

Once vac sealed then place inside the jar in a dark place and it will be insanely safe, literally about as good as you could ever ask.

Basically to ensure potency and no oxidation you want to have as little air as possible and that's why you need a vacuum sealer because it sucks it all out. There is no other way to do this properly asides from maybe a nitrogen wine preserving spray which is expensive and disposable.

If you don't want to take them out of their original bags I would suggest leaving them open before you vac seal them so the vac will remove the air from the original bags as well.

This one seems to be pretty decent for $43 and it's the #3 top selling one on Amazon

And by pretty decent I mean it looks a lot better than the cheap one I have lol.

It includes like 20 feet of rolls and 10 larger square pre-made bags so that's enough to seal A TON of stuff including food lol.

Vac sealing is by far the best option due to the lack of air and empty voids (pockets of air) which no other solution provides.

I got this one a couple of years ago, it was 50 bucks back then. Works well. One thing to keep it working well is to store it with the cover unlocked, this helps keep the seals working well. Nesco Vacuum Sealer

Sure!

Amazon link, Jet Link. We just got it, but it has worked well so far. Bought the generic vacuum bags from amazon to save that extra.


I'm not sure if either the 15% or 20% off code is still valid, but even at $20 off it's a great savings.

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We only prep protein at this point bc we just didn't have the freezer space. We typically do steam packs for veggies and salads for lunch and dinner twice a week.

this is the second one we bought. It works well on the cheaper bags, but something to be careful about this one doesn't seal as completely on the "regular" setting if there's pretty much any fat the gets sucked up. The "moist" setting does seal better. We didn't realize this was what was happening at first. When we first got it, we'd have intermittent bags that looked sealed but then when we took it out of the freezer it was re-inflated slightly and freezer burned (no bueno)

FoodSaver FM2435-ECR Vacuum Sealing System with Bonus Handheld Sealer and Starter Kit, Silver https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01C464ZCQ/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_XI6ezbBHFQ7J3

This is the first one we bought but it overheats if you move & seal too many bags in quick succession. When this happens, it stops sucking air out (but still will seal the bag). It seals wet / fatty foods better, though. It's has a bit more wastage with the plastic then the FoodSaver, but the hopper for the bags is slightly larger:

Nesco VS-02 Food Vacuum Sealing System with Bag Starter Kit https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00IUAK39A/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_Jw7ezb9ESJYWS

These are the bags we've used the last few times:
Two 8"X50' Rolls of FoodVacBags 4 mil Commercial Grade Vacuum Sealer Bags - Make Your Own Size Bag! - for Foodsaver, Seal-A-Meal, plus other machines https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00CPS32MI/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_yy7ezb2ZQEJ6S

Go to www.camelcamelcamel.com and paste the addresses in to see how the prices trend out. The FoodSaver we got on sale for just shy of $100.

> Which ever model you buy, make sure it has a separate vacuum and seal button.

This is a good point. I just got my first vacuum sealer, a Crenova VS-1, I paid $40 on Amazon (it's $70 now, but will hopefully drop again at some point).

It has a button that will just seal, and a button that will vacuum to a certain level, then seal automatically. It has Dry and Moist modes, the Moist mode pulls less vacuum before sealing, to try and avoid sucking liquid into the seal area.

If the bag seems like it's going to crease, I click one end of the sealer bar down, then pull on the other end of the bag, and click that side down. That helps pull out any possible creases.

There is an inexpensive one on Amazon with good reviews, Seal-A-Meal, $36:
https://www.amazon.com/Seal-Meal-hands-free-indicator-FSSMSL0160-000/dp/B008HMWC4A/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8

But it seems to only have a single button, which starts/runs the entire process. It sounds to just seal a bag, you slide the bag only onto the seal area, but not the vacucum area. It probably vacuums nothing, then seals the bag. But I'm not sure if you have many other options.

I can start vacuuming a bag that has some liquid. But before the liquid gets pulled to the seal area, I can hit Cancel on mine to stop the vacuum pump, then immediately press the Seal button to seal the bag. I'm not sure if you'd be able to do that with this Seal-A-Meal. I don't know if its Cancel button will cause it to actually seal the bag, or just stop the process entirely. If Cancel makes it seal, that would be OK.

This Nesco has nice features, at least, for $50:
https://www.amazon.com/Nesco-VS-02-Vacuum-Sealing-Starter/dp/B00IUAK39A/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1484093198&sr=8-1

A Seal button, a Vacuum/Seal button, and a button for vacuuming external things like jars (using an attachment). It also lets you specify a short or long seal time.

Mine is not fancy, but it seems OK to me so far. It has a 3-year warranty, which doesn't hurt. Some people suggest just buying an inexpensive one (in the ~$50 range), and replacing it when it eventually fails, since it sounds like even the $200 ones aren't going to last forever.

Just bought this unit (NESCO VS-02) yesterday. It has good reviews all round but I haven't had a chance to use it yet. Fits your budget.