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Clare Smith

Training Body & Soul

FoodSaver® Vacuum System Review: Making the most out of your time & money in the kitchen!

October 14, 2015

Eating fresh, whole foods is the number one mover to your health! You can exercise all you want but if you don’t control what you put on your plate, you won’t get the biggest bang for your buck. This means you have to spend more time in the kitchen, prepping and planning.

This all takes time and money, so if you are like me, you’re always looking for ways to be more efficient in these areas! If you purchase in-season produce, buy in bulk, make your own salsas and sauces, and make good use of your freezer, you will find that eating this way really isn’t that much more expensive and one day of prep during the week can really help with your day to day eating!

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I do purchase my meat/poultry in bulk and often store extra soups, in-season produce, and bulk flours in my freezer, but let’s be honest. They are very freezer-burnt or packaged in some odd way. (See below!)

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Enter the FoodSaver® Vacuum System! One of the perks of being a blogger are the products I get to try out and review! To be honest, when I was asked to do this one I was going to decline. I mean–a vacuum sealing system? I like prepping food and all but I didn’t really think I’d have any need for one.

I was wrong.

I said yes to the campaign and I am so glad that I did! This tool would be amazing for any busy, frugal mom! First off, let me tell you a little bit about the system I got!

 

The FoodSaver® V4865 2-In-1 Vacuum Sealing System 

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I received a sampling of bags and accessories to try with it so I had a good time playing around with different things!

I really like these FoodSaver Zipper Bags. They are meant to be used for items that are accessed more often. (Perfect for the walnuts we use for our oatmeal!) There is a hand-held sealer that makes it easy to seal back up when you need to. Keep these in the fridge and not the freezer!

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Click here if you want to see a quick video of how these bags work!

I love sweet potatoes as a side dish so being able to slice them up once at the front of the week is AWESOME! Look at how perfect these look!!

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Look at my sad peaches on the left. I wish I had this system 2 months ago when I got my big box of peaches from The Peach Truck!

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Sometimes I buy bulk whole bean coffee and it would be great to have it super-fresh! I used the “make your own bag” option for the coffee beans. I love that you can do that with his model!

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We can’t forget about freezing poultry and meat! The liquid block bags are great for juicy and moist foods! (If you have them in marinade this works great!)

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Here are two neat accessories. One is a bottle stopper used to extend the life of liquids such as wine and cooking oils and the other is a jar sealer to be used for sugar, spices, coconut and more!

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So here are some of the various ways that I can see myself using this system:

– Freeze bulk size whole bean coffee

– Seal nuts and store in the freezer or the fridge

– Meal prep food for the week and keep in fridge (I sliced up sweet potatoes ahead of time and put them in the fridge!)

– Freezing bulk meats/poultry when they are on sale

– Fresh produce (Peaches are in season so I cut them up and put them in the freezer!)

– Freezing bulk flours etc

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So the big question. Would I recommend this product to you?

YES: If you can your own foods, have a garden, buy in bulk, have a large family and want to simplify your time in the kitchen
NO: If you are single or rarely cook. (There are some other models that might suit you better!)

While it was over-whelming when I first opened up the product, I was able to figure out how to use each of the different types of bags. They have great product videos and resources on their website which helps so much! I’m off to vacuum save some more things. Do you think my son will appreciate that I did this to his Legos? 🙂

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Disclosure: This post was sponsored by the FoodSaver® Brand through their partnership with POPSUGAR Select. While I was compensated to write a post about the FoodSaver® Vacuum Sealer System, all opinions are my own.

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Filed Under: Eat Well, Reviews Tagged With: product review 16 Comments

About Clare

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  12. Ryan Gilbert says

    January 12, 2016 at 2:16 am

    I’ve been using a vacuum sealer for about 6 months now and they are a great gadget to have, saved me money and keeps my food fresh for longer!

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  13. Jessica Gopinko says

    March 8, 2016 at 11:07 pm

    Great informations on vacuum sealer. I am currently doing some research and found exactly what I was looking for. Thanks for guide!

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  14. Abigail Murdock says

    March 27, 2016 at 10:32 pm

    “Eating fresh, whole foods is the number one mover to your health!”, you’re right! we should pay attention more to what we eat, Thanks for sharing the information about vacuum sealer, hope you always eat well live well, Claire!

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  15. Deborah R. Holliman says

    May 30, 2016 at 4:09 am

    The share is great, I also used to be very bothered with the food thanks to my vacuum a lot better

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  16. FeNiX says

    November 5, 2017 at 9:37 am

    I gotta say I’m a little mystified and confused by some of the odd and irrelevant comments for this article, but I suppose it’s because the world of blogging is especially prone to spamming by indiscriminate foreign entrepreneurs, so eager to promote their products that they tend to cast their nets rather large and wide… and I suppose also automated bots that can’t distinguish between relevant and irrelevant… so whaaateever, I guess… *shrugs*

    But I’m actually commenting to point out that, as someone who’s single and doesn’t cook much these days, and who’s been very avidly using the Foodsaver vacuum sealing system for many years now, I’m certain I couldn’t live without it! Moreover, I’d still recommend it even for others who are single and don’t cook much (unless it’s that they never have much food in their homes anyways). I have just as much of a need to use my vacuum sealing system now, being currently single (soon-to-be-divorced actually, if you want to get technical) and too busy to cook as often as I’d like, as when I was married and we were going through food at a much faster rate in our household… and even equally so when I was newly-single, shortly after separating, and had more time to cook than I currently do.

    I, too, had no idea just how handy my Foodsaver system would be until I actually got my unit. I saw my friends, who had Foodsaver systems, were thrilled with their units and decided to give it a try. However, being on a tighter budget, I started with an older basic model, purchased used from Craigslist, whereas my friends had “fancier” models, purchased new and with some of their accessories included. I was (and still am) just as thrilled with my unit as they were, and might not have given it a try had it not been for starting with a more economical model. But once I “got my feet wet” I immediately saw how useful it was and how much money I was saving just by not having any food go bad. I realized I could save even more by buying in bulk and not having to worry about waste, so it wasn’t long before I started acquiring the various accessories and containers that now make up my ever-growing collection of Foodsaver gadgets!

    I now have many, if not most, of the Foodsaver accessories and I love them all… from the very useful bottle stoppers, to the 2 sizes of ‘jar sealers’ which I use with my collection of mason jars and also my ‘universal sealers’ (which are no longer in production but can still be found, though used, on sites such as eBay — and thank goodness for that, as they’re also incredibly handy!)… to the various sizes of canisters, bags, rolls, and even the other containers such as the marinator and deli containers (though I don’t yet have any of the newest ‘Fresh Containers’, but I have no doubt they’ll join my collection soon enough!). No matter at which stage of the “game” I’m at (in terms of relationship status.) and regardless of how little or much I cook, or how little or much food I’m going through at the moment, I find I ALWAYS have an equal need to keep my foods fresh and preserved for as long as possible to avoid and even eliminate waste and spoilage. It’s precisely because I’m currently single and too busy to cook as often as I’d like, that it’d be difficult to finish fresh or opened food items before they spoil if it weren’t for vacuum sealing all that I can. Before having the Foodsaver system I got tired of constantly throwing out spoiled food, but ever since I’d gotten it I hardly ever throw anything out anymore (I find it’s just a matter of getting to know the best ways to preserve any given food type, depending on one’s needs and preferences).

    For the most part I prefer sealing food in mason jars and the various containers/canisters to reduce plastic waste, however there are certain foods I prefer sealed in plastic. The top two I can think of, straight off the top of my head, that I prefer sealing in bags are: meat (when freezing) and cheese (usually stored in the fridge, but sometimes I’ll freeze half of a huge brick of cheddar, though I doubt it’s even necessary considering sealed cheese lasts a VERY long time in the fridge). There are other ways to store cheese that others may prefer, such as in the deli container, but I find cheese sealed in plastic bags virtually NEVER spoils. I’ve had blocks of cheese sealed for many months on end, and can finish the entire block at leisure with no waste or spoilage providing I’m vigilant about sealing it back up as soon as I finished cutting from it (the only time I’ve ever had cheese spoil is when I’d quickly shoved it back into the Foodsaver bag and tossed it into the fridge making a mental note to myself to seal it up later, as I was in the midst of cooking and didn’t want to stop and seal while busy preparing the rest of the meal. Well, more food went into the fridge and that open bag of cheese got accidentally pushed to the back of the fridge and forgotten about, until perhaps 2 weeks later when it was discovered, to my dismay, ruined by mold growth (it was one of those soft mozzarellas that go off fairly quickly — though not the super soft kind that requires storing in water). Another handy cheese-storing tip: rather than buy pre-shredded cheese, I shred several portions at a time and store in vacuum sealed mason jars. It needs to be used MUCH sooner than unshredded and sealed in plastic bags, but it’s definitely a time-saver and is much preferred over ingesting cellulose (read: sawdust) which is added to store-bought pre-shredded cheese!

    Since having my Foodsaver and learning the various tips and tricks that Foodsaver owners love to share I can be sure there’s always plenty of food on hand without any worry of wasted food. The internet is FULL of forums and bloggers with TONS of great Foodsaver info, including how to prepare meals in advance that can be easily sealed and ready to serve on the fly (such as the very popular “mason jar salads”, or ready-to-eat meals stored in the freezer that only require re-heating before serving).

    Excuse the long comment, but I suppose I’m rather enthusiastic about my Foodsaver! And I’ll admit I’m a little envious of the magnificent “haul” you’d scored as a blogger to give the Foodsaver system a try, so on that note I should go soothe my woes with a glass of wine from the bottle I’d opened and sealed over 2 weeks ago… I’m confident it’ll still be just as good as when I’d first opened it (and if not then I’ll use it for cooking, so no worries there). There was a time (pretty much my entire adult life up until now) when I would’ve laughed at the idea of keeping a bottle of wine long enough to warrant sealing it, however times change and now that I don’t drink as often as I used to, I’m happy I can still buy wine without any worry about it spoiling or going to waste! So cheers to that! 😉

    Reply

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