Bushwalk Australia

Spied this cheap vac sealer. I don't recall seeing anything other than sunbeam locally.. (which is around $150 iirc): http://www.oo.com.au/Vacuum-Preservatio ... 106821.cfm (note the sealer bags in the right column also...)

good one Nuts
I have the small Sunbeam . I have seen another brand in town but about the same price as mine.
Those bags are about half of the cost of the Sunbeam.
Mostly I use it for meat but I still do a full meal also so I use those bags for "boil in the bag" type cooking.
Not 100% sure that those bags are heat resistant (most are...)
I re-use them so I cut them open as close as I can to the seal.
Franco

I originally brought a cheap one off EBAY and have to say I was never happy with it. Yes it sucked out the free air but I would not call it vac seal in the true sense.

I brought a new one recently for $300 off the net (local supplier), great machine. The vacumn is that strong it actually cracked pasta etc that I was sealing.

Yes, and I guess the cheap bag tradeoff, they are likely thinner? Still, Ive bought a couple of things from OOcom and they generally source higher end crap, may be 'useable'?

Hi Nuts, let us all know if this is a good purchase?

under10kg wrote:Hi Nuts, let us all know if this is a good purchase?

Ha, someone else may, was just copying the link, I've got a sunbeam..

I've got that exact vac sealer from OO.com.au - works great, been using it for at least 9 months. Couldn't bring myself to spend $300 on one.
So far as I'd say its a damn good purchase for $50, compared with the alternatives.
All issues tend to be user related e.g. cutting bags too small, not inserting properly into machine, or sharp edges of e.g. dehydrated rice piercing the bag.

Azza wrote:I've got that exact vac sealer from OO.com.au - works great, been using it for at least 9 months. Couldn't bring myself to spend $300 on one.
So far as I'd say its a damn good purchase for $50, compared with the alternatives.
All issues tend to be user related e.g. cutting bags too small, not inserting properly into machine, or sharp edges of e.g. dehydrated rice piercing the bag.

+1
I also believe the bags that came with it are better than the Sunbeam rolls that I have.
corvus

Im in the market for a vac sealer. Can you put boiling water in the bag?

mattmacman wrote:Im in the market for a vac sealer. Can you put boiling water in the bag?

In the interest of those wanting an answer I am boiling a kettle now !!
Result yes you can put boiling water in the bag !! so perhaps you can put the bag into boiling water will check that out tomorrow
corvus

I've been adding boiling water to the vac seal bag to rehydrate food very successfully. I've also been subsequently boiling the bag to reheat the rehydrated food to save washing up.

Awesome! So is it suitable for cooking the food in? I usually dehydrate spaghetti.

I haven't tried coking in the bags as I am just reheating rehydrated meals. I guess you could poach food in them.

The boil in the bag in the bush is usually a different version to the one at home.
There are pre cooked meals or sauces that come in foil bags that you place in a pot of boiling water to prepare , at home.
In the bush usually Boil In The Bag refers to adding boiling water inside the bag (as you do with the freeze dry meals)
With dehydrated foods works better if you than put the bag inside a "cozy" of some sort.
I use a cat food foil bag (or similar)to put my bag in, seal that up and then put my sleeping bag around it.
Info on Boil In The Bag here :
http://www.trailcooking.com/trail-cooking-101/freezer-bag-cooking-101
(note : freezer bag cooking)
Franco

I do a cheap boil in the bag routine sometimes with rice. I cook up good Thai Jasmine rice at home and run it through the dehydrator as I find this tastes better and rehydrates a bit faster than the boil in a bag rice I can buy at the grocery store. I put the dehydrated cooked rice in a regular zip lock bag and poke a bunch of small holes in the bag. In the bush I put the bag directly into boiling water. It seems to work okay. I'm probably slowly killing myself with some plastic chemical from the bag.

Franco is correct, sorry for the poor wording =) I want to rehydrate meals in the bags. Where do you get the foil bags from?

Do you mean a cosy Matt?? Like this

You sew them up using reflectix, grossgrain (if you want a pretty edge) and velcro. I have some if you can't wait a couple of weeks (Im away) otherwise cut up a car windscreen protector

Im good for the moment. =)

The foil bag I mentioned is not my food container (those plastic bags are ) but a kind of cozy to hold the plastic bag inside.
So I add boiling water to the food inside the vacuum bag, move the food around a bit, seal the bag up then put that inside the foil bag and that foil bag inside my sleeping bag.
That is just to seal some more heat inside but also just in case I have a pin hole in the vacuum bag.
(pasta is bad for that...)
Sorry about the confusion.
Franco

No worries. I think I will pick one of these up.. What type of meals do you cook in your vack packed bags? Cheers.

I am looking to buy a VAc Sealer now that I bought my Dehydrator, has anyone seen any vacuum sealers out there in the wild they could recommend to me, I will be going out today to have a look, but I have no idea what one is good, just be a shot in the dark and me just picking one and hoping it's good

If you have any brands or have one and its good let me know so i can maybe get a good one

Cheers.