Comparing Food Vacuum Sealers - And the Winner is.....

I have purchased several food saving systems over the year. Each time I find a newer version I like, I get rid of the older one. As you know we have been doing our "indoor yard sale." (click here for that post)

I was going through stuff in the garage and found that I had three Vacuum sealer food saver systems. I thought I would take the time to compare them and see which I liked the best and get rid of the other two in the "yard sale" so last week I finally got to that.

I have the "Food Saver" system with the sealing canning jar lid, the bags and the system. I have the Seal-a-Meal system and one called Deni. 

I have used the older types but when I got the Deni system with the vacuum in it years ago, it was pretty new age. Now, it is really old school. 

I'll start with the Deni because there isn't much about it that I do like other than the sealing bags are contained in the unit. The bags seals and melts off where it seals and melts right through the bag so the seal isn't that great as it can leak. 

The bags are thinner than the other systems but I like that you can choose how much of the bag you want to use so there isn't waste of the plastic as with some of the other systems. The vacuum port is only right in the center so you have to have it centered to make it work. That is the Deni System.

The Food Saver system... Online, many people say this is their favorite system. For me, it had two pluses over the Seal-a-meal system. One is that the bags come on a roll and you can choose how much to use of it. It takes up much less space to store a roll than boxes of bags used for the S-a-m. system. I have lots of boxes of bags for the S-a-m system and I don't like that if I want to seal something small and all I have is a gallon bag, there aren't any other options. The other thing I liked about the system is the placement of the jar accessory port. It is on the bottom of the unit so you can leave it attached all the time and not lose it but still open and use the machine. Those were the only two pluses to that unit.  

The thing I didn't like about this unit - I didn't like that I had to really push the jar sealer attachment really hard to get it to seal. Even when it did seal, when I opened the jar, it sucked up air like it was sealed and I thought that was great until I tried the S-a-m jar sealer. - I didn't like that you have to hold the button down the entire time you are sealing something. You have to lock the sides down and then push the button till the stuff is sealed. That would have been fine until I tried the S-a-m unit. 

Seal-a-Meal Vacuum Sealing system..... I liked everything about it except the bags and where the placement of the jar port is on the top of the machine so you have to remove it to use the other parts of the machine. Other than that, I liked all the features better except the bag system. You have to purchase boxes of bags. They are expensive and I don't see myself washing them out to use them again. I don't like that option so once something is sealed in it, you don't want to open it for the fact that you are spending $.60 a bag. You can find them a dollar cheaper if you search but even then, you spend $0.50 cents to seal something that probably wouldn't cost you that much to purchase more if it did go bad. Is it really worth it?
 
The canning jar sealer worked so well I was really impressed. When I took the lid off the sunflower seeds, the seeds flew around the jar they were so vacuumed. I have never seen that before with any other unit. The sealing mechanism on both seemed to work the same but the one on the food saver actually broke making me think that I really don't want to use that system. I like the thicker heavy duty material for both the systems and how it seals but not enough to cut through the plastic. 

So, what I did is try all the bags on the S-a-m system and guess what? They all worked on that machine so I kept all the bags and rolls of saver bags to use on the S-a-m system. The canning jar attachment is universal on both machines so I kept those to use as well. I LOVED the hands free system on the S-a-m! No questions, by far, this unit was my favorite for several reasons. I would suggest to the makers of Seal-a-Meal that they offer the rolls instead of the bags. I will continue to buy the Food Saver rolls of sealer and use them on the S-a-m machine. 

I always keep my eyes open for bags and rolls of saver at yard sales and second hand shops and have been able to get new boxes for $4 or less several times over. You can see on the food saver two roll pack, I paid $2 for the entire box which was new. If you keep your eyes open on the online local sale sites, you can find some deals on these as well. I took a short VIDEO explaining the ups and downs of each and here is a link for that.

I did the hand free sealer on a few different cheeses just to compare sealing times. I will NEVER go camping without sealing my sliced cheeses up like this as well as my deli meats. It takes less space in the cooler and it keeps them fresh and my favorite is that if the ice melts and the cheese falls in the water, it will still be air tight and dry. I have thrown out pounds of cheese and meats over the years because it fell down in the water and the baggies aren't air tight and who knows what bacteria is in the cooler and water so I throw it out. Now, I can just seal it all in different bags for each day so I can use the one for that day and the rest will be dry and safe for the next day.

The winner in my book is the Seal-a-Meal! Just make sure to buy the Food Saver rolls instead of the expensive baggies! 

I have no connection to either company and have nothing to gain in any way through my honest opinion. I am sure you can find people in favor of any of the three machines but hands free and airtight win in my book!

To see my use of it for storing silver and keeping it tarnish free, click here for part 1.
Click here for part 2.