Vacuum sealing

[JoJo]

 I just ordered a vacuum sealer: never used one before. I intend to buy meat and seal it and freeze it for storage.
 Is there any pit falls I should look out for or hints to do it right? Do I need special tape to write the date on or will masking tape work?
 Thanks in advance for your help.

 Jolor

[DMCakhunter]

 Congrats.
You will want try different bags, thicknesses to see how they hold up.
Did you get a food saver, Cabelas or Bass Pro unit, or a commercial unit?
Use sharpies to write on the bags instead of tape.
I find the Cabelas bags that have the cross hatch pattern on the inside to work really well.
Will check to see what the mil thickness is. Pre cut commercial grade, 4 mil, 3 ply mesh inside- ((cross hatch interior). Micro wave, boil and freezer safe.

[Nemo]

Did you get the basic 10-20 foot rolls of plastic tubes to cut and seal?  Most sealers use those and recommend 2-3 inches of excess on the end to get a good seal.  Spend the money and get an extra roll. 

Seal up socks, dishes, keys, newspapers and general junk around the house.   Learn how much excess to use, how long it takes to suck down and seal, how long outside the seal is good and how little you can use.

Figure out what the difference between a light or partial vacuum and a deep or full one is.

Learn how to seal the bottom and put 2 lines down the middle to make a 10" wide bag into 2 bags each 4.5" wide. 

I did not do this when I first got one.  After a few months of anticipation I learned sometimes things will still spoil or get buggy when you seal because you read the directions and know exactly how.

Nemo

[pkveazey]

Many, many years ago we bought one for use in freezing food. It worked but we ended up throwing it away after we ran out of THEIR BRAND of sealing bags. We couldn't find any more bags and it turned out to be some wasted dough. With all that said, it does prevent Freezer burn on the contents. I'm not saying that you shouldn't buy one. I'm just saying that it might not get the result that you want. I hope you have better luck than we did if you get one.

[gadget99]

We have a few vacuum sealers and use them religiously for preparing stuff for storage.

If yours is a run of the mill sealer. Use the rolls and bags that are embossed on one of the sides. This allows the sealer to work properly. They are more expensive than the smooth mylar type bags. You need a chamber vacuum sealer to use the mylar type bags. We use the mylar type for things that we just want to seal up without vacuum.

One mistake many make including us in the beginning. Is that you should do it in batches of 10 - 20 at a time with about an hour between batches. This allows the sealer time to cool down. After a while the sealing bar area retains enough heat that it warms the bag material enough that is starts to form a seal prematurely during during the vacuum cycle. So to the user it looks like the sealer is not working. We threw away a few sealers that were still good before we learned this.

You can also add an "impulse sealer" to your tools. They are really cheap online. Use it to seal up bags that do not require having the air removed from them.

Hope this helps.

A Soldier for life