Vacuum sealers

[Duer 157099]

I like the concept and I have some of the tools, but something is still wrong because I don't do it often enough. Meaning, it's still easier to not do it. So what's the problem? And what's a solution? Especially with rising food costs, keeping things longer will become more of an issue for more people.

One thing, for example: those handheld vacuum devices (HandyVac?) that go with the bags (quart & gallon) that have the little hole on the corner of the bag - I find some work fine, others don't - don't know if it's my handheld unit that's the problem (seal?) or if the bags themselves are not consistently produced, or what. Does anyone else have that issue?

I've tried using my FoodSaver to seal those bags, but alas, they really make it difficult since their tubing has a little plastic (non-removable) tip on it that doesn't lend itself well to adaptation efforts (like to connect to larger gauge tubing). Then I thought about using the lid for those canisters, maybe I could adapt that, but no luck so far. I even tried putting the bag inside of the canister and applying the vacuum to see if it would suck the air out of the bag, but no, it didn't.

Also, I have lots of spices that I don't use too often, that I'd like to store under vacuum, but don't have a large enough container. Then it occurred to me: what about those Space Bags?? You know, the kind for storing clothes, etc? I love using those for blankets, pillows etc for storage.

I'm thinking I can use the smallest one to stores a bunch of spices in. But then of course, what do I use for the vacuum (besides my regular vacuum hose, that is)? I'm wondering if one of those inexpensive portable pumps (like to blow up air mattresses) would work - they sometimes have a switch or a way to use either air or vacuum. (I mean, so I can leave something small in the kitchen, handy, so I don't have to get the vacuum cleaner out every time I want to use it.

I want to put lots of my kitchen items under vacuum and get and stay in that habit, but I'm having difficulty and need some creative inspriration/solutions.

Like, with rising flour costs, I want to buy some large bags of flour from Costco, but I have no good way to store it (no freezer space). Maybe the Space Bags would be ideal for that! I have one bag of flour and one of rice that I'm going to try to do that to today.

How much would it extend the flour shelf life, I wonder?

[NMDemDist2]

1. the flour at room temp, not much. flour goes bad when the oil in the grain

goes rancid

I too have noticed the handy vacs don't hold their seals every well sometimes. I can usually get them to seal down, but they gradually release in the freezer

[Duer 157099]

2. Hmm, good point, I didn't think of that

I wonder if vacuum will slow down the rancidification process -- I bet it would, maybe only slightly though.

I also remembered that I have a foot pump (for air mattresses) that has the ability to have the hose connected to either the intake or output valve, so that's another easy vacuum source that I'll play around with.

[Stinky The Clown]

3. I use the Handy Vac for stuff I know will not be in the freezer very long.

I use the Foodsaver for longer term storage.

Its funny you mention the Space Bags. They don't give you trouble. The ones we have don't stay sealed .... some lose air in a day. Our HandyVac, which gives you troubles, has been just fine.

Go figure!

[Duer 157099]

4. Actually some of the Space bags do lose air

But some others, have been sealed and are still under vacuum, YEARS later.

Re: the handivac - the issue I'm having is getting the vacuum in the first place, in many bags. Once it's established, I haven't had too much issue with them staying that way (I use those also for fridge storage, things I access often, like cheese). So, I just don't know if it's the bags or the vacuum device that's the problem with establishing the vacuum. That's how this all started for me, I was going to use the Tilia device to try to vacuum one of the handivac bags, to see if the bag was ok - but I could not adapt the Tilia to suck the air out of the bag. I have the right size tubing, but could not connect it without cutting the original tubing to insert a tube connector. It just occurred to me that I did not try clamping it down in the Tilia in the usual manner... wonder if that would work

I'm going to go try the space bags on my spices and rice.

[Stinky The Clown]

5. I've found what you've found ... hard to get the vacuum started.

What I have discovered that seems to be working fine is to make sure the corner of the bag, where the hole and the little quilted area are located are flat on the counter. Once flat on the counter, apply the sucker tool and it should start the vacuum. Once started, it works just fine. I have never had a bag fail to hold a vacuum once sucked.

[hvn_nbr_2]

6. Mason jars with the FoodSaver

I have an attachment for the FoodSaver that makes it work for wide-mouth mason jars, so the jar becomes just like one of their cannisters. I use that a lot. Supposedly there's an equivalent attachment for regular mouth mason jars but I've never seen one anywhere. The smallest jars might work for your spices. You could also put a couple open bags inside one jar and vacuum the jar, thus getting the air out of the open bags inside.

[Duer 157099]

7. Follow-up about Handi-Vac

Since this thing did not appear to be pulling any suction, I decided to take it apart and 1) see how it works and 2) see if there were useful parts to scavenge and 3) see if I could fix it.

First of all, it's constructed nicely so it's easy to take apart and put back together, just a few screws to keep track of.

After seeing how it works, the essential function is a little plunger with a gastket that gets pushed up and down a cylinder, to create the vacuum. There was some vacuum grease around the gasket, but I figured it wouldn't hurt to add some more, although I didn't have any (silicone, I would guess) but I used vaseline. Reassembled and voila, suction-eriffic action.

Tried it on one of the handivac bags and it worked immediately, and I thought: Oh! so that's how it's supposed to work! I mean, it worked really well.

So, if you find your Handivac stops working as well as it once did, it's an easy fix to try.

Whew. This was driving me nuts (as if I need help)