Flash in the Pan

After looking at the VacuWare (and providing an update on the shortcomings I found), I thought it would make sense to take another look at FoodSaver. The company sent a V2860 “Advanced Design” vacuum food sealer for me to test. I’m happy to say that the changes over the years have all been for the positive, with the result a much stronger product.

The FoodSaver line for years has used a dual design. To use bags for things like meat, poultry, fish, large vegetables, and even cooked entire portions, the top flips back. There’s a vacuum chamber into which you tuck one end of the bag. A sealing strip sits between the vacuum chamber and the edge of the unit so when the air is taken out, the device can use heat to close the bag. Earlier units often had the sealing strip too close to the vacuum chamber. That made it tricky sometimes to use rolls of bag material that require you to cut off a length you need and to seal one end before filling the bag and putting the remaining open end into the vacuum chamber. If the first open end was too close to the seal strip, you could find yourself with an incompletely closed edge.

That problem has pretty much disappeared in the 2860. There’s plenty of space to place the open end and get a good seal. Furthermore, the unit has a cavity that will fit one of the bag rolls and includes a cutter. When you need a bag, open the unit, pull out what you need, cut it to length, then seal, fill, and vacuum. It makes the unit a bit larger than some of the other models, but I found the trade-off of size for having that roll of bag material to be worthwhile.

Another improvement is that you flip a lever to lock the unit in place for use. That’s much better than trying to press down both edges evenly. You can also stand this unit on end for storage, saving a lot of counter space. A pulse option lets you take air out a bit at a time – important if you are trying to reduce the air volume, improving storage life, but want to cut things short for softer items, like bread, that could be crushed when the air comes out. The controls on top could be a bit clearer: the speed setting really seems to refer to the amount of air being taken out, so for a smaller bag or container you’d use a lower setting and switch to a higher one for a bigger volume.

Yes, I did mention containers. FoodSaver has a wide variety of optional falderal, including containers, a sealer for mason jars, and bottle stoppers. (I still have to try the latter with a bottle of wine, though I know from experience that removing the air lets an open bottle last days longer while retaining more of the quality.) There is also a quick marinator which supposedly draws marinade more fully into food. In a few weeks I’ll be testing that with some other approaches to fast marinating and seeing how they stand up to the traditional method, as I’m not convinced that you can necessarily rush all the effects (like increased tenderness).

The equipment is pricey. The 2860 has a suggested list of about $200, while canisters are $20 for a set of two, bottle stoppers are three for $13, and bag prices start at about $10. However, you can get the products cheaper and they work. They can save you money in the long run (and improve meals by helping eliminate things like freezer burn), though the time necessary to pay off the unit’s price would vary completely with your before and after kitchen habits.

Labels: foodsaver, product, review, storage, system, vacuum, vacuware