Fishing with Rod Discussion Forum
Fishing in British Columbia => General Discussion => Topic started by: firstlight on September 01, 2018, 06:26:48 PM
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Looking to purchase a vaccuum sealer and just wondering if there is anything to look out for or what Model you have and if you like it etc.
Thanks.
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Food Saver 2000 series - Canadian Tire. Have had it for 10 yrs with no problems.
https://m.bestreviews.com/best-vacuum-sealers
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Good Question. Cashing in on selling some of my old mans last remaining tools, I bought today a Food Saver FM2000. Home Hardware 140$ with tax. Crappy Tire has em on sale for the long weekend but they sold out faster than the Friday sailing to Nanaimo. I will let you know how it works or lend it to you if it comes to that lol.
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X3 on the Food Saver. Shop around: London Drugs, Camadian Tire, Costco. Not sure if Cabelas has them.
Tip: when putting your fish in the freezer, be sure to not jostle them about, as the seals can be breached. Having a dedicated box in the deep freeze helps keep them together and stable.
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Not enamored with the Foodsaver. Had 2 and they both were a headache to use. Going to buy a commercial grade one. A bit costly ($500.00) but will be worth it.
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I think Costco only sells one Food Saver model. I've owed it for 5 years now. It works great. I use it year round no issues for 5 years. Game, fish and poultry. No issues. For fish I lay on a baking sheet and spry with water water every 10 min and leave in the freezer till the sprayed water has formed a thin ice layer. THEN you vacuume seal. If you vacuume seal raw fish the seal can pop. It doesnt matter what make or model you have
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X3 on the Food Saver. Shop around: London Drugs, Camadian Tire, Costco. Not sure if Cabelas has them.
Tip: when putting your fish in the freezer, be sure to not jostle them about, as the seals can be breached. Having a dedicated box in the deep freeze helps keep them together and stable.
Cabelas has an excellent selection from low end to commercial grade sealers. Very reasonable prices. Love the cabelas vacuum bags. Way better than foodsaver.
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Owned the Foodsaver model from Costco for three or four years. Used it a bunch and am satisfied with it. The bags are a touch expensive but it does a good job. The only area it comes up short is spot prawns... the shells tend to puncture the bags. We now wrap the prawns in parchment paper before sealing them and the puncture rate has gone down to about 1 in 10 bags.
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Good stuff folks.Just the kind of things i was looking for.
Just like on-line reviews it seams not everyone is in love with foodsaver but most are.
Ray i would definitely like to hear what you think of yours once youve tried it out.
Thanks for the info,keep it comming folks. :)
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I think this is a great tip. I try to freeze my fish in solid blocks of ice but this takes up a lot of room in the freezer. The fish really only needs a thin layer of ice on it to prevent freezer burn. I'm going to try this next time. As you said just keep misting the fish and putting back in the freezer until you have a protective layer of ice and THEN vac seal it.
I have found that putting the fillets on cookie sheets for a hour or so in the freezer before vac sealing gives you a better seal with less air pockets. But still IMO the fish is still only "good" for max 1 year before some level of freezer burn will start to take effect.
I think Costco only sells one Food Saver model. I've owed it for 5 years now. It works great. I use it year round no issues for 5 years. Game, fish and poultry. No issues. For fish I lay on a baking sheet and spry with water water every 10 min and leave in the freezer till the sprayed water has formed a thin ice layer. THEN you vacuume seal. If you vacuume seal raw fish the seal can pop. It doesnt matter what make or model you have
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I think this is a great tip. I try to freeze my fish in solid blocks of ice but this takes up a lot of room in the freezer. The fish really only needs a thing layer of ice on it to prevent freezer burn. I'm going to try this next time. As you said just keep misting the fish and putting back in the freezer until you have a protective layer of ice and THEN vac seal it.
I have found that putting the fillets on cookie sheets for a hour or so in the freezer before vac sealing gives you a better seal with less air pockets. But still IMO the fish is still only "good" for max 1 year before some level of freezer burn will start to take effect.
I used to do the block of ice thing. That really is the best method. But yeah it takes a lot of room. I never used to pre freeze before vacuume sealing but every spring I would find half of my catch with a broken seal and into the veggie garden it went. What a waste
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I used to do the block of ice thing. That really is the best method. But yeah it takes a lot of room. I never used to pre freeze before vacuume sealing but every spring I would find half of my catch with a broken seal and into the veggie garden it went. What a waste
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No need to waste it. Brine it for 24 hrs and throw it in the smoker. You will never be able to tell it got freezer burn.
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I used to do the block of ice thing. That really is the best method. But yeah it takes a lot of room. I never used to pre freeze before vacuume sealing but every spring I would find half of my catch with a broken seal and into the veggie garden it went. What a waste
Ya encased in solid ice is THE best. Ive had 2-3 year old fish that tasted like it was fresh catch. Well, maybe not quite, but it was still fresh and awesome tasting. By contrast I've had some vac seal jobs where the seal broke a bit or a lot and the fish definitely got a bit freezer burn and the taste plummeted noticeably.
A buddy of mine does a different system and he swears by it: He cuts his fillets in portion size chunks, puts them in a ziplock freezer bag skin side down. Then carefully adds just enough water so the fish has a layer of water on top of the flesh. He then lays the bag on a cookie sheet and into the deep freezer. He says the fish will have a good layer of ice on the top/flesh side where you want the extra thickness. The bottom on the bag will have a very thing layer as the skin is pressed against the bag, but pretty unlikely the freezer burn will go through the skin.
Ive honestly had SO many Foodsaver brand bags pop the seal in the freezer (even with par freezing the fish to stiffen it up and seal better) that I'm not going to do just this any more. I like the idea of coating the fish in a layer of ice and then vac sealing it. Going to try this next time.
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I don't bother with pre-freezing or glazing with ice (I don't have the space in the freezer for it), but I have found that I have very few failed seals since I started putting the flesh side of the fillet toward the rough/thick side of the bag. It doesn't look as nice, but I noticed pin bones could puncture the other side of the bag.
I've had year old sockeye vacuum sealed when raw and dry, and there was zero freezer burn. It helps to have a chest freezer that doesn't have a self-defrost cycle - that is what really freezer burns most people's food. I would imagine having a layer of ice on your fillet would help in an ordinary home freezer.
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I don't bother with pre-freezing or glazing with ice (I don't have the space in the freezer for it), but I have found that I have very few failed seals since I started putting the flesh side of the fillet toward the rough/thick side of the bag. It doesn't look as nice, but I noticed pin bones could puncture the other side of the bag.
I've had year old sockeye vacuum sealed when raw and dry, and there was zero freezer burn. It helps to have a chest freezer that doesn't have a self-defrost cycle - that is what really freezer burns most people's food. I would imagine having a layer of ice on your fillet would help in an ordinary home freezer.
I hear other people saying the pin bones puncture the bag but in the 4 years or so that I have been vacuum sealing all types of fish, this has never happened. A thin glaze of ice and pre freeze the fish, never had a broken seal.
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I hear other people saying the pin bones puncture the bag but in the 4 years or so that I have been vacuum sealing all types of fish, this has never happened. A thin glaze of ice and pre freeze the fish, never had a broken seal.
If you glaze -that is why. The ice glaze is covering the pin bones.
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I Vac seal all my fish. Small piece of paper towel on the pin bones, to prevent punctures. Then I put in a small cooler, inside chest deep freeze. This creates a separate climate within the freezer. Every time we open and close, we introduce moisture, from the air. Which speeds up freezer burn
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I am a firm believer in the Foodsaver sealers but I am careful about making sure the sealing area is dry. I wipe the bags before sealing and make sure the area where the seal is has been wiped dry and I don't let the moisture seep up to the seal. 2 and even 3 year old fish are as good as the day they went into the freezer. Never had a problem with pin bones.
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Just like on-line reviews it seams not everyone is in love with foodsaver but most are.
Ray i would definitely like to hear what you think of yours once youve tried it out.
Have to wait till coho season I think. Hope to have a year like last year lol. Plus Chanterelles and other mushrooms.
I like the skim coat idea but I probably wont. Ive eaten enough 2 and three year old vac sealed fish from a certain hoarders larder to know unskimmed works well and I dont take enough fish that there will be any left come spring let alone years lol. And yes keep everything dry when sealing.
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Thanks a bunch folks.
Helps a lot. :)
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Firstlight the foodsaver FM 2000 works like a champ, heavy duty rig that sealed up my king boletes no problem.
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Just got a basic Foodsaver from CanTire on sale for 89$. Don't have much contrasting experience but it seems to do the job adequately. The bag rolls seemed a bit more robust than other brands, and more economical too.
Have had a good coho year, so sealed up a few years worth of fish. Made chowder from the bones, froze in ziplock bags then vac sealed the bags, so also piles of chowder on hand.
Like I said, no contrasting brand experience, but I don't see what more you'd need than the one on sale now. Plus with the sale savings, you can kit up with all the bags/rolls for future use...and buy the instant marinator...
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Well something got in the way and i had to spend my vac sealer money and then the other day while in the garage i came across a box of Bro,s old stuff and lo and behold a black and decker vac sealer.
I will give it a try shortly and hopefully it works well.
Glad to hear yours works well Ray and will keep it in mind in case the ol B&D isnt up to par.
Does anyone know a good place to purchase the rolls other than online?
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Does anyone know a good place to purchase the rolls other than online?
I load up on the rolls at London Drugs when on sale or Costco. 🎣
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Commercial food processors have pretty much perfected the best methods for freezing fish although not all use them if you've ever browsed the frozen fish freezers at Superstore and T&T. Several west coast fishing lodges do though and we can too.
Don't buy a great vacuum sealer and then get cheap bags. Go for the commercial grade 4mil or better bags. You're not just trying to keep moisture in, you're also trying to keep oxygen out.
Pre-chilling the fish and freezing and glazing them with a thin ice layer on a prechilled heavy baking sheet in the coldest (i.e. chest) freezer you have ensures the fish freezes as fast as possible and has a thin protective layer of ice on all surfaces. The ice glaze slows freezer burn and reduces oxidation damage. Fast freezing ensures the ice crystals that form in the flesh are the smallest possible and do less damage to the texture of flesh. That's the technique behind flash freezers.
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I have started to wrap my fish filets in saran wrap, freeze them, and then vacuum seal them.
This works well for me.
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Just a heads up - both the unit and the bags are on sale this week at Costco. I bought mine in Abbotsford last night for $129, $40 off.
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Commercial food processors have pretty much perfected the best methods for freezing fish although not all use them if you've ever browsed the frozen fish freezers at Superstore and T&T. Several west coast fishing lodges do though and we can too.
Don't buy a great vacuum sealer and then get cheap bags. Go for the commercial grade 4mil or better bags. You're not just trying to keep moisture in, you're also trying to keep oxygen out.
Pre-chilling the fish and freezing and glazing them with a thin ice layer on a prechilled heavy baking sheet in the coldest (i.e. chest) freezer you have ensures the fish freezes as fast as possible and has a thin protective layer of ice on all surfaces. The ice glaze slows freezer burn and reduces oxidation damage. Fast freezing ensures the ice crystals that form in the flesh are the smallest possible and do less damage to the texture of flesh. That's the technique behind flash freezers.
How is the glazing done, just a quick dip in water prior to freezing?
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How is the glazing done, just a quick dip in water prior to freezing?
Mist them with spray bottle, and in the freezer for an hour or 2 and mist them again and in a freezer again they go for 15 min, or until they refreeze again.
Then vacuum seal them and in to freezer again for good.