Food Saver Vacuum Pack

[teejk]

We just bought this FoodSaver Master Chef Kit with the V3880 (although it also says "Model: FSFSSL3880-DTC"). So we have only used it once and that was to package a few ears of corn. Even though we blanched them in boiling water, then in ice water, and dried them (maybe not enough) with paper towels, it sucked quite a bit of water into the moisture tray. Today, we bought some ground beef and pork sausage which we mixed 2 to 1 and made up some hamburger patties, but put them on waxed paper on a cookie sheet to freeze (as the manual recommends) and then we'll seal them.

In other words, we're still novices at this, but optimistic.:laughing:

Now what's a "butcher diaper"?

The butcher diaper is that absorbent pad that you probably see in any packaged meat now. Pretty much a paper towel encased in perforated plastic. Absorbs the liquid but doesn't stick to the meat. I come from a long line of meatcutters and we started using them back in the late 70's I think (we evolved slowly).

 

[crazyal]

Check the seal. Mine is foam and if any air can get in around the edges of the bag it will not draw a vacuum. I often seal non "foodsaver" bags. You can't suck the air out of the bag but you can still seal it. For things that aren't going to be sealed for too long I'll just burp them myself and then seal it.

 

[Bird]

Thanks, teejk. Of course, I'm familiar with that stuff, just didn't know what it was called, nor where to buy it.

 

[2LaneCruzer]

We just bought this FoodSaver Master Chef Kit with the V3880 (although it also says "Model: FSFSSL3880-DTC"). So we have only used it once and that was to package a few ears of corn. Even though we blanched them in boiling water, then in ice water, and dried them (maybe not enough) with paper towels, it sucked quite a bit of water into the moisture tray. Today, we bought some ground beef and pork sausage which we mixed 2 to 1 and made up some hamburger patties, but put them on waxed paper on a cookie sheet to freeze (as the manual recommends) and then we'll seal them.

In other words, we're still novices at this, but optimistic.:laughing:

Now what's a "butcher diaper"?

We had the same trouble with freezing the corn; now we just place it on cookie sheets after blanching and cooling down and put it directly in the freezer. Next morning package them up. Works great. Oh, BTW, talked to a very pleaseant young lady at Foodsaver who twisted my arm and I purchased a newer, and of course more expensive unit (on sale of course!)...but I'm getting some "free" gaskets for the old unit. As for dryness, I have never had a problem with that. Everything I have frozen this way comes out really good. Very satisfied with the quality of the frozen food.

 

[Bird]

We had the same trouble with freezing the corn; now we just place it on cookie sheets after blanching and cooling down and put it directly in the freezer. Next morning package them up. Works great.

Yep, we learned, and we'll be doing that in the future.

 

[Western]

I will have to watch how that setup works for you bird, looked at it and it appears like a fair deal. Didnt see if you could do mason jars with it?, not even sure I'd use that anyway.

 

[Bird]

I will have to watch how that setup works for you bird, looked at it and it appears like a fair deal. Didnt see if you could do mason jars with it?, not even sure I'd use that anyway.

Dennis, it came with the attachment for marinating food, but I'd have to buy another attachment to do mason jars. I've seen a video on the Internet showing how that works, but right now I don't see a need for it for us.

 

[dmccarty]

Good point! Don't get me wrong...the meat isn't "bone-dry" when it comes out the freezer. But for a jerky maker it would certainly cut the prep time considerably since a lot of the moisture is gone. And it probably stands to logic that the vac process will draw in the seasoning of your choice better than injecting.

Gotta go...time to check out the US Patent Office.

The vacuum saver we have had an attachment for marinating meat and it seems to work. I use the attachment when making jerky and it saves quite a bit of time. I think the cycle is 10-15 minutes. Course you could just soak the meat over night but sometimes I forget to slice up the meat the night before. Now, I just used the vacuum sealer and the marinade cycle before dehydrating the meat.

Later,
Dan

 

[Western]

Dennis, it came with the attachment for marinating food, but I'd have to buy another attachment to do mason jars. I've seen a video on the Internet showing how that works, but right now I don't see a need for it for us.

Thanks Bird, Same here as well, dont think we would use that attachment either.

 

[dmccarty]

I will have to watch how that setup works for you bird, looked at it and it appears like a fair deal. Didnt see if you could do mason jars with it?, not even sure I'd use that anyway.

We vacuum seal mason jars at least as much as we seal bags. I suspect I have used more mason jars than bags. We bought a dehydrator last summer and we vacuum seal the dried food in the mason jars which works real well and the mason jars we can reuse. We bought the two adapters, one for wide mouth and the other for normal mason jars.

Strawberries seem to be ready so I will be drying pounds of them soon. We have a local orchard I am hoping to get to this year to buy apples to dry as well. Should be cheaper than buying from the store. When blueberries arrive those get dried into fruit leather and I might do this with strawberries as well. Fruit leathers would store better in the bags and not mason jars.

The hose to use with the mason jars and marinade attachments is on the bottom left of the v3800/3880. It took a while for me to find the danged thing. :laughing::laughing::laughing:

Later,
Dan