Favorite chamber sealer bags

[Ucsdryder]

I broke down and bought a vacmaster 230. I’m tired of plastic wrap and butcher paper.

What are your go to bags? 4 mil I assume is superior to 3mil?

I don’t do much 1lb, mostly 1.5 and 2lb…what size bags would fit 1.5-2lbs? Any tips or tricks?

Best place to purchase in bulk?

 

[sndmn11]

Amazon
Get the biggest bags your chamber will take and cut them down if needed or make half bags.

 

[Hnthrdr]

Was just going to say most cost effective is to buy the bulk rolls and make your own bags. Amazon sells the rolls I believe

 

[NRA4LIFE]

Vacuum Sealers Unlimited, buy them by the 500 or thousand packs. Look for their sales, they offer free shipping quite a bit. I do my 1 lb burger packs in the 8X12's where I can flatten them. May want to go a bit larger for 2 lbs. I have a VP215. I go 4 mil as the 5 mil are much more expensive and not worth it to me. The 4 mils hold up very well in the freezer, even after being clacked around a bunch.

 

[doc holiday13]

Qt size bags are probably what you're looking for. Quart size bags are 8x12 roughly. A gallon size bag will be 11x16.

If you're just vac sealing loose ground meat, you should try to flatten it out as much as possible so it remains stackable in the freezer. 3mil bags are fine. A big cause of vac bags fail is because they get handled at lot post freezing and the plastic gets brittle when frozen.

 

[NRA4LIFE]

I too flatten all my ground meats. I freeze them and stack them upright in perfectly matched Amazon boxes.

 

[Ucsdryder]

Just got my vp230 and used it to process an elk. This thing is AMAZING!!!! I’m in love.

What’s your go to bag size? I am going to order either 2 or 3 different size bags. Which ones?

Has anybody had issues with 3mil bags losing their seal? The 4 mil bags are more expensive but in the grand scheme of things they’re still cheap.

Need to order bags. Biggest bags it’ll accept are 12x15. Plan on packaging burger in 1lb or 1.25lb. 8x10 and 8x12 bsgs are the same price. Was going to do 1000 of the 8x12 bags. Should I do 1000 of the 10x13? How about some 12x15?

 

[BBob]

VP215. I just cut up some roasts into smaller more useful sizes and packaged a bunch of pork bellies. For those the sample bags in 10x13 did great (but slightly tricky to get to lay flat for sealing on a couple roasts) but for versatility and cost and limiting how many bags I’m buying I think I’m going to order the 10x15. I figure you can reuse the bag more easily if it starts a little long and I figure the extra length can be folded over in storage. Same I think for the 8 wide bags. The 8x10 are certainly a good size but instead of 10 long I think I’m going to go with 12 long for the same reasons as the 10x15. I also found the smaller 6x8 were useful for packaging smaller bags of dried chilies and such from the garden. I bagged up a bunch of chipotle chilies and they were about perfect. If anyone has any thoughts on any of that I’m all ears.

Mby I shouldn’t think about reusing bags if I’m buying 1000 at a time?

 

[Tod osier]

Just got my vp230 and used it to process an elk. This thing is AMAZING!!!! I’m in love.

What’s your go to bag size? I am going to order either 2 or 3 different size bags. Which ones?

Has anybody had issues with 3mil bags losing their seal? The 4 mil bags are more expensive but in the grand scheme of things they’re still cheap.

Need to order bags. Biggest bags it’ll accept are 12x15. Plan on packaging burger in 1lb or 1.25lb. 8x10 and 8x12 bsgs are the same price. Was going to do 1000 of the 8x12 bags. Should I do 1000 of the 10x13? How about some 12x15?

I only do 2 sizes (different sealer, but you get the idea), a 10x15 for most meats (this is the biggest it will fit) and a 7x12 for processed stuff like jerky and meat sticks. Having too many choices leads me (or my wife) to trying to put meat in a bag that is too small and you end up wrecking the smaller bag with meat juice and ultimately using the larger that you were trying to "save" by using the smaller. Maybe that is just me, but I like less options rather than more. 12 x 15s would be nice as a standard bag, our old sealer took those. I'd get those and a smaller skinny bag like the 7 x 12 I mentioned or 8x12. One pound of ground meat pushed into a 1/2 inch layer to stack fits perfectly in a 7x12.

I always order bags from www.webstaurantstore.com, not sure they are the absolute best price (I'm sure they were a competitive price with amazon) and they seem to always have what I want.

 

[BBob]

webrestaurantstore didn’t lead to a legit site and ultimately lead to floor vac bags.

Is this the correct source?

Commercial Vacuum Sealer Bags

By sealing your food inside one of these vacuum packaging bags, you can prevent it from going bad for much longer than you could with traditional storage methods. Food is placed in one of these bags, and then a vacuum sealer machine sucks the air out

www.webstaurantstore.com

 

[Tod osier]

webrestaurantstore didn’t lead to a legit site and ultimately lead to floor vac bags.

Is this the correct source?

Commercial Vacuum Sealer Bags

By sealing your food inside one of these vacuum packaging bags, you can prevent it from going bad for much longer than you could with traditional storage methods. Food is placed in one of these bags, and then a vacuum sealer machine sucks the air out

www.webstaurantstore.com

Yes that is the right place, I updated my link. They are a legit restaurant supply store that I've ordered from many times. They have a lot of stuff, including a pretty large supply of vacmaster parts.

 

[Ucsdryder]

I just bought a bunch of bags from them. Seemed to be the best price.

 

[BBob]

FYI: Don't do what I did in my haste to put in an order. If you want zipper bags so you can reseal after opening the listed bag sizes are for the actual size of the bag not the functional size of the bag when using the zipper. Subtract about 3" on length for the actual usable length with zipper bags. 2" for the zipper end and 1" for the end that gets sealed. Example: On a 6"x10" bag the effective inside usable dimension is 5"x6".

 

[Read1t48]

I just bought a bunch of bags from them. Seemed to be the best price.

What bag size do you think is appropriate for 2lbs of burger if you chamber vac and then smash them flat for stacking/organizing? I got into a web chat with the online company referred to above and they would not provide a recommendation for the VP215.

 

[Ucsdryder]

What bag size do you think is appropriate for 2lbs of burger if you chamber vac and then smash them flat for stacking/organizing? I got into a web chat with the online company referred to above and they would not provide a recommendation for the VP215.

I was able to get one pound into a 6x8 but it was tight. The 8x12 would definitely fit I think. Here’s the 1lb in 6x8.