Bye bye Foodsaver vav packer

[Chasin' Dreams]

Got home from a fishing trip to find my new chamber vacuum packer has arrived!! Can now do liquids too and inject liguids with vac pressure into things like meat and fruits. Stoked! Have been wanting a proper chamber machine for so long.

 

[trophywife]

so good.

 

[Chuck]

Very nice unit. Just a bit pricy at 1400 bucks..

 

[Busterbrown]

I have the same unit...you will be real happy with yours... ours has been flawless for three seasons

 

[walleyes]

Wicked unit. Been looking at them myself the issue I have with a chamber machine is you are limited to the size of package. As in you can't do a whole fish with them. Not even a small pink over 5#. Unless I am missing something ??

 

[Chasin' Dreams]

Very nice unit. Just a bit pricy at 1400 bucks..

If you buy them from inside Canada then yes they are a bit over $1400 after taxes but I bought it from https://www.webstaurantstore.com/ar...achine-with-10-1-4-seal-bar/120VMASVP215.html for $689 US...So after the shipping and dollar conversion and had to pay Fedex $112 Cnd for duty/taxes when they delivered my total after everything in Cnd was $1081 So some decent savings from over $1400 here. Ya it's still a bit of $ to put out but the savings over the cost of Foodsaver bags over the years will be a lot of $ and it's such a superior product over a Foodsaver they just don't compare. And from reviews I've read chamber vac machines last forever as long as you change the pump oil on them when they need it.

I have the same unit...you will be real happy with yours... ours has been flawless for three seasons

Right on I hear great things about them. Will be using mine today.

Wicked unit. Been looking at them myself the issue I have with a chamber machine is you are limited to the size of package. As in you can't do a whole fish with them. Not even a small pink over 5#. Unless I am missing something ??

Yup that's correct but if you really want one that can do whole fish there are ones that do. A company in Vancouver by Powel street had them last time I looked a few years ago. But they are a lot more $ than these ones. For our family this one is perfect though cause as soon as I get fish home I fillet, de bone all the pin bones, and cut the fillets into portion sizes then vac pac them. It takes longer than just vac packing a whole fish but the way I look at it is eventually I would have to fillet, de bone and portion size them anyway when serving them to family or guests so now I just do it all at once.
My wife loves it that I do it that way too cause if I'm not home to process fish she can just pull a few pre done portion sizes out of the freezer for her and my daughters and they're good to go.

Just bought some better pin bone pullers off of Amazon too. Huge step up from using tweezers or pliers. Highly recommend them. Made in Japan stainless steel and great quality.
https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B00462R8RQ/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

[Teja]

Odds are it will be even better than you expect it to be. We are approaching the 2 year point with our VP215 and we have had no performance issues. Absolute workhorse and we have yet to have had a seal fail. I bought it solely for fish and given its ease of use and low bag costs my wife uses if more than I do (stews, soups, etc.) ... it is getting far more use than I ever expected it would.

p.s. looks like a great choice for the pin bone puller ... will be ordering one.

 

[Chasin' Dreams]

Odds are it will be even better than you expect it to be. We are approaching the 2 year point with our VP215 and we have had no performance issues. Absolute workhorse and we have yet to have had a seal fail. I bought it solely for fish and given its ease of use and low bag costs my wife uses if more than I do (stews, soups, etc.) ... it is getting far more use than I ever expected it would.

p.s. looks like a great choice for the pin bone puller ... will be ordering one.

That's great to hear! My wife is very happy to hear it can do all the liquid stuff and will be doing a lot of marinading too. The plastic left over containers in the fridge and freezer will be a thing of the past now hopefully.
The pin bone pullers are so much faster than tweezers or pliers. You'll love them. They are wider so finding and pulling the bones is much faster and they don't break the thinner pin bones like tweezers or pliers do cause the clamping surface is wider and grabs the bones much better.

 

[Chasin' Dreams]

I love this machine!! No mess from liquids getting sucked out of the fish, perfect vacuum every time, so much quicker and cleaner than the Foodsaver and does a much better job.

 

[Peahead]

Just a comment on the pin bone puller. I had one that looks to be exactly like what is shown above - very similar in any case. I found with its design of not much surface area holding the bone and the pullers thin grabbing point, it would often cut the bone with lighter bones (eg. smaller fish) The pressure required o hold the bone with those thin edges of the puller seemed just not ideal. I now use an older leatherman tool plyers and it works beautifully ( more surface area holding bone and not snapping bone plus ribbed for good grip on bone)

Maybe with adjusted technique/pressure , I could have eventually made the puller succeed ??

CD maybe for your whole salmon vac packing just keep the $100 Foodsaver for any whole fish you wanna do ..... not perfect but I've done whole salmon with the food saver with decent success ( very few failures)

 

[Chasin' Dreams]

Peahead I already gave away the Foodsaver ☺ I don't vac pac or freeze whole fish. As soon as they are home I process them; fillet, debone, skin some for my wife (whom doesn't like the skin), cut into portion size servings, then vac pack. Doesn't matter if it's one fish or 8 or whatever..I do it all at once.

With the pin bones, always make sure none of the fillet is frozen at all or then the thinner bones will break cause the frozen meat holds them too tightly. I find this pin bone remover excellent. But I don't fish for trout or smaller fish like kokanee much anymore so maybe it would break those very small bones. Not sure but I just did some small pinks with it and no issues with it breaking pin bones. I even turn it sideways and pull two or three pin bones at a time when they are close together. Maybe you had a pair with too sharp of an edge on it.

 

[pescador]

Peahead I already gave away the Foodsaver ☺ I don't vac pac or freeze whole fish. As soon as they are home I process them; fillet, debone, skin some for my wife (whom doesn't like the skin), cut into portion size servings, then vac pack. Doesn't matter if it's one fish or 8 or whatever..I do it all at once.

With the pin bones, always make sure none of the fillet is frozen at all or then the thinner bones will break cause the frozen meat holds them too tightly. I find this pin bone remover excellent. But I don't fish for trout or smaller fish like kokanee much anymore so maybe it would break those very small bones. Not sure but I just did some small pinks with it and no issues with it breaking pin bones. I even turn it sideways and pull two or three pin bones at a time when they are close together. Maybe you had a pair with too sharp of an edge on it.

Curious how you de skin them?

 

[Chasin' Dreams]

Curious how you de skin them?

Skinning them is very easy pescador. When I smoke salmon I always deskin too so the brine penetrates from both sides of the meat.
With the skin side down on the cutting board slide the fillet knife through the meat just a hair above the skin then just slide the knife along just barely on top of the skin. This is easiest done after sectioning the fillet into manageable size pieces.
Skinned salmon pieces going in the smoker:

 

[scott craven]

Always learning never having skinned salmon for the smoker.
Don't you find it dries out quick without the skin and the fat layer between ?

 

[Chasin' Dreams]

Always learning never having skinned salmon for the smoker.
Don't you find it dries out quick without the skin and the fat layer between ?

Scott do you mean dries out quick in the smoker while smoking, or do you you mean after it's smoked?

My brine is a wet brine so the salmon absorbs a fair bit of the brine so it stays very moist. After it's done it will keep in the fridge moist until it's eaten up or if I make a big batch I will vacuum pack it after done then it will keep for a very long time.

One thing to watch for though is flipping the fish or moving the fish around too soon in the smoker before they have had enough time to cook/smoke a bit through. If moved around too early without having skin on you risk some of it sticking to the screens. I moisten a paper towel with a bit of vegetable oil first though and wipe it lightly on the screens before putting the salmon on them so this helps with that issue of sticking too.

 

[scott craven]

Scott do you mean dries out quick in the smoker while smoking, or do you you mean after it's smoked?

I would have thought it would dry out in the smoker without the skin ?
must take less time ?

 

[wolf]

I have owned one now for a few year I love it, I can do a whole fish in mine up to about 8 lbs or so , but to be honest id rather chunk it up anyways dont see a need for a whole fish as you have to cut it up later anyways, ive got some big bags as well that I vac pack our whole roasting chickens that are up to 10 lbs.
After fighting for a few years with food savers that I hated trust me well worth the price of spending with all the things you can do with it.
yesterday i vac packed crab bisque 6 bags worth, a bunch of pork trim(30 lbs) for sausages and some about 60 smokies i made took about 20 mins where a food saver would have been HOURS 27 seconds for 2 bags and done.

Chasin DreamsYou can spray the racks with pam as well to help with the non stick thing.

 

[Chasin' Dreams]

I would have thought it would dry out in the smoker without the skin ?
must take less time ?

I think it is quicker without the skin Scott. I just have a Big Cheif and two Little Chiefs. They aren't very efficient with keeping heat in. If the temp is low outside while smoking I put big cardboard boxes around them to keep more heat in. Not in hot Summer days though cause it gets too hot that way. The cardboard keeps the smoke in longer too so I use less pans of wood chips that way.

I have owned one now for a few year I love it, I can do a whole fish in mine up to about 8 lbs or so , but to be honest id rather chunk it up anyways dont see a need for a whole fish as you have to cut it up later anyways, ive got some big bags as well that I vac pack our whole roasting chickens that are up to 10 lbs.
After fighting for a few years with food savers that I hated trust me well worth the price of spending with all the things you can do with it.
yesterday i vac packed crab bisque 6 bags worth, a bunch of pork trim(30 lbs) for sausages and some about 60 smokies i made took about 20 mins where a food saver would have been HOURS 27 seconds for 2 bags and done.

Chasin DreamsYou can spray the racks with pam as well to help with the non stick thing.

Yup gonna definitely be looking for more bulk deals on food now with this machine and doing soups and stew packing with it.
The Pam would work perfect for the racks but my wife has something against keeping Pam stocked at home. She thinks cause its in a spray can it must have chemicals in it or something lol. I just smile and nod.

 

[casper5280]

I just smile and nod.

Lol. I know what you mean. Lol

 

[Sentinel]

Once you go chamber sealer you can never go back!