Buy It And Try It: VacuSeal

We've all seen those big vacuum sealers people have on their
countertops. Some are quite bulky, but this one fits in a drawer. How
does it work?

If you want to save time and take the work out of preparing food, the
folks at Super Suppers will do it for you. "We do all the work for
you, all the chopping, all the shopping and the assembly part," said
Mary Clark.

I brought her my Packmate VacuSeal, which claims to be the easy way to
lock in freshness. It says it'll save you money so you can buy in
bulk.

"If it's not too labor-intensive, I'd use it," Mary said.

The handheld sealer comes with three reusable medium sized bags that
have special valves for the vacuum. Mary first tries it on her
confetti rice, and within seconds, the air is gone.

"It was simple, very simple," she said.

Next, barbeque pork. The instructions for food with moisture are a bit
different. You have to put a paper towel folded into a square inside
the bag, against the valve, then use the VacuSeal until liquid reaches
the paper towel, but it doesn't seem to do the job.

"It feels like there's some air in there," Mary said.

The troubleshooting guide says the contents need to be within one inch
of the valve, so she shifts the food and tries again, but now it's
sucking up the barbeque sauce and the air is still in the bag.

The directions say if that happens, you should clean the bag and valve
and start over. "It's too much work," Mary said.

We now realize some air has returned to our rice bag too, so we move
the rich within an inch of the valve and try again, but a minute
later, Mary's still not happy.

"It feels like there is air in there," she said.

We tried it on broccoli, and it seemed to work well, and no air sneaks back in.

Mary says the VacuSeal was good with the broccoli, but not the pork or
rice; she's not impressed.

"I'd probably stick with the Ziploc bags," she said.

The VacuSeal costs $19.95 plus shipping and processing. You can buy it
from AsSeenOnTVGuys.com