Discussion
I got the Andrew James one which was around £90 when I bought it but I see you can find them at £40 now, which is a good price.
From what I've seen all the various brands up to £100 or so are basically the same under the skin and fairly cheaply made, but that doesn't mean they'll necessarily fall apart after a week's use and my one has been going for a couple of years now with regular use.
There's a big jump in price once you go from these basic models to the more professional, heavier duty ones around the £300 mark but when mine eventually breaks, I'll probably shell out more money as it is an essential piece of kit in my kitchen now.
I would go for one which can handle liquids in the pouches, as that's a pain with mine.
If you really want to splash out, there's always a vacuum chamber type but they start at over £1000. Maybe one day though...
From what I've seen all the various brands up to £100 or so are basically the same under the skin and fairly cheaply made, but that doesn't mean they'll necessarily fall apart after a week's use and my one has been going for a couple of years now with regular use.
There's a big jump in price once you go from these basic models to the more professional, heavier duty ones around the £300 mark but when mine eventually breaks, I'll probably shell out more money as it is an essential piece of kit in my kitchen now.
I would go for one which can handle liquids in the pouches, as that's a pain with mine.
If you really want to splash out, there's always a vacuum chamber type but they start at over £1000. Maybe one day though...
I've used my cheap Andrew James one to vac pack chickens for freezing and it does a pretty good job TBH, but a large chicken may not fit in a 300mm wide vacuum bag and most of the domestic vac sealers have a 300mm width limit.
This is the one I'm looking to move up to: http://www.sousvidetools.com/vacuum-packing-machin...
360mm width and 96% vacuum, although a bit pricier than a lot of home SV enthusiasts might want to pay.
This is the one I'm looking to move up to: http://www.sousvidetools.com/vacuum-packing-machin...
360mm width and 96% vacuum, although a bit pricier than a lot of home SV enthusiasts might want to pay.
FurtiveFreddy said:
I've used my cheap Andrew James one to vac pack chickens for freezing and it does a pretty good job TBH, but a large chicken may not fit in a 300mm wide vacuum bag and most of the domestic vac sealers have a 300mm width limit.
This is the one I'm looking to move up to: http://www.sousvidetools.com/vacuum-packing-machin...
360mm width and 96% vacuum, although a bit pricier than a lot of home SV enthusiasts might want to pay.
What do you define as a large chickenThis is the one I'm looking to move up to: http://www.sousvidetools.com/vacuum-packing-machin...
360mm width and 96% vacuum, although a bit pricier than a lot of home SV enthusiasts might want to pay.
Don't read if of a sensitive nature
We are dispatching the boys about 18 to 22 weeks and they have reached about 2.5kg carcass weight
We have just been using large ziplock bags but so far they haven't stayed in the freezer very long as they are very tastey
So are you using yours for edible pets?
scottri said:
McWigglebum4th said:
And where would i find a small chamber based machine?
http://www.sousvidetools.com/vacuum-packing-machines/home-chamber-vacuum-sealersMcWigglebum4th said:
What do you define as a large chicken
Don't read if of a sensitive nature
We are dispatching the boys about 18 to 22 weeks and they have reached about 2.5kg carcass weight
We have just been using large ziplock bags but so far they haven't stayed in the freezer very long as they are very tastey
So are you using yours for edible pets?
Well, we almost bought a Capon before Christmas, but as I already had two 4Kg ducks in the freezer we decided to give it a miss. The same farm we got our ducks from are producing 4-6.5Kg Capons. That's a large chicken in my book Don't read if of a sensitive nature
We are dispatching the boys about 18 to 22 weeks and they have reached about 2.5kg carcass weight
We have just been using large ziplock bags but so far they haven't stayed in the freezer very long as they are very tastey
So are you using yours for edible pets?
So if I went for ::this one:: what would I be missing out on compared to a more expensive one?
Output Flange said:
So if I went for ::this one:: what would I be missing out on compared to a more expensive one?
Looks identical to the one I have at home. The main difference between it and a chamber machine like the one I use at work is speed and vacuum level. For home use speed is not an issue and unless you are looking at long term storage vacuum level shouldn't be a problem.The only other difference is the cheaper machines require specific double walled bags where a chamber machine doesn't.
Liquids can also be a problem with non-chamber machines but tbh even on those its not a big deal. I freeze liquids into blocks before vacuuming.
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