Customer Reviews

FoodSaver V845 Vacuum-Packaging System, White

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

Excellent product! I've had a Tilia FoodSaver Vac for about 5 years (I asked for it for my birthday) and have never had a problem with it. If the person who said that one corner didn't seal will check the rubber on the lid, it may have slid to one side and isn't making contact with the bag when trying to seal it. This would make it not seal completely. No one has offered hints to make using the Tilia FoodSaver Vac more economical or practical so here are some suggestions: (1) When making a bag, if the meat(as an example) is a steak 8 inches long, make the bag at least 12 inches long. The reason for this is that the bags can be washed and reused over and over until they're too small for anything to fit in and still seal.
(2) After sealing the bag, there is about an inch of waste bag material on the end you just sealed so take a felt tip marker and write on that end, what it is, the weight, and the date. When you open the bag to use the "meat", cut off the end you wrote on, wash the bag, reuse it and write on the new end when you seal it again. (3) For sanitary purposes even though I wash the bag, when I reuse it for meat, I wrap the meat in plastic wrap before putting it in the bag. (4) If you want to put liquid in a bag for sealing, put the liquid in a zip lock bag and freeze it and when it's frozen, take the contents out of the zip lock and put it in a Tilia FoodSaver Vac bag and seal it as you normally would. If you try to seal a liquid in the bag unfrozen, the vac will pull the liquid into the motor and ruin it. I hope this helps some of you.

P.S. To thaw the meat I run HOT water in the sink and immerse the bag and leave it to thaw quickly. Thinner meats like chops or some steaks thawing will take about 15 minutes and naturally thicker ones take longer. I check by trying to bend the meat (still in the bag of course). If it's totally flexible it's thawed. If you want to thaw meat that's not in a Vac Bag just take a gallon zip lock type bag, put the meat in it and start submerging the bag. Zip the bag closed all but one corner which is kept above the water line and as you submerge the bag the water pushes the air out of the bag right up through that corner. Carefully lower the bag to the zip line and seal it. Now you have a vacuumed bag. If you don't have a vac machine and want to freeze something, do the zip thing in cold water, dry the bag and put it in the freezer now you have a cheap vacuumed, sealed bag and your food will last longer with the air removed. I've been doing this for years and have never ruined meat, ever. It beats leaving food on the counter to thaw for hours or in microwave to partially cook and get tough.

This is my second FoodSaver device. Once you get into vacuum packing, you won't want to be without! My first one did not have the accessory port, and was no longer sealing properly, so when this was on sale at Amazon.com, I finally ditched the old one to get the new. Now, I love having the accessory port. I ordered a whole slew of canisters from the manufacturer, even got some nice big ones for stuff like lettuce and larger backed goods. It's really nice to be able to make stuff last longer, especially when you are single like me and don't go through food as quick. But I do have some gripes.

1. The new control method this has doesn't work real well for me. You are supposed to push down and hold for 3 seconds and when you release, it will continue to vacuum pack until the air is gone. More times than not, when I release, it just stops and I have to try and try until it finally keeps going. I don't know why they switched from the old models that you just push a button to start. And it's *really* a pain with some of the jar sealers I have that you need to kind of press in place while starting the machine. Requiring two hands to get the thing going makes it an interesting exercise!

2. This model has some internal bag roll storage. I guess that is nice if you use the rolls a lot...I don't tend to. And it makes the unit a LOT bigger. I would gladly trade that extra size for a smaller machine that would more easily fit on my counter.

3. Another gripe is how far in the bag has to go to seal it. It almost seems designed so you waste a LOT more bag than other models. I reuse my bags so having this much wasted at the top is really poor design.

Other than those three main issues, it's a good device and I definitely would not want to be out some kind of FoodSaver for my food. I would have preferred an older, smaller model though.

I originally got this from a friend who told me how much better the food was when vacuum sealed. I have a big picnic at the end of the summer so this year I got an extra freezer and then I heard about this. Each holiday this summer I would go to the sales and pick up the various meats that were on sale then I would take them home and freeze them and seal them.

I am even able to make a bunch of specialty burgers like savory garlic burger, bacon and cheddar burgers and Mexican burgers and then seal them and freeze them. I do 12 to 20 a night and seal them and put them in the freezer. The nice thing is that I can do throughout the summer and they will all be ready to go on the day of the picnic.

I can't believe the money I have saved on meat. I usually get everything for half price. I like to use the rolls because I can make the packages any size. I know it's a little bit more of a pain when you have to seal both ends but it's nice to make long ones for ribs and pork tenderloin. The cutter is a very nice feature for the rolls. If this didn't have the cutter I wouldn't use the rolls. The roll also fits inside the machine which is nice.

This is the first sealer for me and at first it was difficult to get the seal especially with the food in the bag. I know people who would have love to see me wrestling with that with one forearm pressing down and trying to hold on to the bag at the same time. The real problem was I was not making the bags big enough and I tried to put too much into the bag. It's something you have to get used to and initially it seems like you're wasting a lot, but with the food savings the bag cost seems minimal.

I already went though the initial role and bags and I got it at the beginning of the summer. I want to see what else it can do so I purchased one of the marinating trays which is something I can try out in my refrigerator. The others containers won't work well in my refrigerator. I tell you how it turns out.

The final nice thing is you can group all your meats in any amount you want whether it is just you or you have a big event to plan for. I am a single guy who is a bit of a planning manic so this is perfect for the like of me.

I bought my wife one for Christmas. We used it yesterday after oru return from the local warehouse club and wow, what a difference. It takes a bit more time then just putting bulk meat or seafood in a Ziploc bag, but the end result will be much better. We had to go and by another roll of bags already, as well as more containers.

This is a necessary "toy" for all those bulk shoppers. The only thing I don't like about it is the cost and availability of some accessories, but it won't stop us from using it or buying another one if this one fails.

I bought this a couple of weeks ago through Amazon; the great price was my primary motivation. I had wanted one of these since they first came out years ago but never wanted to spend the $150 retail.
The instructional video was very helpful; however, I have the following two areas of concern which are the reasons why I rated this a "4" rather than a "5" star product:

1. The design forces user to "waste" a lot of bag material. The sealing gets a little tricky and takes some practice. If you stick with the recommended 3" extra bag material, it works fine; however, once you open and then try to re-seal the package [less than 3" excess left], it will not seal properly and you will need to cut a new bag. For a single person who is not a very big eater, this is an imperfection in the design of this product because I tend to use one serving of something and then need to re-seal the rest for later and therefore constantly have to cut new bags which is not particularly cost-effective.

2. The unit makes more noise than I would have preferred and the accessory hose-storage in the back does not quite fit the exact size of the accessory-hose, causing overhanging hose to interfere with the locking mechanism of the top of the unit which needs to stay open in a locked position while you place your packaging material on the cutting or the sealing strips inside the machine.

We have been using Food Saver for about three years now. This amazing product has changed how we save and enjoy foods. We save fish, fresh and delightful tasting, for months instead of two or three days! Steaks, as tender as when purchased for months. Even vegetables, garlic pods,fruits, coffee beans and green tea leaves.

Everything is vacuum packed and stays fresh for long periods of time. A great innovative product.

Our family isn't into gadgets, but this appliance certainly earns its keep in our house! It performs like a charm and offers convenient features without all the fancy (and costly) bells and whistles. Now I know why this model was highly rated in a popular consumer magazine.

I was lucky enough to purchase this model with the promotional free hand-held appliance. Although I had no use for it, I wrapped it up along with a set of FoodSaver bottle stoppers and gave it to one of my friends who is a true wine lover. It's the same hand-held appliance as the $40 black WineSaver, only it's white. What a great deal!

And yes, those bags and rolls can get relatively expensive if you choose to dispose of them after one use. We don't. We simply wash them in the dishwasher and reuse them over and over again.

This is a true winner!

The wife and I love our foodsaver. I took everyones advice and cut bags extra long and this has given us a number of reuses. The only "issues" I have are very petty. 1) Cord is not long enough for easy use in our kitchen layout. 2) Trying to seal anything with a lot of moisture (lots of marinade) failes as it sucks the liquid up and fouls the vacuum process. Also I will no longer purchase the small 8" roll material, 11" has much more flexability.
So I purchased the marinade canisters and that works perfectly in a fraction of the time I normally marinade meat.

If it wasn't for the refrigerator, I would say I use this more then anything else in my kitchen. Packaging leftovers, keeping an opened bottle of wine fresh, buying in bulk and freezing, marinating meats. I leave mine plugged in on the counter always. I use it at least once per day. I have had it about a year or so and love it more everyday. I have bought two additional ones for gifts and have had dozens more bought by my recommendation. Buy it and all the accessories..you will love it.

I received this as a Christmas gift and wasn't sure if I really wanted it. I left it in the box for a couple of weeks, then decided to give it a try. I am soooo glad I decided to keep it. It has quickly become my one of my favorite kitchen appliances. I do not like to go to the grocery often and you can keep things fresh so much longer when you use the foodsaver. I can buy large pkgs of meat and divide, package and freeze without worry of freezer burn. I can cook large pots of soups and chilis, freeze in cool whip bowls, pop out into a foodsaver bag and freeze for the future when I want a quick bowl of soup. You can reseal chips and cereals in their original bags every morning and not worry about them getting stale quickly.

I am so impressed with this piece of equipment, that I am probably going to buy one for our travel trailer. I think using this while camping will be the perfect solution to soggy chips, stale marshmellows and the fear of insects in your food. I plan to make our sandwiches, then seal them in a foodsaver bag to drop in the cooler to take out on the boat. No more soggy sandwiches!

I am not easy to please when it comes to kitchen work, but I plan to buy both of my daughters one of these next Christmas!