Customer Reviews

FoodSaver Vac 300 Vacuum-Sealing Kit, White

5 star:		(22)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

Excellent product! I've had a Tilia FoodSaver Vac for about 9 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 to use 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 the low-end, no frills, stripped model of the Tilia family of vac-packing tools.
They all rely on the same principle for achieving vacuum inside the bag: a special, patented bag material where one side is lined with tiny channels which keep the food in but allow the built-in pump to suck the air out.

I bought this model on a whim and it stayed in the pantry unused for months until a few weeks ago when I started a diet which involves portion control. Many meals include 4 oz of lean protein such as grilled chicken breast, so I end up buying a large package of chicken breast at Costco, grill it all at once in my T-Fal grill (also purchased from Amazon), cube it, weigh 4 oz portions and vac pack them all into individual servings that go into the freezer. The frozen portions are very convenient to put in a lunch bag and microwave in the office (don't forget to puncture the bag first!)

For this type of usage I found the 6" rolls to be more convenient than the standard roll that comes with the machine because it requires less cutting.

Although the vacuum feature will only work with the patented bag material, you can also use the FoodSaver to reseal most types of plastic bags.

You should know that Tilia offers more expensive models with added bells and whistles you may like, such as built-in bag storage and sliding cutter, and an accessory port, bundled with accessories like special canisters; but if you only need basic vacuum packaging functionality you can't beat the price of the inexpensive Vac 300.

I actually use the Vac 500, but the solution to many of the problems I read about here is to replace the lower seal and/or the upper seal unit. Both of these are easy to replace and a simple call to Tilia with the problem will result in FREE REPLACEMENTS.

I just did this for my 500 and I am back in sealing business.

I have had my Vac 300 for about 1-1/2 years and never had a problem with it until just this past month. Now the left side of the sealing strip will not seal and I did not realize that until days later when I went back into the freezer. My brother swears by this product but has purchased a more expensive unit. I plan to also "upgrade" to a better level because when it works, you can't beat it, and once you get used to it, you can't be without it!

BOUGHT THIS IN FEB 2002.WAS VERY PLEASED UNTIL THIS MONTH SEPT
2003.VACUUM NOT WORKING AND MELTING SEALER BAGS.
I WILL PROBABLY BUY AN UPGRADE MODEL NEXT TIME.

I purchased this food saver vac 300. My husband and I were so anxious to receive it that we both looked for it to arrive daily. We now wait in line to use it. He loves to reseal in the freshness of cereal and potato chips. I went to work on meat items for the freezer. We both found the machine very easy to operate and work with. I have put up meatloaf, stuffed green peppers, hamburg patties, steaks, pork roast and Italian sausage for starters. They really look great in the packages. I have told my grown children that when they want to purchase gifts for us to get more vacloc rolls and they all agree that is a good idea as they never know what to buy us that we really can use. We can't say enough about this wonderfull machine and are very very pleased with it.

bought last year worked wonderful for 10 months and then came around to seal some bags and would not seal. vacuum works but will not work sealing anything. looking for a new one but will not buy another tilia and will buy more along a professional sealer

I have had mine (bought REFURBISHED, no less) for several years, NEVER had any trouble with it. While friends' 200.00 upgraded models bit the dust, mine is doing great.
If you EVER decide that you need to do canisters, you can grab a handheld sealer from Tilia, so this is the perfect starter unit! I have probably saved at least three times what this machine cost me in 2 years!

I really like the concept of this machine. I use it sporadically, mostly to store grain, flour, etc. However, while it worked fine initially it progressively has had more and more trouble pulling enough of a vacuum to seal (the sealing part of the machine is only activated when the vacuum reaches a certain point). Now it is totally useless. The rubber seals look to be in good condition and I don't recall any trauma that occurred, such as liquid being sucked into the machine, etc. I don't think that I even used the machine to seal more than 50 bags before it stopped working. What a disappointment!

Love the machine. There is a trick to getting it to seal, however. The slick side of the FoodSaver bag must be face down or it will not seal. Took me about of week to figure that one out!

My freezer is full of portion controlled meals that can be nuked or heated in boiling water.