Customer Reviews

Vacu Vin Vacuum Instant Marinater

5 star:		(32)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(16)
1 star:		(14)

 

 

This falls into the category of non-essential but pretty cool kitchen stuff. My dinners are frequently some type of marinated fish or chicken, but I'm notoriously bad at planning ahead. Sometimes you don't know what you want your protein to taste like until you get home from work and kick your shoes off. So this really makes my life more flexible since I can marinate in a flash. Also, since I'm typically marinating for 1 or 2 servings, the container is really too big (you could probably fit 4-6 servings inside). Easy solution: I just put my 2 servings in a small bowl or tray inside this gizmo, and then pump it up as usual. Does the trick without using up any more marinade than necessary.

Can't wait to try the pump (along with the stoppers I bought separately) to keep wine fresher longer. A great idea!

A couple weeks ago, my boyfriend and I found ourselves in exactly the advertised situation for this product (albeit without the guests) -- hadn't planned ahead for dinner and didn't have more than 15 minutes to marinate. Perfect opportunity to give our new insta-marinater a shot. right? We even gave it 20-30 minutes for good measure, but we were still disappointed. The marinade didn't penetrate more than the very outer layer of the chicken (a bone-in breast), maybe the first 1/16".

My boyfriend cooks a lot and so do I. We're quite familiar with the taste and characteristics of well-marinated meat. We both agree that the 15 minute marinade thing seems like a lot of hype.

Some other reviewers have mentioned 2-3 hour time periods for marinating in this device, I would believe that this might be effective, but 2-3 hours is a long time for a product that claims to completely do away with having to plan ahead.

Another issue was with the size/shape of the container. Seems great for steaks or boneless breasts, but the bone-in breast, for example, took some creativity to get submerged in liquid. Seems like the container could have been a little deeper. Or if a deeper one is available, think about buying that one.

This Vacu Vin Instant Marinater works exactly like it is suppose to work. Creating a vacuum inside the container allows the marinade to penetrate the opened pores of the meat, even more so than if you let the marinade soak for days. A couple of hours is all you need to get a complete marinade effect on your meat.

Dishwasher safe is a real plus, easy cleanup of a usually oily product. And as a food storage system, it is even better than as a marinater. Keeping meats or veggies fresh and crisp in the fridge. I really need several of these to do everything that I would want to do. A real boon to my cooking.

Chicken, steaks, smaller roast and pork are all tenderized using this product in less than an hour, no more tough meat on the grill! Give it more than an hour, and it is really something else for the family to enjoy!

place your meat inside, rub the marinade in and pump the air out, you're done! let it sit for 30-45 minutes, ready to cook.as i write this review i'm marinating 11 wings in hot sauce,i've used the vacu vin for steaks, chops, and many other meats. very easily cleaned, it will also keep vegatables, nuts, and most perishables fresh 4-5 times longer than storage bags.any drawbacks? only one, too small for large cuts of meat, such as larger roasts or a slab of ribs. still, its well worth having and certainly deserves 5 stars.

I bought this once a couple of years ago. The clear container cracked when I pumped while the container was very cold (not frozen). I was so disappointed and looked for another. I finally found it here at Amazon and I am back in business. I tried ziploc bags, Tupperware to marinate meat, but this one is the best. It's easy to use, so quick, cheaper than throw away plastic bags, and the meat tastes better! I wish they make a bigger size for big crowd. This is good for one whole chicken which is enough for my household but when I have guests I would need one for two chickens.

The Vacu Vin Vacuum Instant Marinater has many more uses besides marinating meat/fish. I use it to preserve cut up lettuce, tomatoes, bellpeppers, etc. for weeks at a time. I also have one for sliced meats. This product has paid for itself many times over in preserved meats and salad fixings.

Yes, it will marinate your chicken or steak and make it tender and delicious in a couple of minutes. I use it frequently and mainly for this. But it will also keep your cold cuts fresh. You can use it for refregirator storage of many different foods. It is made of high quality plastic, it looks great and a pleasure to handle. This kit comes with a pump, I already had one pump from the wine saver. Because I didn't need two pumps, I bought a set of extra plugs for the wine saver and gave one of the pumps and a set of plugs as a gift. Gudgets like this marinator is what makes work in the kitchen a pleasure. Buy one if you like to surround yourself by good looking, quality things.

First of all, marination via vacuum in my experience and after considerable experimentation, is overrated. I ended up using this product as a differently-shaped option for vacuum storage, and went back to marinating well in advance.

As a vacuum storage device, the "instant marinater" has two deficiencies. The shape is awkward, reflecting, undoubtedly, the primary design need, to allow space for the bottom of the rubber cork. The rising arc of the top makes it impossible to put anything else on top of the marinater (except for other marinaters: they nest.)

Secondly, the design reflects the basic technical limitations of the vacu-vin line: the plastic is only strong enough to support a limited vacuum. I broke my marinater by overpumping. The plastic on the bottom seal (where it's thinner to allow for solid-contact nesting with other marinaters) separated.

Rating: two stars, not one, though I recommend, obviously, against purchasing this particular product. But I still heartily recommend the rest of the line.

This is the best new item on the market. It's absolutely true that in a few minutes, under vacuum, this container yields the most flavorful & tender meat you'll ever eat. The meat is also juicier. We do a lot of grilling in the Summer & probably use it daily, with several different marinades. The vacuum just seals in the marinade----it's amazing. The only down side is, I wish the company also made a larger style---I'd buy that size in a minute also.

If you are like me, you come home having grabbed a pack of chicken breasts while dashing through the grocery store in a total panic on your way home from work. Or you are a master of defrosting that frozen flank steak in the microwave, because you forgot to leave it to thaw as you ran out of the house at 7am with your hindquarters on fire.

Needless to say, neither you nor I had the remotest chance to mix up a marinade to give these bland meats some kind of interesting flavor in a leisurely eight hour bath. I have many great marinade recipes, including a killer teriyaki, another favorite that uses tequila and liquid mesquite smoke, and of course, the garlic, olive and lemon one for Lebanese chicken. These recipes are delicious and totally useless to me normally, because I usually forget to plan ahead and actually marianate anything. (I'm lucky if I remember to unwrap them before I slap them on the grill.)

Enter the Vacu-vin Marinater. Through the miracle of vacuum, you can cause your marinade to permeate the meat in minutes. It's nice and flat, so fits in the fridge. It's not all that big, again, so it fits, but this can be a problem if you need to make a great deal of marinated foods. Well, you can always batch them up --it only takes a few minutes.

This device is really a lifesaver if you are having a grill party and you were so intent on making those little paper lanterns out of paper bags that you forgot to marinate the main dish.