<<Disclaimer: Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>>

Hello folks,

I've cut and pasted different replies (and put them in different font- I
hope that will come thru for you. My comments are in courier new font, the
font I'm using now) so you can draw your own conclusions.  Remember that
unless the make and model are given, you can't draw any firm
conclusion.  Some models have canisters of various configurations as
optional accessories, but bear in mind that they are costly as are the
bags.   In sum, vacuum sealers seem to be very useful appliances, even if
they don't live up to one's hopes for fresh bread.

Merry Christmas to all!

Mary


I love my foodsaver1050! It has instant seal feature which allows you to
press a button to stop the vac and begin the seal stage.  I bought my
sister also GF a cheaper foodsaver but it does not have instant seal so she
does have a big problem with stuff getting smooshed.

The current foodsaver 1200 model has similar features I believe.  If you go
to www.tilia.com  (you'll be redirected to:
http://foodsaver.jardendirect.com) you can get rebuilt ones more
affordably, and they work fine too.  Just be sure to look for the instant
seal button!

(I didn't find rebuilt ones there, but some sale items)

A word of caution, with any freshly baked breads you would still need to
refrigerate since you aren't putting preservatives in.

I have a Tilia Foodsaver (I think they go for about $100 now, but I'm not
sure). I use it just about every day. With mine, you can seal without
sucking out all the air, so I squeeze out most of the air then seal it. It
still keeps things fresh longer than not sealing it at all. If you vacuum
seal soft things such as bread, they get squashed.  It was definitely worth
the price, and I've had it for at least 5 years.
It's a Foodsaver Compact 2. It has a vacuum channel; if you put the open
bag edges in the channel it sucks out the air then seals.  If you put the
open edges on the sealing strip only, then it seals without sucking out the
air. I use it like that to seal things like prewashed lettuce and frozen
vegetables. Those bags aren't airtight enough to vacuum the air out of them.


I bought a vacuum sealer for that very reason, and I hate to disappoint
you, but it just doesn't keep that "wonderful springy" quality of fresh
baked bread.  You do have to freeze bread first, or it gets squooshed into
a gummy mass.  Even when frozen, it compresses some.  Now, some of the
sealers can seal without sucking the air out.  Even though mine does, I
haven't tried doing that with fresh bread.  I just slice it, put pieces of
wax paper between the slices, freeze it and suck/seal it.  It's good
toasted, though I know that's not really what you want.

On the other hand, it's been great for sealing individual portions of
leftovers from dinner for me to nuke and eat for lunch at work.  And we can
buy large portions of meat when it's on sale, freeze fruits and veggies
when they're in season, marinate meat (you need a special container for
that) and to save (in containers) GF cookies, chips and the like.  Though
it didn't do what I bought it for, it does so much else that it's one of
the few things that's accorded precious counter space, and we bought a
second simpler model for out camper.

You aren't supposed to seal things like fresh baked good in the vacuum
sealer. You need to freeze it to seal it. Of the 5 celiac in our immediate
family 3 of our families have sealers and they are great for keeping some
stuff longer but they are not ment to seal fresh baked goods. i am pretty
sure they would mold.

I have the vacuum sealer and I love it.   And yes, you have to freeze the
bread first or you won't have much when you are done.

I use the Manna from Anna mix and I think the bread is awesome, even after
freezing. When I want a slice I take it out and nuke it, then make my
sandwich and take it to work.  It is still good at lunchtime.   Maybe you
just need to try some other bread.

I have always found it works best to freeze first.  My father was in the
bread business..  You will probably be surprised to learn that most of the
bread in stores...the prepackaged kind...has been frozen first.

I have never tried this (because I don't bake breads), but on the
instructions for my vacuum sealer, it says that the way you freeze rolls
and breads is to suction out just enough air before the bread starts to
crush.  Then stop, and seal.  You won't get every ounce of air out, but
probably enough to keep the bread really quite fresh and in good shape --
and protected from freezer burn and odors from other foods.
(When asked what she uses it for):
I use it when I go to Sam's Club or Costco, and load up on meat -- buy it
in bulk and then divide up and vacuum seal and freeze the rest.  My
favorite thing to use it for is summer fruit!  For large pieces of fruit
(peaches, nectarines, etc.), I cut them up into bite size pieces and lay
them in a single layer on wax paper and freeze them.  I'll also add berries
to the mix, again in single layers. When they are frozen, I pull them off
the wax paper, and then I seal them (already frozen) inside the vacuum seal
bag.  I also do something similar with vegetables -- par boil them, freeze
in a single layer, and when frozen seal them and put them back in the
freezer.  We live in Indiana, and I also take fresh corn, strip off the
husk and freeze the raw corn.  When I unfreeze it, I cut it off the cobs
and microwave it with a little butter, and it's really quite wonderful.

I've not ended up using mine nearly as much as I thought I would - I do
like storing stuff in canning jars with it (extra attachment), but I don't
like that the containers they sell are all plastic, and not enough
size/shape options. I'm not one to use a lot of plastic, and especially
because with their bags, you lose almost 4 inches each time you open and
then want to re-seal (so you could go through a lot of plastic in no time)....
  it really does help stuff stay fresh a lot longer. As for bread though,
so far I have not perfected how to deal with that - did fine with dense
slices, but destroyed an airy loaf. I had forgotten about the different
settings though, which I think mine does have, so I guess I need to pull
out the instructions!

..some models have a light setting for soft foods - it is an adjustable
sealing-time knob; the instant seal is just for making the bags - you have
to seal one end, fill it, then vacuum seal it. Mine is the Foodsaver 1075.
And believe me, for leftovers in the fridge, it really has saved me a lot
of money, as the food stays good significantly longer....

P.S. It is also very entertaining to put marshmallows in a jar and watch
them expand - we bought them just to try that ourselves after having seen
the infomercial!

(Later) Yes, I do think soft bread would work with the light setting, and
I've been meaning to experiment for you, but don't have any to work with
right now.... At any rate, when I did soft bread the wrong way, it did
shrink, and I froze it anyway, but when I thawed it, it remained smashed -
taste was fine, appearance was a disaster.


Use a foodsaver with a canister attachment (all but their lowest end units)
and buy a very large canister (not cheap). You can then vac seal the bread
and leave on the counter.  However, any homemade bread will dry out, then
mold after a few days (wheat or gf) or at most a week. If your's gets dry
first, then switch to more whole grains (and bean flour) instead of all
starches and use honey instead of white sugar (honey's structure absorbs
mooisture from the air, even after baking, while sugar releases it).

To use any vac sealer on bread with a bag, you must freeze it first or you
get compressed bread globs (or crumbs, with breads that are too dry).  We
freeze my bread (already sliced) with wax paper between slices, in a
ziploc -- it never lasts long enough to be a problem and tastes just like
fresh after thawing out on the counter (I seldom toast it, no need, like
starch breads).


I have a vacuum sealer and it crushes bread, pretzels.....umm I tried
cheese nips (for my non celiacs) - all were little bits when opened..
(I asked if her sealer had the instant seal feature and multiple settings)
No  just a plain old sealer - it's maybe 1 1/2 years old
Maybe with the multiple settings there is such a thing as 'gentle'?

* Please remember some posters may be WHEAT-FREE, but not GLUTEN-FREE *