If you regularly buy or prepare food in bulk, a vacuum sealer can save you time and money—but only if the machine is quick, effective, and easy to use.
Buy our winner Nesco Deluxe Food Sealer:
Buy the Anova Culinary Precision Vacuum Sealer:
Read our full review:
Browse our latest recipes:
ABOUT US: Located in Boston’s Seaport District in the historic Innovation and Design Building, America’s Test Kitchen features 15,000 square feet of kitchen space including multiple photography and video studios. It is the home of Cook’s Illustrated magazine and Cook’s Country magazine and is the workday destination for more than 60 test cooks, editors, and cookware specialists. Our mission is to test recipes over and over again until we understand how and why they work and until we arrive at the best version.
If you like us, follow us:
50 Comments
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
I have the vac master pro 350 and highly recommend it. I was going through the plastic ones about once a year, but I have het the pro for 4 years now and it’s still going strong. It’s stainless steel, heave, and larger than the rest, but it lasts. If you only use them occasionally, the plastic ones are ok, but if you use them a lot, go with the vac master pro. Wish they had rated durability but I suspect the winner was chosen before the test started.
considering it's gone up in price after this video it might just be overhyped, ill look around more.
NO PROOF OF PERFORMANCE NO SIDE BY SIDE COMPARISON AGAINST OTHER UNITS JUST "BUT THIS UNIT BECAUSE WE SAID SO" IS THAT YOUR MARKETING STRATEGY? DO YOU THINK THAT WE ARE RETARDED?
You didn't discuss cutting the bags.
I use canning jars and
FS cannisters as well.
any reusable options?
Title should be "Experts guide to Nesco Vacuum Sealer"
My Nesco failed a week after the warranty expired. My old seal a meal was a bit fussy but lasted 8 years.
How long will a Food Saver bag retain it's vacuum seal if left untouched, stored in plastic tub?
Not gonna lie…I use Julia's method with the zip top bag and a straw. Will be watching for a deal on the Nesco sealer going forward.
What about making bags from rolls of plastic? Mine does that and I can customize the bag sizes. I had a problem with it because I needed to clean the sealing surfaces due to sealing in wet foods but that is all the problems I've had. What are the operating costs? Bags can be expensive.
A HUGE THANK YOU JULIA….I do not have a vacuum sealer yet, so I decided to try your 'straw vacuum' technique and it worked. Until I purchase one, I'm going to do this and hope I don't pass out 🙂
Men this looks good for ammo 😂
Appliance Hustle by a beta male
THIS was the video that convinced me to buy the VS-12.
You let me down.
Not that it doesn't seem to vacuum and seal well, but you missed that the canister accessory has been discontinued and NO ONE sells one for this machine.
If I want to use that functionality, and I do, I will have to spend money on a FoodSaver accessory and hope that I can modify it to work. Not ideal.
Watching the coffee sealing you could see the grounds being sucked up toward the vacuum source. This is why when dealing with fine-grains and powders such as flour you would be advised to put it in a paper sack first or in the case of jarring/vac-packing, place a coffee filter over the top of your intended product. Otherwise it will suck up into the works and clog your machine. It is my understanding that once done, it is no easy task to get the clogging undone.
Did you test the food savers and that's the one I've seen the most? How did it compared to the others?
trust me you need one of these, even the cheap one is really useful and will save you a lot of money
I used 2 LUV food saver. Had 3 in 10 years. Usually lasted 3. Contacted food saver becaus of their 5 yr warranty. Used 2 they only asked 4 # on plug and send pics. Now they want all of this PLUS send it bac. Not worth the hassle. Bought Nesco but original seal requires twice press 2 seal.
Def don’t trust this , obviously paid by these Chinese crap companies
I have 5 of the FoodSaver hard containers and NONE of them hold a vacuum, specially after you put them in the fridge.
Chamber sealers change everything. Unfortunately that includes the condition of your wallet.
I sure wish they would hav ecovered soups, stews, and other wet items. I make a lot os pasta sauces, etc. I portion these and freeze.
I also use mine to seal plastic bags, bags of frozen vegetables, bags of pasta, bags of coconut, etc. When I want to use what's inside, I cut the seal, take out how much I need, and reseal it. I do the same thing with my preformed burgers; each time I take out two burgers, I re-vacuum seal the package and put it back in the freezer. This is the only way I can make family-size packages work by portioning them out, bagging, and vacuum sealing. The best!
Never do that with coffee, please. Please.
"Meat breath" 😳
Not just the freezer, prolongs the life of food in the fridge too. This is one of the most used appliances in our kitchen. No more freezer burn or spoiled food. Also great for marinades and sous vide cooking.
“Meat breath” that’s one thing I didn’t know I’d hear
do any of these have a hose port (for sealing mason jars) like the old food saver had?
So the main criteria was ease of use? What about actual suction? I have a Nesco, which replaced a high-end FoodSaver in my kitchen. The FoodSaver was a pain to use, but when I used it to vacuum seal my meats, it got ALL the air bubbles out. The Nesco is really easy to use, but it leaves bubbles in the bags I seal meat in, which is not good because the meat gets freezer burn where those bubbles are. There just isn't enough suction. I'm now looking for one to replace the Nesco, and I'm sad to say this review wasn't much help.
The Nesco sealer does not want to work with Nutri lock bags. It does not work with anything but their bags yet there info does not mention this anywhere and they are not responsive when you complain bags are not vacuuming… I do not have an answer except to say I am not a happy camper that the bags I have will not work with the Nesco VS-12.
Does ATK have any plans to test chamber vacuum sealers?
Did not address all the features and use, poor video. I expected more from the test kitchen
Nesco doesn't have a removable cleaning tray — juices can tend to get sucked up into the machine if you aren't careful and give it inches of extra bag beyond the food item. Just use a folded paper towel as a little absorbent pad to soak up juices — placed in the bag nearer to the edge that will get sealed. The paper towel doesn't need to touch the food at all, and– there's no problem with it in the sealed bag.
that wasn't a comparison , it was an advertisement.
I feel so attacked. I fear change, I will stick with my straw. =P
Incredible. A table full of sealers I want to know about and they don't talk about any of them and joke about her sucking skills and say good bye lol
Wait, so which one removed the most air? Was it also the Nesco or another one?
Does the pulse give it a seal without taking air out? I would like to seal powder supplements in travel size single serve packs. I do not need the air to be removed (despite that removing air would not affect my use. Personal preference.)
Why didn't you discuss BAGS ?? Generics? Costs? Sizing options?….
These Nescos are $145 US. I wish they were 90 bucks. Amazon Canada has them for $231, a complete rip-off.
I own the NESCO. It is XLNT for dry goods, but for anything like meats or wetter type items it sucks. I have to constantly clean the interior, which is not as easy as other sealers I have owned, and, most importantly, it has serious issues sealing. Whether I use the double sealer or the wet sealer, it does not work well. I even have to use the gentle or manual vacuum with limited success. This unit does not like any liquid between the plastic. So, if you do a lot of meats in the freezer this is not the best choice.
I happened to come across this video after cutting up a large warehouse Fillet strip. Being tired of the hassle, I typed in Best Wet Food Vacuum Sealer and came across this video. I had to give you a thumbs down on this one.
It's pretty obvious that this was nothing more than a paid advertisement for the Nesco. 🙄
OMG! I thought I was the only person who sucked the air out of the bag with a straw.😂
This is an infomercial – not any sort of review. The website is hardly any better. What a shame.
I purchased the Nesco because my previous unit had difficulty sealing the compostable bags. The best feature of the Nesco is that it forms a double seal however, I found the vacuum to be less than that of my old unit and one thing that was not tested here was vacuum storing of liquids like soup. I make lots of soups and store them in the freezer so I always have some handy for dinner. The problem with the Nesco is that you need three arms if you are sealing liquids, two to hold the liquid containing bag and the third to close the lid. Unlike the Foodsaver which simply allows one to put the unsealed end of the bag into the slot and automatically seals it, one has to lower and lock into place the Nesco. In addition, the Nesco doesn't have an attachment to seal reusable bags or the containers that require the same type accessory.
Breathing in possible bacteria in raw meat? Who does that?Experts alright
Nesco has more than one deluxe sealer. What is the exact model that was used?
How long does the Nesco take to seal the bag? In some other videos I watched, the Anova ANVS01-US00 took 23 seconds for the sealing step, which seemed like it'd be annoyingly slow, to me.
The fact that the vacuum sealer tray is not removable is a deal breaker for me. All 3 of my food savers have a removable tray and easy to clean.