Foodsaver Reviews – The Foodsaver Vacuum Sealer V2840

Over 100 Amazon users rate this Foodsaver an average of 4.3 out of 5 stars

A few years ago, I was able to find a nice used Foodsaver vacuum sealer on Craigslist from a nice lady who had just upgraded her machine.

I regularly buy food in bulk to take advantage of the better price and repackage it, but sometimes my food would end up with freezer burn or the bugs would get to it and I would just end up losing money.

The Foodsaver changed that and I was surprised at how much I ended up using it.

Eventually it came time when I was ready to upgrade my own, and after reading lots of Foodsaver reviews, I ended up choosing what I considered the best – Foodsaver V2840 Advanced Design Food Sealer.

Click here to see the lowest price I was able to find!

First Things First – Why Vacuum Seal Foods?

Why should you use a vacuum food sealer anyway? What’s so great about it?

Vacuum sealing food:

• Extends storage time of frozen, dried and refrigerated food.
• Helps prevent freezer burn and is perfect for marinating cuts of meat.
• Removes oxygen to prevent oxidation which can cause off-flavors or colors in foods.
• You will save money because of less wasted food.
• Because a vacuum food sealer is so great at preventing freezer burn, it is just perfect for portioning food for the freezer, like meal-size portions of precooked ground beef, veggies, chicken, you name it.
• You can buy big canisters of drink mixes and seal up part of it if you don’t use it quick enough – then it won’t end up getting moisture and going moldy on you.
• It’s great for sealing up dehydrated food from your garden (it worked like a charm for my sundried tomatoes!)

You can use your Foodsaver for a huge variety of different foods and for long-term or short-term storage.

You can also use it for non-food uses such as vacuum sealing toiletry kits for camping, emergency kits for the car, important documents, etc.

You could even use it to seal up a few baby wipes to stash in your purse… they will NEVER dry out that way!

Why The Foodsaver Vacuum Sealer Brand Specifically?

The Foodsaver Vacuum Sealer is the #1 vacuum sealer on the market, and there is a reason why. If you look at the Foodsaver reviews on any major site like Amazon.com, you will see the difference yourself.

Aside from the fact that they are extremely well built, Foodsaver has a few advantages.

It’s In The Bag!

In my opinion, their main advantage is their wonderful bags. While the Foodsaver bags are admittedly pricey compared to the cheaper imported knockoffs, they are sturdy and reusable – in fact, you can even run them through the dishwasher and reuse them until you run out of sealing space.

There are cheaper machines on the market with cheaper bags, but this is one area where you definitely get what you pay for – the ratings on Amazon speak for themselves.

Seal-A-Meal

Something else that comes in VERY handy is the ability to “seal a meal” in a bag and heat it up in hot water within the bag itself. Some foods just get unappetizing if they are reheated in the microwave, but sealed up in a Foodsaver bag they are no problem to quickly reheat in a pot of hot water and taste just as good as when they were freshly cooked.

This is great if you cook ahead of time and put a lot of meals into the freezer.

The Seal

Bags aside, their sealing strip is thicker and more sturdy than most, and Foodsaver has a huge variety of models for different needs and budgets.

Truth be told, they have so many different models but they are all very similar, so I am going to focus first on the one that I think is the best Foodsaver – the Foodsaver V2840 Vacuum Food Sealer.

How Does the Foodsaver V2840 Work?

The Automatic Process

The Foodsaver V2840 has an automatic vacuum, sealing and shutoff process that eliminates the potential of insufficient vacuum and overheating of the sealing strip once the seal is complete.

In other words, you don’t have to time the seal yourself, hoping you get a proper vacuum, or end up pressing the seal button too long and melt the bag right through.

Not only that, but it all works at the touch of a button for a hands-free operation – no more pressing with both hands trying to find the “right” spots while you try not to ruin the vacuum. It’s literally a push-button system.

Instant Seal

They have a “Crush-free Instant Seal” allows you to quickly package those items that can’t take a complete vacuum seal – potato chips or other delicate foods, for instance. Their extra-wide sealing strip allows for a more secure seal that won’t pop open easily.

The old seal strip on my Foodsaver from the 80s was much thinner and would fail a lot easier, especially when sealing powdery things like hot cocoa mix (I buy mine in bulk because the kind that I like the best is ONLY available 25 lbs at a time… crazy!).

Customizable Vacuum Speeds & Levels

Dual vacuum speeds and adjustable food levels allow more control for sealing different types of food from wet foods like marinated cuts of meat all the way to dry powdery foods such as bulk amounts of flour or cocoa powder.

What’s Included with the Foodsaver Vacuum Sealer V2840?

• Foodsaver V2840 Vacuum Sealer Unit
• Starter kit with bag material
• Quick Start Guide
• Instructional DVD
• Traditional Instruction Manual
• Vacuum Accessory Hose

How Big Is The Foodsaver V2840?

The Foodsaver V2840 flips up to give itself a narrower footprint to take up less space on your countertop.

This is perfect if you are anything like me and have tons of gadgets! But seriously, who doesn’t have limited counter space?

This particular Foodsaver vacuum sealer is light enough to stash away in a cupboard when you aren’t using it which is what I usually do, but I like the flip-up feature because I find that I go through periods when I end up using it a ton and want to keep it out.

The stainless steel lid is easy to clean (awesome!) and looks really great in the kitchen.

And in case you DO want to measure out cupboard space for this, the Foodsaver V2840 measures 16-3/4 by 9-3/4 by 14-1/2 inches.

How Do You Clean the Foodsaver Vacuum Sealer?

Simple to clean – just take out the drip tray and throw it in the dishwasher. It’s the only part of the Foodsaver that could potentially get messy aside from maybe the outside, which is easy just to wipe off with a damp cloth.

The drip tray (removable, dishwasher safe, and antibacterial) is great for sealing meat and anything else where you might end up with a little liquid inside – this is a big improvement over the older models that do not have a removable drip tray.

One of my bigger frustrations with my older model Foodsaver vacuum sealer was just that the inside of the drip tray was a pain to clean out – having something you can remove and toss into the dishwasher makes life so much easier, and makes me a lot more likely to seal up raw meat!

Tell Me About the Bags & Accessories for the Foodsaver Vacuum Sealer!

The Precious Precious Baggins

The amount of bags included will get you off to a pretty good start.

The bags can be quite an investment and they include enough for you to use before you decide if you want to just buy a smaller package of the bags or invest in bulk quantities of the bag rolls.

Making custom bags is simple with the built in roll holder and cutter. It keeps the bag roll in one place so you can unroll, cut, then seal it together pretty quickly.

I usually buy my bag rolls off Amazon, though sometimes they are a better price at Costco when they have a coupon.

Again I’ll warn you – don’t be tempted by the cheaper knockoff bags! Yes, they might work but the quality is so much lower that you’ll have a lot more seal failures, you can’t run them through the dishwasher and you can’t use them to make “boil-in-the-bag” food.

Remember that the cost of the Foodsaver brand bags can be offset by reusing them!

I am very much a thrifty, cut-corners kind of person but there are some things that end up costing more in the long run if you go the cheaper route, and this is one of them.

Accessory Hose-Beast

The accessory hose is a great addition and helps you vacuum seal non-bag things. Foodsaver sells vacuum sealable canisters to store dry goods in, and you plug the hose right in to the canister to seal them.

Having said that, I will be honest with you in saying I have not had good luck with the canisters. I find them inefficient and they do not hold the seal for long periods of time. Looking at the reviews for the canisters on Amazon, it seems like I am not the only one.

I much prefer their vacuum canning jar attachment. It’s a separate attachment that you use with the accessory hose that allows for a vacuum seal on a canning jar with a metal lid.

This is not a substitute for processing with wet foods, but is wonderful for bug-and-rodent-proof longterm storage of dry goods. And the best part is, you can reuse the lids – just open the jar, use what you need, then reseal when you are done.

It’s also perfect for those “cookie mix in a jar” type gifts, because it will really help keep the ingredients fresh until your recipient uses the mix.

How Do I Learn To Use My Foodsaver Vacuum Sealer?

Foodsaver has a pretty good instruction manual that’s easy to read and will you get sealing up your food in no time.

And even better, there’s a great instructional DVD that will demonstrate just how simple the Foodsaver vacuum sealer is to use.

What Are The Drawbacks of the Foodsaver V2840?

Amazon users have given this item a rating of 4.3 stars out of 5and I would concur. There are very few drawbacks to this machine.

The Seal Wastage

The main thing I don’t like is the fact that the seal is designed in a way that wastes some of the bag when you create the seal. To fix this, I cut them a little longer to begin with, and then that allows me to use that bag for a longer time, continuing to re-seal.

Bethany’s Tip: I have found that once a bag gets too short to really be used for much, I can usually use it to make little seasoning packets for on-the-go. They are great for camping and even just when I’m busy and don’t want to pull out my individual seasoning bottles.

The Seal Strips Compressionage

The only other thing people don’t like about the V2840 Foodsaver vacuum sealer is that the seal strips themselves can become compressed. This is an easy fix just by a quick soak in warm water, which will refresh the seals pronto.

Other than that, I haven’t found anything that isn’t to love about the Foodsaver V2840. It’s a beautiful machine that makes my life easier and helps me save money and waste less food.

About ten years ago, a good friend of mine got one and she just raved about it… I wish I had paid attention to her then! But at least I’ve got one now, and it is definitely rave-worthy.

What’s the Bottom Line – How Much is it?

The Foodsaver V2840 retails at $280.00 but you shouldn’t pay more than $250 for it – Amazon usually has it for right around $200.00.

What Others Say About the Foodsaver V2840:

This food sealer has gotten such rave reviews online with an average of 4.4 stars from reviewers on Amazon and Viewpoints.

Here are some of their comments:

• “I have completely transformed my freezer”
• “My husband can’t tell the difference between frozen and fresh meat anymore”
• “Has definitely paid for itself”
• “Love this new upgraded model!”
• “Can’t beat the V2840 for ease of use”
• “Lettuce in a bag lasts for weeks!”

Click here to read more reviews.

Where can I buy the Foodsaver V2840?

I would recommend going with Amazon, since they usually have the best price on the Foodsaver V2840. If you are on a tight budget, I would definitely keep an eye on your local ads such as Craigslist – I believe I paid about $40 for my old Foodsaver and it worked great for me until I was ready for the new one!

Read More –> Foodsaver V2840 Advanced Design Food Sealer

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