Vacuum Sealer Guide

You can preserve food for home consumption or provide it to clients in its freshest form by learning how to vacuum seal. A heated seal bar is used by a Vacuum Sealer to fuse the edges of the bag together after removing the air from the area around the meal. This prevents the food from leaking back into the bag. Food that is exposed to air will deteriorate or eventually get stale, therefore this technique takes care of that risk.

Now, there are two main types of vacuum sealers on the market today, chamber and external. Below we break down the differences between chamber and external vacuum sealers.

External Vacuum Sealers

The most traditional sealer on the market. Many refer to external sealers as a “food saver” or “seal a meal” machine. External Vacuum Sealers are extremely popular because of their inexpensive upfront cost; however, you are restricted to your bag size and to damp/dry goods only. You are unable to seal liquids in an external vacuum sealer, as the liquid would be suctioned back into the sealer, thus ruining the pump.

Now I bet you’re wondering how to seal meat with juice. Great question: we recommend cooling the meat prior to sealing it, by setting in refrigerator for 20-30 minutes; just enough to firm up the meat before sealing. Pat dry meat before placing in your vacuum seal bag. This will reduce the amount of liquid going up into the sealer.

Things to Consider When Buying External Vacuum Sealers

You should consider the size of the seal bar when ordering an external sealer. The size of the seal bar can vary from 10” up to 18” depending on the manufacturer. This is the maximum width of the bag you can use; the length can vary. The types of bags used in external vacuum sealers must have an embossing or texture on at least one side, you will find different manufacturers make bags differently but keep in mind external sealers require a texture.

NOTE: Most external sealers have a channel or tray to collect small amounts of juice or liquid, once this channel or tray is filled, the liquid will be suctioned back into your sealer and may ruin it. For sealing liquid products, see Chamber Sealers below.

Chamber Vacuum Sealers

Don’t let the name or buttons scare you. Chamber Sealers are very easy to use. Commonly found in restaurants, food shops, cafeterias and butcher and meat shops. Chamber Vacuum Sealers give you the ability to seal products with heavy amounts of liquid, such as soups, homemade marinades, and sauces etc. You can literally seal a bag of water without damaging the machine.

Using a Chamber Vacuum Sealer does more than seal liquids. Depending on the size of the seal bar, and quantity of them, you can seal multiple bags at once. For example, if you have two 17” seal bars and you are sealing a 6” wide bag, you can seal 4 bags at once of your product.

Things to Consider When Buying Chamber Vacuum Sealers

Outside of considering your packaging bag size and seal bars, you need to consider the height of the inside chamber. You may not be able to fit larger items like you can with traditional external vacuum sealers. You may want a floor model or a table top model depending on your application. Don't worry, we carry both!

What's Gas Flush Mean?

Have you ever opened a product that was sealed in a bag with air? This packaging process requires gas flush. By removing the oxygen from the bag and replacing it with nitrogen. This is commonly found in items that require air to be in the bag. (Remember, if oxygen is sealed in your bag, your food may go stale quicker)

Only Chamber Vacuum Sealer can have the option of Gas Flush. Machines found online may include the gas flush kit or may require a separate attachment. So keep your eye out if you need this feature.

Weather your sealing garden vegetables or hundreds of pounds of meat, Meat Processing Products has the vacuum sealing equipment to get the job done right.

Do Chamber Sealers Use Different Bags?

Great question! Yes, chamber sealers use smooth sealer bags, with no texture or embossing on either side. Traditional external vacuum sealers use textured or embossed bags.

Need help selecting a sealer? Contact us today and let one of our vacuum sealing experts guide you in your process of selecting a sealer (no pushy sales people).