Couldn't sell the wife on a FoodSaver

So I bought a Reynolds Handi Vac instead and it really isn't bad so far.

My one complaint is that they have almost no variety in bag sizing. 1 quart or 1 Gallon is all you can get. But, I was able to fit 4 ounces of whole leaf hops in the gallon bag and the hand vacuum reduced it to the size of about 2 ounces of pellets. I expect that the quart size bages would be useful for 1 ounce portions but, if diligent, one might be able to get 2 ounces in there and still get a good seal.

The bags were easy to seal and the HV was easy to use.

I know there are places that sell the FoodSaver for less but, my WalMart only carried the Delux version and they wanted $124.00 plus accessories.

The Reynolds cost me a whopping $15.00 with an extra box of bags.

I am sure this will turn out to be a "got what you paid for" type deal but, until further notice, the HV is actually a decent alternative.

The trick is to sealing the hops in a cheap, regular ziplock bag then put THAT bag in the Reynolds bag. It stops the hop particles from clogging the seal area.

I simply hung the bag over the edge of the counter to let gravity keep everything below the fill line. After most of the air was vacuumed out and the bag was collapsed enough to keep the content in place I laid it flat on the counter to completely vacuum out the air.

Easy Peasy.

I've had about a 75% success rate with the hops, using the FoodSaver. It does do a pretty kick-ass job at protecting meat from freezerburn in the freezer, although the bags have had a tendancy to leak a bit when we re-thaw them.