Anybody use off-brand Foodsaver bags?

[howlinowl]

I've been having some problems with my Foodsaver. Sometimes, the bags do not seal completely, and they lose their vacuum, sometimes they won't vacuum down at all. I was going through some stuff in the freezer, found another bag of meat with no vacuum.

I started thinking.... in my infinate cheapness, I've been buying the Walmart "Great Value" roll bags. They seem a little thinner than the namebrand Foodsaver ones. Wonder if this is my whole problem? I just thought I'd ask the forum if anyone else uses them, and what luck they've had with them before I throw them out and buy some real Foodsaver ones.

Thanks,
Allan

 

[camiller]

I've found that if I am vacuuming bone-in porkchops or steaks that sometimes there is a sharp point of bone somewhere that breaks the seal by peircing the bag. I've had this happen even with the foodsaver brand bags. Also, as my foodsaver has gotten older I find that I have to press down on it while it seals or I get a really thin seal that may be incomplete. Again this happens with any brand bags.

 

[RichBrewer]

I've used Blackndecker bags with no problems.

 

[howlinowl]

Thanks for the replies.

The machine is new... and I haven't found anything wrong with it so far. I figured that was probably operator error, I'm not the kind of person who automatically assumes that it's the fault of the machine. It came with a few foodsaver bags, but they are usually either too small or too large for what I'm wrapping up, so I haven't used them. They are, however, made thicker than the roll of material that I am using. I'm gonna pick up some foodsaver rolls and try them out.

Allan

 

[Evan!]

Either that, or you can double-seal the bags. I don't know what model you have, but some of them allow you to adjust the amount of time the heat strip stays on. If that's the case, then adjust it higher so you are sure to get a complete sealing strip. If your machine doesn't have the adjustable sealing time, then just seal it twice once it's done: lift the lid (without moving the bag), close it again, and activate the vacuum. It will hit the sealing trigger quickly because there's no air to pull, and then it'll heat-seal it again on the same location. I have to do this sometimes just to be sure I have a good seal.

 

[howlinowl]

I bought some name brand Food saver bags, been using them for quite a while. I haven't had any problems with the bags not sealing or losing their vacuum anymore. I am guessing that my problem was with the Great Value (Walmart) brand bag rolls. So, if anybody else is having the same problems with the Wallyworld bags, I'd suggest getting the Foodsaver bags.

Allan

 

[Jesse17]

Allan,
One question. Are you using the bags straight off the roll, or are you sealing/cutting the size bag you want then turning them 90° and sealing from the end. The food saver bags will allow you to do this because of the X pattern the air ridges use, but the Wal Mart bags only have grooves in one direction, and it's hard to get a good vacuum.

Just wondering. It's something I had problems with when I first got my Food Saver.

 

[2pugbrews]

I've been having some problems with my Foodsaver. Sometimes, the bags do not seal completely, and they lose their vacuum, sometimes they won't vacuum down at all. I was going through some stuff in the freezer, found another bag of meat with no vacuum.

I started thinking.... in my infinate cheapness, I've been buying the Walmart "Great Value" roll bags. They seem a little thinner than the namebrand Foodsaver ones. Wonder if this is my whole problem? I just thought I'd ask the forum if anyone else uses them, and what luck they've had with them before I throw them out and buy some real Foodsaver ones.

Thanks,
Allan

We too in our "infinite cheapness" tried off brand rolls of bags. Had a lot of trouble sealing. Back in July I bought 2 8" rolls for a total of 132 ft for $38.98 with shipping from an ebay seller. http://stores.ebay.com/FOODSAVER-STORE
I think the Foodsaver brand work the best. No problem at all with these.
I just checked - still offering roll deals in different combinations. The best deal I could find.

 

[BrianP]

I bought some of the walmart bags. They seem thinner than the foodsaver brand. Plus they're only about 15% less cost than the OEM brand.

I think I'll double seal the ends, just in case.

PS: I didn't know walmart had their own brand until I read a thread by EdWort who said he used them to package his grains in batch sizes.

 

[rod]

i use the seal-a-meal brand rolls.
cheaper than foodsaver and look the same thickness - and have the cross hatching that the cheap wal mart brand lacks.

 

[DIY Brewing Company]

the wal mart bags are horrible I had this same problem with them. If you actually look at the price of them per square foot they are the same price as the foodsaver bags. If you go on ebay for foodsaver bags they are really cheap.

 

[Chriso]

I use the Rival Seal-a-Meal bags and unit - the rolls are 1/2 the price of FS brand at my local Target.

The FS brand bags are smooth on one side, the Seal-a-Meal are textured on both. I think the Seal-a-Meal are sturdier than any other brand IMO.

Also if you want to stay loyal to FoodSaver, you get a quantity discount on their website for buying 3 boxes or 5 boxes of any one kind. Goes from 10.00 to 7.00 per box for the standard 22ct quart bags just for buying 5 boxes.

 

[enduserzero]

Possible solution to Foodsaver bags problems:

I just recently purchased a replacement Foodsaver vacuum heat-sealer, the one I've been using for over a year just stopped vacuum-sealing for no (seemingly) good reason.
So, Both devices on kitchen table, I fire-up the new one I just bought and attempted to seal a bag of meatballs ~ NO LUCK. I just bought this bleepin' thing and it's giving me the same problems the older one has been. The pump motor works fine on both devices,
suction is occurring but bags won't seal (???). So, rather than chucking both through the living-room window I decided to take a breath and investigate this further. After about an hour of cursing and throwing stuff about it occurred to me, I noticed one of the bags I was using had english/spanish translated text, and the other bags did not. Both bags were pulled from Foodsaver brand boxes purchased at Walmart, but one had an obvious difference. With further investigation I realized that the foodsaver bags with english/spanish text also had a noticeable textural difference. The outside of the english/spanish bags had one side of the webbed texture (these bags failed to seal everytime, in both devices) and the Foodsaver bags lacking the outside texturing on either side sealed everytime, even on my first device which I thought had died. This revelation begs to ask if there might be a knock-off manufacturer peddling faux Foodsaver bags (???). Both boxes have identical marketing logo's, and consumer informational content, but when you open the boxes and compare the bags you'll notice an obvious difference. The sealing bags that work everytime have NO texturing to the outer surface of the bags and the ones which fail everytime have texturing on one side of the outer surface (also english/spanish translation text). I'm forwarding a copy of this letter to the manufacturer of Foodsaver to see if this can be rectified, I've spent a good deal of $$$ on un-vacuumable bags