I just bought a Seal-A-Meal and read somewhere (reference person not contactable) that you can use regular ziploc freezer bags in the vacuum unit and seal them. But when I tried this just now, it didn’t suck out the air, though it did attempt to seal it, admittedly not as well as their bags. I’m looking for the cheapest route to vacuum seal "many" food bags. I’m a new Once A Month Cooker so there will be a lot of bags to seal. "Sucking" the air out will only make me faint!
Thanks!!!!
vacuum bags are textured so that the sealer can pull a vacuum while the bag is in the unit…if you close a zip-lock in the unit it will not allow you to remove any air…if i freeze with a ziplock i try to lay the bag on its side and flatten the ingredients and get all the air out of the bags before sealing…
Zip Loc bags have a high failure rate. I tried them with my vacuum sealer and it sucked through the bags, and others lost their vacuum over night.
Is your food something you really want to be cheap about? Aren’t you worth some plastic bags that will work properly and keep your food from poisoning you. There are other things in life you can be more frugal about. One trip to the doctor or hospital will have lost you your "savings".