This $70 vacuum sealer helped me save money by preserving frozen foods - and it made sous vide cooking a snap
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- Whether you are a hunter, gardener, or just like to buy in bulk, a vacuum sealer can help extend the shelf life of your foods.
- FoodSaver is perhaps the biggest name in the vacuum sealing industry, but there are several more affordable options available that work just as well.
- The Cosori Vacuum Sealer is compact enough to fit in a kitchen drawer, runs quietly, and has a powerful vacuum, which helps create airtight seals for sous vide cooking or freezing.
- Currently priced at $70 on Amazon, the Cosori Vacuum Sealer costs less than most brands, and it comes with vacuum bags, a vacuum sealer roll, and a two-year warranty.
I can't resist a good deal, especially when it comes to meat. When I see prime rib on sale after the holidays or corned beef marked down after St. Patrick's Day, I buy way too much of the stuff. I've found the meat stays fresher and resists freezer burn when I vacuum seal it in manageable quantities before I freeze it. This is where a good vacuum sealer comes in handy.
Cosori recently sent me a vacuum sealer to test. Here's what it was like to use.
My first experiences with Cosori Vacuum Sealer
The Cosori Vacuum Sealer comes with five 11.5-inch by 9.5-inch vacuum bags, a 7.8-inch by 16-foot vacuum sealer roll, a user manual, and a hose attachment. Its overall size of the is 16 inches by 7.9 inches by 3.4 inches, so it fits conveniently on a shelf or in a kitchen drawer. It also only weighs five pounds so it's easy to move around your counter.
Thanks to its intuitive design and simple instructions, it took me about five minutes to get the vacuum sealer up and running. First, you use the built-in bag cutter to cut a bag from the vacuum sealer roll. Next, place one of the open ends of the bag on the rubber sealing lip, close the sealer, and press the Manual Seal button. Once the red light turns off, you open the machine back up and fill your bag with whatever you want to preserve. Lastly, you put the open end of the bag into the vacuum chamber, close the device, and press the Vacuum Seal button. Once the red light turns off again, your pouch is ready for storage or sous vide cooking.
The device has settings for normal or gentle pressure, dry or moist foods, sealing canisters, and fast marinating, which takes the guess work out of the process. It can also accommodate a wide range of bag sizes thanks to its 12-inch seal bar, and the built-in bag cutter really streamlines the cutting and sizing process.
Cosori states that the vacuum's strength is about 20 inHg, which is about what you would expect from top models. In general, sealers with a higher vacuum pressure are able to remove more of the air that might otherwise deteriorate your food.
How the Cosori Vacuum Sealer performed
I mainly used the Cosori Vacuum Sealer to create airtight bags for sous vide cooking and to repackage large-quantity purchases into more manageable meal sizes that can handle long-term freezer storage.
A few months ago, our local grocer had an irresistible sale on pork chops. I went overboard and got about 20 pounds. I packaged the chops four to a bag and froze them. Earlier this week, I defrosted one of the bags and was thrilled to find that the months in the freezer did not affect the quality. There were no signs of freezer burn, and the baked pork chops tasted excellent.
I'm the Chef de Cuisine of the Brains household, but there are some nights when I'm out of town and can't cook. My wife will sometimes pick up the slack, but more often than not, she delegates the duties to local restaurants. Since I get jealous when the family goes out to eat or orders take-out without me, I create meals and vacuum seal them. If I'm going to be out of town at dinnertime, I pop one of the pouches in the water bath before I take off, set the sous vide machine, and my wife and boys can have a delicious gourmet meal ready come dinnertime.
I timed myself to see how long it takes to cut a bag, seal one end, fill it, and vacuum seal the contents. The whole process from start to finish is about two minutes. I also measured how loud the device is when it's running, and it's fairly quiet at 70 decibels.
I liked that I could use different brands of bag rolls with the Cosori Vacuum Sealer. The branded options are usually a bit pricey so I took a chance on the Simple Houseware Vacuum Sealer Rolls, and they worked great with this appliance.
Some concerns about the vacuum sealer
The Cosori Vacuum Sealer is good for its price. But, since it is a lower-end option, it has a few quirks. It's temperamental at times. For example, when I was trying to vacuum seal some frozen steaks, the vacuum kept running and running, but not much air seemed to be leaving the bag, and it wouldn't seal. I switched the food setting to Moist, and it worked just fine. In general, I found the Dry setting didn't work so well.
The seals are not always airtight. This became apparent during "The Chili Incident." As I'm known to do, I made way more chili than a family of four's digestive systems can handle. So, I decided I'd vacuum seal some of it in bags for later reheating. I manually sealed one end of a bag and started to fill it up. Soon, chili was leaking all over the kitchen. It was a bad mess. From that point on, I made a point of double sealing each end, and I didn't have any more incidents.
The hose attachment is completely useless. Looking through the user manual, it appears Cosori originally planned on launching a line of canisters to use with the attachment, and they were going to include one canister with each vacuum sealer. I haven't been able to find these canisters anywhere online. And, it's doubtful that the hose attachment would work with other manufacturers' vacuum sealed containers.
Lastly, the Cosori Vacuum Sealer does not handle gentle foods well. I filled a bag with tortilla chips, set the sealer to Gentle, and watched in horror as the chips cracked to bits. At least I'll now have a good, fresh topping for my chili.
The bottom line
Though it has its limitations, overall, the Cosori Vacuum Sealer worked well for my needs. It kept my foods tightly sealed for sous vide cooking and long-term freezer storage, and it was easy to use. I would recommend this vacuum sealer to anyone interested in extending the shelf life of their foods and for home chefs looking for an affordable way to remove air from bags before sous vide cooking.