My five year-old Weston vacuum sealer (similar to this model) finally died today. I’m pretty disappointed in this turn of events, as it was only lightly used and was never flooded. I thought $200 would get me a robust unit, but apparently not. It recently started having a hard time sealing the thicker bags that I like to use, but the final straw was that it wouldn’t create a vacuum even after repeated attempts. It sat there buzzing for minutes without evacuating a cubic millimeter of air from the bag. Smacking it around a bit didn’t revive it, but it did make me feel better.
Since I wanted to sous vide a tomahawk steak for dinner tonight, Raina and I ran out to Cabela’s to give their 15” Commercial-Grade Vacuum Sealer a try. After a quick read through the owner’s manual I tried sealing the tomahawks again. This time the sealer generated so much vacuum that the sharp end of the bone managed to poke through even the thick bags I use.
A few seconds with a microplane took the sharp corner off the rib bone and allowed the bag to seal very nicely. The built-in roll holder and cutter are also nice upgrades over my previous sealer, as is the additional width. Raina had to do a little a little reorganizing in the kitchen cabinets to find room for this larger piece of equipment, but if this model holds up better it’ll be worth it.
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