I'm in the process of buying a chamber vacuum sealer. For those of you who have one can I get by with 3mil bags or do I need 5 mil bags for sealing salmon/halibut? What's the best size bag to buy? Thanks.

wow.......I'd not heard of a "Chamber Vacuum Sealer".......did search....yep, there they were...........but spendie........and it looks like the "bags" are spendie........

If buying spendie stuff......buy the better heavy duty bags...go with the 5 mil.

I use Food Saver Brand.........works for me.........fish, chicken, steaks, etc. and I use for my salmon/steelhead eggs.

This is kinda like the people that buy a car...suppose to use premium gas but try and save money by using regular gas.....duh

When I had my Alaska fishing company we tried the 5 mil bags in our big commercial vacuum packer and liked the 3 mil better. 5 mil were just to stiff. And, we always processed our clients fish each day.

But, that's been 10-20 years ago and I'm starting to forget things from that time period.

fp

In the long run it's a better to spend the extra money up front for a sealer that will last more than a season or two (Foodsaver) and can seal wet fish/game/soups/stews etc.

Here's another savings in the long run:

Foodsaver bags.........44 quart bags.......$19.99/.45 per bag
3mil 7"x9" bags .........10000 bags..........$40.99/.04 per bag

I prefer the 5mil bags for my chamber vac.

I've had good luck the past year with the Cabela's pre-cut bags. I've used both the plain bag and the the zip top style. I've had some problems with the zip top tearing when trying to open/re-use it. Pricing was pretty good. Sure a lot easier than measuring/cutting bags off a roll.

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