Has anyone tried using commercial bulk bags with a high end foodsaver?! Curious how it works! Unfortunately buying them requires buying a case of 2000, And I'll be damned if I'm gonna do that without some feedback.. lol..

Thanks in advance,

Tom

I have not...I buy the rolls of vacuum bag material at Costco...

Fish on...

Todd

I don't use the costco bags anymore and buy bags in bulk off of the internet. When I head to Lapush or Westport to put fish in the freezer, the costco bags are to much work. They are as much work as bagging the fish. I found some really neat ones called Vac-Strip. They have a plastic third piece inside so that the air can be pulled from the far end of the bags and all around. They are premade so you do not have to cut them to length and preseal each one. I will dig them out for you and get you the place to get them. They are really expensive if you get them from the wrong place. They are really nice bags. When I go to Westport anymore I usually throw back a lot of fish and keep kings 25 pounds and bigger, unless it is like last year where it was tough to find. One nice king is at least six big fillets. I had to use the bigger bags for these as I got two different sizes.

I bought a Vac-U-Pak sealer at one of the shows. I think I paid $230 for it as a friend and I got a deal for buying two of them together. I think they were $275.00 each. She had these Vac Strip Bags. They worked great in the vacuum sealer. I hadn't used this new sealer yet as I have 3 or 4 Tilia foodsaver sealers. They worked fine in it. When I finally got out the new VacUPak, it was a pain in the butt. Don't like it. It has a little head you have to put the bags on just right. If the counter is a little wet or slick, The bags stick to it and it won't pull the bag and meat with it to seal. I cleaned it and put it away. I am sticking with the easy Tilias. They are so cheap now, I will only use them. I am not going to spring for the $1200.00 on up commercial models.

I will find the place I got these bags and put a post on where I got them for the good deal. You really don't get that many bags out of a Foodsaver roll.

Here is what they look like. I will keep on until I find the better deal. I think I paid about $30 or $40 per 100 of the 10" x 15", I bought smaller 6x10s just before for more. I think the internet sent me through ebay. They have specials from time to time. Buy them by the box of 100. I can't find my exact deal. Keep a search going and when they come up with a good deal and free shipping, thats the time to buy. I think I bought 3 boxes of each and won't have to buy any forever. They work really well. We pulled out some two year old king at a baseball event and BBQed it. Everyone thought it was fresh. Guess thats what they get for buying store fish. It was great.

http://cgi.ebay.com/300-FOODFRESH-BAG-AS...0QQcmdZViewItem

Thanks Fishinnut! Looks like a killer concept! At .30 per bag, you really can't go wrong! The reason I ask about this is that my dad and I are getting ready to go on a smoking spree, and with a couple hundred pounds of fish, foodsaver rolls and or bags are gonna get expensive... I most certainly appreciate your help! If anyone else has any major suggestions feel free!

Tom

Good find, Fishinnut...

Those look like a great deal...I prefer the pre-cut bags to the rolls, as they are much easier to deal with, but they are a lot more expensive to buy one box at a time at the store...it looks a lot more affordable to buy the 300 bag assortment.

Thanks!

Fish on...

Todd

i tried the commericall bags and they didn,t work in my food saver 2 i don,t know why but the just don,t

Here is what the bags look like with smoked salmon in them. They are way to easy to use. I got to thinking about them lasting forever. They won't. I spent Labor day weekend in Westport. For three days our family only kept 7 King/Silvers. At 6 fillets per fish thats 42 bags. They will get used up quickly at that rate. They sure stay fresh. I usually have to use the Foodsaver bags for doing a whole side of a fish for a big BBQ. You can't beat a huge king on the BBQ. There is nothing better.

We took a mid forties king and made only two fillets out of it. We put it into two huge bags. One went to my friends retirement party and the other to my kids baseball end of the year party. People were amazed how good it was. Worst part was that I had to cut some of the tail off as it was quite a bit longer than the BBQ.

One thing I forgot to mention is that we bought the 6" x 10" bags and they were a little hard to get the fish in without sliming the bag. They would have to be cleaned off to put in the machine to seal.

We switched to the bigger 10x15 bags and it was easier to get the fish in with out touching the opening or sealable end. We also folded the bag opening back like you would a shirt sleeve when putting the fish in. This kept the bag end dry and clean for sealing. Put it in and fold it back down. Goes right in the Food saver without slime in the area it burns or seals shut. These bags work great in the foodsaver. I ran into the add for the Vac-U-Pak again and thy are selling for $300.00! I am staying with the Foodsaver brand for ease of use. By the way those are smoked humpies in the bags.

Save that link and when they put the sale out jump on it. My wife agreed we paid $29.95 per box with free shipping. They had 11 boxes left and I got three or four boxes. I noticed after I bought them the ad dropped the amount by that amount. I had been trying to do the same thing as you guys for years and that was find good, easy to use bags at a decent price. I finally did without having to buy 10,000 of them. Also do a search for Vacstrip Bags. Sometimes some come up at different sites with good prices too. Good Luck.

The commercial bags mentioned may be for the "chamber machines" like I have. They are smooth plastic and are usually 3-5 mil...These do not work in the Foodsaver type vacuum packer. The chamber machines are the ones with the big dome on top as opposed to the food saver which uses a different type of bag. Be careful not to buy the chamber machine bags which may be what you are calling "commercial". Most commercial machines are chamber style. I bought 10,000 bags so I suspect I will never run out. My machine is a large commercial machine that weighs about 300#..sure does a nice job with my 5 mil bags but is hardly practical for home use.

Here is a good website for bags that work in the Foodsaver style machines. This company also specializes in chamber machines..You look at the site and see the differences.
web page

Man, these days Amazon is your friend. So much easier to make these types of decisions.

12/23/2023



20 years ago, my computer purchases were done on EBAY, payment done with Paypal.....now its 100% Amazon, speed of delivery is unbelievable, payment is 100% credit card.......sure works for me!!!!

I use plain bags.
I have a sealer similar to food saver called Simba. I have had it for almost 10 years. I have access to VP bags for little to no cost, if anyone is looking for some let me know the size of the pouch and I can let you know what I have. Most are 5 to 7 mil, some are 3.