I mentioned the vacuum Ziploc-style bags that I've had no luck with (quart and gallon size.) Very few of them worked (maybe 10% or so.) They don't keep their seal. I tried wiping oil on the zip-top and putting a strong tape over the vacuum port. Nothing worked. So when I have things I want to vacuum seal and that I know I'll be resealing after I take a few pieces, I cut a regular vacuum bag a little longer than needed (or use an oversize bag.) That way I can cut off the top, take what I want, and have enough slack left to vacuum and reseal on the machine over & over.
I’m a bit frustrated with the bags on a roll , I don’t have allot of success with them unless I seal them twice before adding ingredients to do the other seal ,so I might just stick to “ bags
I get frustrated with those too, Kate. One way I can get them to work is to seal the leading end of the roll while it's still rolled tight. Then unroll to the size you want and cut. (This is with an older FoodSaver that pulls the vacuum first and then seals. If you have a machine that will "seal only" then yours should work better than mine.) I agree that the pre-made bags are much less hassle to deal with.
Yes @Beth Gallagher mine has a seal button and a seperate vacuum / seal button I meant to take a photo of mine. I’m glad to hear I’m not the only one that’s get frustrated with the endless bags ( rolls )
That stinks that you have to double-seal the bags, Kate. I've never had an issue with the [very expensive] FoodSaver-brand bags, but don't recall if I ever bought any of their rolls. I have had an issue with bags and rolls from one 3rd party, but found a couple of vendors whose bags & rolls have worked fine for me over the years. I don't know if they sell in Australia, but I buy my bags and rolls from two manufacturers: Commercial Bargains and Food Vac Bags. I've had good luck with their quality. These guys sell through Amazon, EBay and Walmart here in the states. And their prices are less than half of FoodSaver's. In addition to the pint and quart bags that probably came with your machine, they also make gallon bags that are handy to have on hand. Since I bought those larger bags, I rarely bother making bags from rolls unless I'm doing some unique non-food project.
When we fished a lot, we used the "endless rolls" to make bags larger than any offered commercially. Even salmon filets are longer than any pre-made bags we found.
Those are some big fish!!! I guess I've caught a few bass that might be longer than a 1 gallon bag, but it's been awhile. Any long custom bags I've made have been for non-food items. I have a sprout tray and saw a tip somewhere that said the sprouts get more robust if you weigh them down. So I cut some foam-core tile backer to fit the tray and sealed it in a long vacuum bag to make it easy to clean and to keep the backer flakes off of my food.
Here are some photos: The top one is a Kenai River King, so it is the biggest of the salmon, but in either case, they are larger that any bass I ever caught. The top photo might be photshopped, as he is holding it rather easily and they can get over 80 pounds.
And, of course, the halibut are MUCH bigger, but if you go on a charter (my usual method) they clean the fish and vacuum pack them for you.
Tried vacuum sealing bread today ,had a complete failure with first time using the last of bags on a roll ( had lots of failure with that complete roll that came with the machine) My last attempt was with bags on a roll that I bought after buying the machine …it was semi successful … I’m not even sure it advisable to vacuum seal bread but this bread was a couple of days old that I just use for making crumbs when I make beef Pattie’s as allot of Aussies call meatballs or meatloaf
Unless your machine is one of those that has some type of sensor that stops the vacuum process for delicate foods, I bet you smushed that bread. The problem with doing crumbs (or liquids) is that they get sucked up into the machine. So what's wrong with the bags, Kate? Can you not get a good seal on them? That's kind of frustrating. You might try spending the money just once to buy the FoodSaver brand just to see if it's the bags or the machine.
Bread is shown up here. ^^^^ with MY MACHINE @John Brunner The bags that came with ….MY ….machine just would not seal … The bags shown here with bread are different bags