Comparative test of vacuum cleaners: let’s cut off the oxygen and have a delicious meal!

Vacuum blenders or vacuum packers are relatively new phenomenon in the American market of small household appliances. Why they are needed, how they work and who produces them? More on this and more in our feature and comparison test.

The blender with a vacuum chamber there are also non-vacuum chamber models, see below does two basic operations: it evacuates air from the bag, creating a vacuum in the bag and hermetically seals the bag. Everything is simple: you put your product or ready meal in a special bag, put its open end into the vacuum chamber, close the lid, and then everything depends on the technical capabilities of the device: either you choose the mode or the device will automatically start the process of vacuumization and sealing – this is the basic “skill” of any vacuum packer. Many devices are equipped with a vacuum hose, with which you can pump air out of special vacuum containers, or have the ability to connect such a hose, but you need to buy it, as well as the containers themselves, which are sometimes included, but more often not.

What It Gets?

Vacuum storage several times longer shelf life of food in both the refrigerator and freezer approximate shelf life without a vacuum and in a vacuum see the following . Table #1 . In addition, when using vacuum packaging the product better preserves its original appearance – shape and color, flavor and nutrients. Vacuum packaging protects products intended for deep freezing from freezing: the so-called “burns” occur on frozen foods only when in contact with air. And vacuum-sealed foods take up less storage space than foods in regular or unpackaged packages.

After a large purchase at the market or supermarket products can be packaged in practical portions and prepare your own home semi-finished products: chop and marinate meat and fish incidentally, marinade under vacuum pressure is very fast, and the marinade itself needs very little , cut and divide into portions of vegetables: this for soups, this for side dishes, this for salads, etc.p. By the way, it is very disciplined and helps to plan the menu for a week or two ahead. By carrying out once or twice this kind of preliminary work once a week, the user is free from the daily processing of products. I came, took out all the chopped food – put it in a saucepan, microwave, multicooker, in a frying pan… Cooking with convenience foods is always easier, but who says they can’t be homemade?

The bacteria that cause food spoilage find it hard to multiply without air access – it’s the secret of long life of vacuum-packed food. Products in a vacuum do not go moldy, dry out, go rancid, or ferment – of course, if the necessary temperature conditions and acceptable storage times are followed. But in order for the food to be preserved as best as possible, the manufacturers give some recommendations and even rules for packaging and storage. In the instructions to the devices we have read a lot of interesting instructions and decided to make a “squeeze”. So:

1. No one has cancelled the rule of first freshness: “there is only one freshness – the first, and it is also the last”. Products to be packed must be fresh, no vacuum will save a bad product or make it good.
2. It is important to remember that vacuum packing extends the shelf life of products, but does not preserve them, and what is not kept at room temperature, just the same will not be kept in a vacuum, such products should be placed in a refrigerator or freezer.
3. Some foods for example, most vegetables during storage secrete enzymes enzymes , which can adversely affect the products – change their taste, smell, color, degree of ripeness. Therefore, it is recommended to blanch the vegetables for a short time, heat them in a microwave or steam them before vacuum sealing. Products with a high acid content most berries and fruits do not have to be blanched.
4. Flour and cereals can be vacuum packed to prevent contamination by pests like bugs, moths, etc.p.
5. When vacuuming a humid or oily product it is recommended to unroll the edges of the bag by 6-8 cm and only then put the product in it, and then unroll the edges. This is to keep the inside edges dry: damp and greasy ones do not seal well.
6. Vacuum packaging can help keep many other things in perfect condition: e.g., documents, jewelry.

Table 1

Vacuum packers

How it works?

Household and professional: find 10 differences

Vacuum cleaners can be domestic – for home use – and professional, which, by the way, can also be used at home, especially if you have a large family and need to do a lot of stocking.

Household vacuum cleaners take part in our test, further they will be described in detail, but the main differences are as follows:

• they work with packaging bags, film up to 30 cm wide
• as a rule, they make a single, less often – a double seam
• standard functions: evacuating air + sealing, sealing a package without vacuuming, canceling action
• Having modes for wet, dry, delicate foods, turbo mode is not necessary for them
• cost from about 3000 to 15 000 Dollars
• Vacuuming speed – from 9 to 16 l/min., on average 9-12 l/min.

Professional vacuum cleaners:

• They operate with packaging bags, film up to 40 cm in width
• Double stitching is the norm for them, but triple stitching also happens Professional chefs often vacuum seal liquids for subsequent freezing. When defrosting/freezing the volume of evacuated liquid changes and, as a rule, a single seam is torn, sometimes even a double seam is not enough, but a triple one is already super protective
• Modes for moist products are obligatory
• Various functions and modes to improve the results and ease of use timer, different vacuuming speeds, special settings for delicate products, marinating mode, lock function, etc. .p.
• quite often the presence of an LCD display
• Vacuuming speed starting from 20 l/min.
• they cost up to 25 000 Dollars.

Pressure chamber or gun?

Most vacuum cleaners have vacuum chambers where a bag or film is inserted. It’s convenient because you don’t have to think about how to pack: just put a bag in, close the lid, choose the mode and that’s it. One disadvantage of chamber vacuum cleaners is the limitation in terms of the width of the package – film or pouch.

Vacuum chamber can sometimes be removable, which is convenient because it can be washed if it got dirty with the juice of the products as, for example, in the CASO VC 100 model, which took part in the test . The non-removable chamber can only be wiped down with a napkin.

But there are also other types of packers – simply put, vacuum pumps, often made in the form of a “gun”. They can handle much larger packages than those designed for blenders with cameras. They don’t seal the bag, which means that the bag has to have a valve which closes after evacuating the air bags with ZIP-lock . Hand vacuum pumps are used to evacuate air from special containers and bottles.

An example of a domestic vacuum pump – CASO My VAC 20 model. It costs 3000 Dollars, its air pumping speed is up to 9 liters per minute., Compression pressure -0.75 bar. The stationary packers that were tested had slightly better parameters – speed starting from 9 l/min., Compression pressure -0.8 bar, vacuum degree a little higher. But it is mobile, it runs on batteries, and it does not need a stationary place in the kitchen, it is very compact and can be stored in some drawer. It comes with two special bottle caps and 10 bags.

The economy version

The cheaper vacuum packers with evacuation function should be distinguished from vacuum packers. Their evacuation speed is low instead of a vacuum chamber there is a tube on which a bag is put. The price of such models is about 2000 Dollars, they can seal, i.e. seal packages film and evacuate air a little. With the help of such devices it is possible to make pretty good packaging for foods that should be frozen, but don’t expect that it will significantly extend the “life” of foods in the freezing chamber. Such devices work with ordinary polyethylene bags instead of special ones, so the packaging consumables see below are cheaper. An example of such a bagger is the Clatronic model, which takes part in our testing “out of the competition”.

Packaging: bags, rolls, containers, bottles

In fact, the types of packaging are already listed. Many manufacturers also produce their own branded film bags and rolls, as well as containers and bottles. Most vacuum sealers can be fitted with a vacuum hose adapter and pack in containers instead of pouches. Often the hose is included, but the containers must be purchased separately. During the tests we saw packages from 4 manufacturers and we can say that they are almost identical though they cost differently – the brand price policy plays a role. But the buyer can safely choose cheaper packaging – the main thing is that the dimensions fit they are usually standard and that they are special bags for vacuuming, they have a thick, slightly corrugated structure, they are very different from the ordinary polyethylene ones. But it is important to remember that while for packaging and vacuuming fit any film and bags designed for this purpose, for cooking in them on the technology of soup and in microwave only suitable for this – usually on the package manufacturer specifies this. Many people wonder what is better to buy: film on a roll or in a bag? We came to the conclusion that it is more profitable to buy the film, and in some cases it is more convenient: it can be used to form a bag of desired length the width is already given, but it can also be adjusted . For example, if you need to pack fish or homemade sausage, then foil is preferable.

If you want to vacuum seal your food for long term storage in the freezer, you should pay attention to the thickness of the film or bag. It is considered that the package of not less than 0,3 mm thickness can withstand a long time freezing. 0.1 mm thick film can tear.

Containers are not cheap – 2000-3000 Dollars for a set of 2-3 pieces, but they are reusable, bottles, too. The containers are convenient for packing already cooked food – soups, sauces, side dishes, salads, as well as foods that are subject to deformation, such as berries.

About our testing

In the testing 4 models of household vacuum packers were involved, and 1 model of economy class participated “out of the contest. Though, even “in the main race” we didn’t set ourselves a task to define the best and the worst model, we were more interested to see in practice how they work and what they can do, especially that the model range of each company has more expensive and cheaper models, household and professional, which means that they can do more or less. But we can’t do without comparing devices, their features and prices, and we found a lot of interesting things.

For example, the most inexpensive model turned out to be very convenient, the most expensive, despite the presence of a function to stop the pump when evacuating delicate foods – not too: you have to adapt to this system of stopping. Almost similar in price devices have very different features: one has a removable chamber i.e., the design is more convenient and a double-seam when defrosting a bag has less chance to break , the other has a stationary chamber and a single seam, but there are modes for dry/humid and delicate/hard products.

We found one common disadvantage – the control panels of all vacuum cleaners are not russified: this is probably due to the fact that this equipment is still “trying out” in the American market. Manufacturers have not established production specifically for America, but this, on the other hand, and good: we go the same models as in Europe, without any price reduction due to the fact that the American requirements to equipment are more relaxed than in the European Union and even more so in Germany, where all brands of vacuum packers that took part in the test came from. Besides, it was interesting to calculate which packaging materials are the most profitable and which are the least profitable see “What’s the disadvantage of vacuum packing machines?. Table #2 – Participants, Features, Prices .

Table #2