SEAL A MEAL VACUUM FOOD SEALER

[Chef]

Hahaha I knew it.

That looks like a fiendish piece of kit, gotta beat the hell out of pounding the bloody stuff in a pestle and mortar, once you've actually got the grains in the first place.

There's probably some bloody great cast iron jobbie that does it all for you, but it's prolly in a museum. We do have a working windmill not too far away though so maybe when TSHTF I can get my boy to jump on his bike with a bag of wheat, nip over to the windmill and grind some up..... We won't be having bread LOL.

C

[Bladerunner]

I have the Seal a Meal VS108 and it is excellent.

It has the hose attachment which allows you to vacuum seal jars and bottles. I use mine to put rice in 2 litre pop bottles and then seal the lid. There is a link on here somewhere where I tell you how to make the attachment for sealing the bottles.

Make sure to put the rough side of the bags face down.

You can also use normal bags if you put a crease in them. So when you look at the top of the bag it looks like an "S" shape. This allows the air to still escape. Just do a couple of extra seals to make sure it doesn't leak.

The thick plain plastic bags work out at about 4p each as opposed to much more for the ones with the ridges. Some are 30p each or more.

Hope that helps.
Be lucky (and resourceful)

[Chef]

I have the Seal a Meal VS108 and it is excellent.

It has the hose attachment which allows you to vacuum seal jars and bottles. I use mine to put rice in 2 litre pop bottles and then seal the lid. There is a link on here somewhere where I tell you how to make the attachment for sealing the bottles.

Now that would be handy, my old machine has a pipe stub on the r/h side looks like it'll take aquarium size hose so that's prolly what it's for then, sealing containers. Cool.

C

[Bladerunner]

Hi Chef,

Here is a link to show you what I was talking about.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c99TUiZd ... CA48B44253

I used a suction pad that was for hanging things on. I used a bradawl to put the hole in it and the hose fited right over it. Guess I was lucky.

Don't do what I did and try to do this with pasta. Waaaaay too much air in the bottle. Makes some well weird cracking noises and distorts the shape of the bottle. The seal is still holding but rice is much better as it fills the bottle much more and reduces the air inside. Also, pasta takes forrrrrrrrrrrever to get in the bottle in the first place.

I was thinking of buying one of those big bottles of rice from Costco (the ones with the handle on) and just vacuum sealing them as they are to remove that little bit of air at the top. I might even fill them right up to the top before sealing. They stack much better than the round 2 litre bottles but you are limited to buying costco rice.

I am looking at getting the broken basmati rice from Tesco but I am not sure how well it cooks up. The cheap rice from ASDA is garbage. Goes all gloopy and sticks together. You could eat it in an emergency but I would rather have decent stuff if I am limited to what I can have.

Be lucky

[Chef]

Have just cleaned the old beast up and it definately takes some sort of attachment there, that's a great idea, thanks for the info.

Yeah rice and pulses I'd try this bottle idea for, pasta never goes off as long as it's dry so I wouldn't really bother with that. As for broken basmati rice I reckon you'll find it's pretty gloopy too once cooked up, trouble would be that you'd have more actual grain per measured amount so it'd be pretty starchy imho.

C

[Bladerunner]

Hi Chef,
Thanks for the info on the Broken Basmati Rice. I thought at that price it would be a bit naff. Any idea what the cheapest rice is that actually looks and tastes like rice when it is cooked.

The suction thingy I used was one that has a hook on it for hanging Christmas lights on. I pulled off the hangy bit and rammed a bradawl through the centre of it. I got a hose with the sealer and I just slotted the hose over the sucker thingy and away I went. Happy days. It looks pretty similar to the one in the video except mine was clear and not black.

Any other questions just let me know.
Cheers

[Chef]

no probs.

Umm, cheapest I don't really know mate tbh, I'm still looking around for bulk supplies myself I don't have any accounts anymore sadly. The best rice imo for tasting like 'normal' rice is just a long grain, my local £ store does a Kilo of American long grain for £1 I think it is, I don't often buy it as only my son really eats it I'm not mad keen and prefer pasta. The only rice dishes I really like are risotto and some desserts, for which you'd be after an arborio type or round grain.

I'm sure someone here will have a good bulk supplier, but long grain is what I'd go for.

I either didn't get the pipe or have lost it for my Vac thingy, do you know what the size is or where to get one at all? I really like that idea with the bottles, could adapt it for like the square airseal type boxes too I guess, with the locking flaps on all sides?

K