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Spent $600 on a vacuum sealer for my prep kitchen and it sat in a closet for 8 months | Chefs - Rigidtalk

Spent $600 on a vacuum sealer for my prep kitchen and it sat in a closet for 8 months

I want to push back on the idea that every pro kitchen needs a chamber vacuum sealer, because I bought into that hype two years ago and it cost me $600 plus another $120 in bags I never opened. I run a small lunch spot in Tacoma with six cooks and a menu that changes every week, and a sales rep convinced me that sealing everything from short ribs to herb oil would save labor. What actually happened is that my crew hated dragging it out, it took 90 seconds of cleaning after every use, and we already had a $40 handheld sealer that did 95 percent of the same jobs. The one time it really helped was a big batch of duck confit, and even then my old sous just wrapped things tight in plastic and got the same result. Nobody warned me that the chamber models need oil changes, take up a full two feet of counter, and weigh about 80 pounds so you can't move it mid service. I sold mine on Craigslist for $220 and I honestly think I wasted most of that money chasing a tool instead of just training my guys better on plastic wrap and deli containers. What gear did you buy for your kitchen that ended up being a dust collector?

2 comments

2 Comments

susan42416h ago

Did you ever try just going back to the cheap stuff and seeing if anyone noticed? Honestly I was the guy telling everyone to buy a chamber sealer for years. I ran a bakery and thought it was the one tool that made us look pro. Then I did the math on hours spent cleaning it versus what we actually sealed and it was a joke. Ngl you are right that training people on wrap and deli containers beats a machine they avoid. I still keep a small handheld one for fish and that is it.

wyatt_jones16h ago

A chamber sealer and a handheld one are not the same thing, which is where your math kind of falls apart. The chamber pulls a real vacuum so fish and wet stuff actually keep, while the little handheld ones just suck air out of a bag and quit on anything with moisture. Sounds like you dropped the right machine for your bakery and kept the one that still does the job.