On May 19, 10:45*am, Janet Wilder > wrote:

> The food saver I have is a small one and it requires that things like
> steak or chicken breasts be pre-frozen before vacuum sealing. If you
> don't pre-freeze, you have to stuff a wad of paper towel into the top of
> the bag or the liquid will break the machine when it sucks it in.

You could be cutting the sheets to short. We have one of the larger,
higher-end models. They seem to have fixed the things you are
complaining about. Ours also sits upright for easier storage, though
that hasn't been an issue as we do use it a lot and have the counter
space for it.

It was actually a Christmas present this year for Bob (how romantic,
huh!) and our kitchen is the Gadget Master's Playground.

My sister discovered last summer that if you take whole peaches and
freeze them -- then FoodSaver bag them and store in the freezer, they
thaw out not being mushy or mealy and close to as fresh as when they
went it. I don't recall if she does a quick blanche, so I should ask
her about that. She does the pre-freeze because of the probability of
crushing, but our unit has a "Crush Proof" mode that I want to try
this summer.

I look forward to tinkering with Bob's gadget .... ;-)

--Lin