A few days ago, while looking for Christmas presents for our kitchen (which is, in fact, a member of our family), I saw a really modern, cool-looking vacuum food saving device called a Frisper in an on-line newsletter (selling for $99). That seemed pretty expensive, so I kept surfing the internet and I came across the Handi-Vac, which is made by Reynold's, the aluminum foil company. You can see it on the Reynold's website. It's hand-held and battery operated, and uses resealable zip lock bags. And best of all, it's only $8.99! I found it locally at Shopper's Food Warehouse. Extra bags are about $3/box for gallon and quart size. The gadget comes with batteries and 3 quart-size bags. I tried it out on a partially used onion. You just put the food in the zip lock bag so it's in contact with the textured part of the bag, seal it, and then line up the nozzle of the gadget on a little round one-way air valve on the bag and press the switch. As it sucks out the air, the bag contracts around the food, until it's tight. It takes just a few seconds. It's absolutely mesmerizing! Perhaps the novelty will wear off, but right now, I want to Handi-Vac everything in sight. My (the kitchen's) Handi-Vac is still too new to determine whether it actually prevents or reduces freezer burn. My husband says I have to wrap it back up and put it under the tree, but until Christmas Eve, I'm going to Handi-Vac to my heart's content.

There's a fairly long-running thread on this thing on Chowhound right now--I looked at it because I had already seen the post title here on Rockwell and when I saw it again right away that made think something must be up. Well, everybody over there (except one pissy-face Manhattanite who's never used one) seems ecstatic about it. I posted a question about it myself. Maybe I'll have to spring for one.

http://www.chowhound.com/topics/455101

I saw one at the Sangamore Safeway yesterday for $9.99, so Shoppers Food Warehouse is the place to get it. Can you do sous vide with the bags?

Isn't the snow pretty?

There was some discussion on the CH thread about sous-vide; IIRC it's not completely clear, but the answer seems to be no.

I was just at the supermarket and I noticed Glad or one of those now has a bag designed for steaming vegetables in the microwave. If it will stand up to that surely it could handle floating around at 140 for a while.

Those Ziploc Steamfresh bags are my boyfriend. I love them so.

Plastic an easily stand up to 140F and should be easily used for sous vide.

Obviously a weak seal or opening could generate a leak. I was just referring to the stability of plastic to the heat.

Santa left my Handi-Vac at the North Pole on Christmas Eve, so I bought myself one yesterday at Safeway. It's so much fun! Strawberries were BOGO, and theiy're now nestled in my produce bin in vacuum bags, so they should keep for a day or two.

I'm heading north this weekend to my ancestral home for holiday celebrations and one of those crazed gift exchanges. The price limit is "about $10", so my contribution will be a Handi-Vac.

My dogs are safe, as they don't fit into the little bags, but I've vacuum-sealed some of their food (chicken wings)--very cool.

The Reynold's truck has been all around DC lately, dispensing free Handi-Vac starter kits, so be on the lookout for it. I got one the other day outside L'Enfant Plaza (today I saw it at Union Station). This thing this is pretty, uh, handy. I have a big vacuum sealer, but it's nice to be able to whip this thing out and seal stuff up quick. Maybe it's just me, but I find vacuum sealing things strangely satisfying. I'm vacuum sealing everything in sight now.

I got one of these a few months ago, and it sucks. Actually, it doesn't. Each time I try to use it, it takes me about 20 tries to get the air out. I feel pretty incompetent, so I'm not using it anymore.

It is a bit difficult to use, and takes me a few tries to get it working as well. I found that not pressing down too hard when you're sealing seems to help.

How much do the bags cost, and are they reuseable? Because if they are giving away the gizmos for free they must think they'll own us for life, like disposable pens and disposable razor blades (both of which ARE pretty indispensable to me).

I felt an discomfiture when I saw the people queued-up around the block to get their free sealer (then again I usually feel that way towards people lined-up for free crap), and all day I saw people walking around with two or even four of these things, why would you need four? Frankly, I will stick with my FoodSaver, its easy to use, does the job well and frankly I don’t want to reuse bags that I have already put raw food into.

Time travel. If you put one inside a bag, and then put that in another bag, and then put that one in another bag, and then turn them all on you'll get a rip in the time/space continuum.