spending money

What is the Best Food Sealer?

best food sealer

If you’re on the hunt for the best food sealer, then there are a few things that you will want to take into consideration. A vacuum sealer for food is primarily used to increase the lifespan of food for storage. However, it has other uses as well. If you’re planning to use the sealer for some of those less traditional uses, then you might be looking for different criteria as you choose the best food sealer.

What is a Vacuum Food Sealer?

A vacuum food sealer sucks the air out of a container. In doing so, it allows for an extended life span for food storage. Typically, you’ll place the food inside of a plastic bag and use the sealer to suck the air out of that bag. However, you might use it to seal other containers as well.

Food sealers are often used for prolonged freezer storage. For example, you might freeze meat or vegetables then stick them in the freezer where they will last for many months. However, you can use food sealers to increase storage time in the refrigerator or even the pantry. For example, you might use a food sealer to re-seal a freshly opened bag of chips so that it lasts a few days longer on your shelf.

Vacuum food sealers can also be used non-traditionally. Some people use them for sous vide cooking, which is when you cook food inside of a sealed plastic bag. People also use food sealers to prevent corrosion on valuable metal items such as cutlery. Sometimes people use them just to save space when preparing household items (not necessarily food items) for long-term storage. When you suck the air out of the storage bag, it compresses to a much smaller item.

Defining the Best Food Sealer

If you want to get the best food sealer, then you first have to ask yourself how you will be using the item. If you are going to be compressing large bags for long-term storage then you’re going to need a different machine than someone who wants to seal small bags for sous vide cooking. Similarly, if you’re primarily going to use your sealer to store liquids then you might want a different model than if you’re mostly storing dry goods. Keep those differences in mind as you look for the best food sealer, reading the reviews for each with your own criteria at the forefront of your decision.

Top Recommended Food Sealers

I’ve scanned through several different lists of the best food sealers for 2018 and 2019. Here are the options that kept showing up on list after list.

FoodSaver Vacuum Sealers

The FoodSaver brand popped up over and over again. Therefore, if you’re looking for the best food sealer, you might want to start with a review of this brand’s options. Some of the top choices were:

  • FM5200-000 – allows you to choose wet or dry food sealing
  • FSFRSH0055 – a top choice if you want a handheld vacuum sealer
  • 4840 2-in-1 – small, affordable, with an option to make it handheld
  • v22-44 – best for beginners who want a low-cost simplified option
  • v3240 – considered the one that is easiest to use

Other Best Vacuum Sealers

Here are some of the other brands and models that showed up on several lists:

  • Crenova VS100 – quiet and quick
  • Geryon Compact Automatic – small and lightweight
  • Nesco VS-02 – lots of advanced features for a low cost
  • Seal-a-Meal Manual – compact, with a removable dip tray
  • SousVide VS3000 – best food sealer for sous vide cooking
  • VacMaster VP210 – chamber sealer for huge bulk sealing projects
  • Waring Pro PVS1000 Pistol Vac – best portable option
  • Weston Pro2300 – commercial grade, used in restaurants

Read More:

Does More Time or More Money Cause Happiness?

Does more money cause happiness?

Does more money cause happiness?

They say money can’t buy happiness, but research over the years shows that those better off financially do tend to have a better well-being…to an extent. Everything has a limit, of course, but if money does not cause us to be happier what does?

Those who are able to pay bills on time and not struggle financially do appear to be happier in general terms, but money being the cause to happiness seems to actually be more about what we buy, according to some research. It is suggested in recent studies that what we spend our money on does determine our happiness, and that actually, spending money on experiences has a longer lasting effect. Although, this is a thought that could have been assumed even without the study.

Conversely, a popular study by Daniel Kahneman and Angus Deaton expresses that a higher income does improve your life but not necessarily your emotional well-being. It goes on to say that those with an annual income of $75,000 seem to have the best of both worlds (looking fondly on their life and associating quality with everyday experiences).

There is a point where money begins to no longer provide your well-being and seemingly starts to cause more heartache due to losing satisfaction or desiring more, which becomes a never-ending cycle with needing more money in order to satisfy your urges or new financial demands. Of course, this does also partially depend upon what is important to us as individuals in life and our desires. Is it money that really makes us happier? Or would more of something else solve all our problems?

A study published in the Social Psychological and Personality Science journal found some interesting data to this question.  The researchers at UCLA and Wharton School involved in this latest article (published May 25) found that roughly two-thirds of 4,400 people surveyed mentioned that they would prefer having more money over time. However, the one-third who chose more time were happier. This does come with gray areas, though, and raises a couple important questions.

Are people who want more time truly happier? Is it that not desiring more money makes them more content or is that they already have enough money so now they want more time to enjoy their income?

The researchers did use the $75,000 salary amount to evaluate questions such as these. When asking which was preferred, more time or money, to individuals with this base income, those who answered more time did appear to still have more happiness in their lives on average.

So, which is better? Time or money? Does one cause more happiness than the other? While still up for debate, it appears better to be in a situation where you have enough money to take care of all your needs and obligations in life while wanting more time rather than the other way around. Although, if you have minimal to no debt, money may be of little concern and, thus, more time may be better in those particular situations as experiences in life tend to fulfill us more, according to the study mentioned previously in this article.

There is definitely a difference between needing more money to better your financial situation and wanting more money for superficial reasons. At the end of the day, only you can determine what makes you happy. It’s all about creating balance, both with time and money.

What are your thoughts on the topic?