Andrew James Professional Quality Vacuum Food Sealer Machine


About the Andrew James Professional Quality Vacuum Food Sealer Machine

The Andrew James professional quality vacuum food sealer machine is ideal for keeping food fresher for longer such as meats, fish, vegetables and fruit.

The vacuumed food is ideal for storing in the freezer as it prevents freezer burn, microwave safe and is ideal for sous vide cooking.

Technical details:

  • Keeps food fresher for longer
  • Prevents freezer burn
  • Protect and save valuable items such as photos, documents and jewellery
  • Very easy to use - One touch operation
  • Seal only or vacuum and seal
  • Two seal levels - extended and normal.
  • Large 30 cm sealing strip
  • Integrated storage compartment for bag rolls
  • Bag cutter
  • The vacuum sealer comes complete with 6 metres of bag roll and full instructions.
  • The rolls / bags are the best quality channelled / embossed on the market today.
  • The bags and rolls are re-usable and dishwasher safe
  • Create the exact size bag you require
  • More bags and rolls are available on Amazon at discounted prices.
  • The VS518 vacuums up to 50 kpa
  • 230 v - 50 Hz
  • This machine meets all CE and ROHS requirements.

Costs: September 2013

It is worth noting that the unit already comes with one roll of 28cm bags and one roll of 22 cm bags making the extra bags somewhat superfluous.

How it works

The 'bags' come in one continuous open-ended roll, sealed on either side. You need to decide the size of the bag you wish to use to seal your chosen product and then cut the bag to length using the internal cutter. Place the bag in the unit and and seal just one end of, creating a bag with one open end. You then fill the bag with the product you wish to vacuum seal and drape the open mouth of the bag over the area that provides the suction and click the cover shut. The unit then withdraws all of the air from the bag and whilst under pressure, heat seals the open end of the bag leaving the product in a permanent vacuum.

You need to be careful when sealing liquids as they could be drawn into the unit as it creates the vacuum. It is helpful to freeze liquids prior to sealing.

A tip to help sealing bags containing liquids is to add a strip of folded paper towel along the unsealed edge of the bag before the point at which the seal would be created. The pipe that creates the vacuum is much higher than the base of the vacuum chamber so an awful lot of liquid would need to be leached from the bag before it was drawn into the vacuum mechanism.

Great for camping

As someone that does a good deal of camping, it occurs to me that this vacuum sealer would be a great way to pack and transport food for camping trips. Especially because the heavy duty nature of the bags would allow safe transport of foods without spillage. It would also be possible to boil certain foods within the sealed bags cutting down on the washing-up - something no one enjoys when camping!

Vacuum packing foods with lots of sauce

When sous vide cooking meat, one often need to add a marinade or sauce to impart good flavour but vacuum sealing anything containing liquids can be a huge problem. I've found a solution for this which works with the Andrew James Professional Quality Vacuum Food Sealer Machine and probably most others. You might need a spare pair of hands to ensure it doesn't all end up on the floor but basically make sure the bag is large enough to contain the food and sauce with plenty of spare room to allow you to seal without a struggle. Set the bag as you would normally for vacuum sealing and hang the vacuum bag vertically over the worktop. Press the vacuum seal button and get ready to press the cancel button. Watch the bag carefully and the moment the sauce appears to move up to the edge of the bag, press the cancel button. Press the seal only button to seal the bag. That's all you need to do. It's not vacuum sealed per se, but it's absolutely fine for sous vide cooking.

An oversized bag hung vertically lessens the chance of liquid being sucked into the sealer

Solving problems

  • Problem: If the bag has been made too small for the food within creases are often formed along the sealing edge, preventing a proper seal which does not allow a proper vacuum to be formed so the unit times-out before the heat sealing takes place.
  • Solution: Press down hard on both sides of the lid. This normally flattens out the creases, allowing a good vacuum to be created.
  • Problem: Liquid is drawn into the sealing chamber, making a mess and preventing the plastic bag from melting and creating a good seal.
  • Solution 1: Freeze the food on a tray or in paper coffee cups prior to vacuum sealing. If you have the cannisters, then use those for foods with a high liquid content.
  • Solution 2: Use a larger bag than you normally would and hang the bag vertically over the edge of a worktop. Start the vacuum sealing process and press cancel before liquid start being drawn into the chamber, then activate the seal only function to complete the process. As in the short ribs in barbecue sauce (pictured), I've found that the cancel step is often not required if you use a large bag and hang it vertically.

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