Vacuum sealer at Lidl... reviews and advice please

[AndhowcouldIeverrefuse]

So apparently Lidl will have Silvercrest vacuum sealers for sale soon - £19.99, with rolls at £3.99 each (not sure how many).

Does anybody have this, or any vacuum sealer? Is it any good? Are there any pitfalls? What foods do you use it for? And where do you keep our sealed food? I was thinking of using this as a powercut-proof alternative to the freezer for Summer veg and berry gluts but I wonder if it's any good for things that go soggy if frozen like courgettes?

TIA

[bellinisurge]

I do have a vacuum sealer. I bought it off Amazon a while ago for similar money. It doesn't seal Mylar bags but , once I got the hang of it, it works pretty well. I use it in conjunction with a dehydrator I bought for similar money.

[bellinisurge]

Just checked my supplies. Only my dehydrated vacuum sealed spuds (an experiment) have lost their vacuum ness. Fans of my dehydrator ramblings will be keen to know my dehydrated cooked turkey mince is still holding its seal.
Have a look, op, to see if it has a port for sticking a jar sealer in. I've not had any success with this so far but there is a US idea of putting dried food in a mason jar (enough to make a meal) and sealing it via a vacuum sealer. Kind of like a pot noodle only one you get more say in the contents.

[SoupDragon]

Is this something that seals stuff in single use plastic?

[AndhowcouldIeverrefuse]

I think so SoupDragon. I have no idea how it works - will have to have a look online.

[Snugglepumpkin]

Don't know about the Silvercrest one, but I have an Andrew James one which has a port for canister sealing.
I bought the Foodsaver vacuum sealers for Regular Mouth & Widemouth Jars (it was cheaper to buy them from Amazon.com than to get them from Amazon.co.uk & they arrived within a week from the US) which means I can now vacuum seal in any size Kilner or Ball mason jar.
Some reviews say they have problems using the jar sealers unless they place 2 lids on each jar whilst sealing then take the second lid off afterwards.
I have never had that problem & my seals have stayed good for months at a time.
The set I got included the tube which goes from the sealer to the jar & it fits the Andrew James sealer perfectly.
Andrew James do sell Vacuum Canisters, they go on special offer every few months for about £17 for set of 3 & come with the tube to go from sealer to canister. They are not (in my opinion) very useful sizes & I'd honestly want half a dozen sets at least if I couldn't use my mason jars.
The tube fits the Foodsaver sealers perfectly & makes my vacuum sealer far more useful.

[Snugglepumpkin]

@SoupDragon, most vacuum sealer bags are heavier weight textured bags so they can seal & are reusable, some are sous vide bags.

You can use cheaper untextured bags if you use a bit of a straw which are probably not very reusable.