FoodSaver Vacuum Sealer Bags, Rolls for Custom Fit Airtight Food Storage and Sous Vide, 11″ x 16′ (Pack of 3) Import To Shop

Something smells Fishy …and it isn’t a Seal! (brilliant, I know)Even I must chuckle at that title…I would give ONE star, but in all fairness, some bags DID seal (not many) but since SOME did seal, I give TWO stars, not just one.So anyway, I have a FoodSaver brand V3840, which I think is the Granddaddy of the newer V3880 – at least that’s what the interweb suggests. The machine was purchased new from BB&Beyond. So no machine issues. My 3840 has very little mileage on it, we only used it every once in a while, so no burn-out issues there. And, we never had any sealing issues before this, so never any problems in the past.In preparation for a big fishing trip, I purchased this 3 pack (3x16ft) of these name-brand FoodSaver bag-rolls. In the past, I bought whatever was cheaper at Walmarket, all without incident. The latest purchase was the Rivall brand, and the way I know that is that is what was left in my machine when I pulled it off the shelf for this trip. Never any trouble. In fact, I never even thought there COULD be trouble – nor did I know the difference between brands, that’s how infrequently we used the machine, and how infrequently we bought bags. Bags were bags, or so I thought. The fact that there were 2 ply, 3 ply, 5 ply, ribbed on both sides, or on one side only – what did I know? – bags were bags, as long as they fit, I thought they were all pretty much the same. However, being a consumer, I’ve come to learn that lower price often means lower quality, higher price/higher quality. The few times I had purchased bag material for this machine, I never even paid attention to any of that, I just went with the lowest price per square foot.So getting ready for the fishin trip, I went on Amazon, to look for the best deal. I opted for name-brand FoodSaver brand, because if there WAS a difference, I didn’t want to find out with my prize catch. I chose the rolls, instead of the pre-made bags, since it would give the most flexibility for packing our catch, tailoring each bag to the size of the fish fillet or steak, or even 1/2’s or whole fisheys. The pre-made bags just didn’t make sense at the time — a big fillet may not fit, whereas a small one seemed like I’d be paying for bag that I wouldn’t be using. In fact, in the few times I did buy replacement bagging, I always opted for the roll, not the pre-made bags, sealing my own custom-made bag size, as I think it’s the best price per sq foot.As you may know, to make a custom-sized bag, at least with my machine, one sets the machine on the “seal only” setting , which disables the vacuum stage of the operation, and goes straight to applying heat to the bag material, sealing it shut. Basically it seems it melts both parts of the plastic to each other, sealing the bag material shut. At least that’s the theory. Each time I want a custom-sized bag, I measure how long I need the bag, I add a few extra inches for the bottom seal, and a few more on top, for the vacuum and sealing process.So again, to be sure I get the “best quality” bags for the trip, I purchased this 3-pack FoodSaver FSFSBF0634 11-Inch by 16-Feet Long Roll, 3 Rolls, AND, to make sure I had enough bags, I also bought another 3-pack, the above mentioned Warehouse Store Cos*co “Vac(k)master® Storage Combo Bags. I had let my membership to the warehouse store expire, but they can still be had on the Cos*co website for a $2.00 non-member upcharge, found by searching “storage combo bags”. I later discovered they are available for purchase here on Amazon, but not as a bags/roll combo special, which will run about $10.00 more, $8.00 if you factor in the upcharge. So now I turn to the reason for my low rating:I did quite well in my fishing, and now it was time for all those fisheys to come home with me. As mentioned before, I started with the genuine FoodSaver brand of bag, to match my Genuine FoodSaver machine. I opened the box, and was surprised to find something different than what I was accustom to: The ribbing, or embossing, was only in one side of the bag material – the other side was smooth plastic. For those that don’t follow, I’ll explain further.. The bags that I had been getting from Walmarket – this case it was the RIVEL Brand, (again – misspelled purposely) – the ones I had left over, stored away for months – if not years – are TEXTURED on both sides of the plastic bag. The new bag material, the ones that came in the FoodSaver box from Amazon – these bags that you’re reading this review for – are textured on only one side of the bag, meaning the other side is a completely smooth sheet of plastic. So some may be thinking – “yeah, so, and the point is…?” – but for me, this seemed odd, if not cheap, because I was accustom to BOTH sides of the bag/ bag material being textured. I didn’t know if this was better or not, I just knew it was different. I then opend up the VacKmaster boxes – the ones from the warehouse store – and sunnuvagun – it was also different – but only this time, BOTH sheets of platic were smooth Well, “too late now” I thought. I was miles from home, and it was time to start packing up the fish, so here we go, let’s get packing!So again, I started with the genuine FoodSaver brand, and proceeded to eye-ball and measure each piece of fish and cut the right length of bag material for each soon-to-be bag, and proceeded to make the first, closing bottom seal for each bag. In the machine each one went, pushing each one in far enough to trigger the sealing sequence. All seemed to be going well. One by one, I was making bags. Cutting, sealing.Now came the time for packing. I gently slipped a fillet into the bottom-“sealed” bag, and after drying each top opening with a paper towel, I placed a small strip of paper towel just inside the opening at the top of each bag. This is a trick, to mop up any liquid that migrates toward the opening during the vacuum process, rather than being pulled out, and all into your machine. The bag looked great. The smooth plastic side was being vacuum drawn around each piece of fish, everything was going great. As the vacuum cycle drew close to the end, it sort of “hung” there. The machine kept sucking, but the vacuum cycle wasn’t ending, to move onto the sealing phase. In other words, air was being drawn in from somewhere. I finally pushed the button, and the machine stopped the vacuum mode and began the heat-sealing function. the fish was not air-tight.In the interest of time, I’ll just cut to the chase. It seems as though the FoodSaver bags did not seal at that bottom seal. After some experimentation, I learned that if I cut a length of bag material off the roll, and then did a “seal-only” cycle repetively, that is 2, 3 and even 4 times, that gave it enough repeat heat to melt the two sides shut. Without sealing the bottom shut many times over, I could not be assured that when it came time to fill the bag and then seal it shut, that the first seal (that was made to form the bottom of the bag) would be airtight. When making a bag from a roll, with these particular bags, that is these “FoodSaver FSFSBF0634 11-Inch by 16-Feet Long Roll, 3 Rolls” it became a MUST to do 3 or 4 bottom seals first, to assure a good, air-tight bottom. When doing this, if held up to the light, one could see it actually sealed in two or more seperate places, but generally the initial repeat seals would be in the same spot.It took me quite a few dozen feet to figure out what was going on. I thought perhaps it was the machine. Somewhere along the line I tried the other bags I brought – the ones from the Cos-co wholesale store (remember those?) which incidentally are SMOOTH ON BOTH SHEETS OF PLASTIC, with a *mesh* INTERIOR, and no problems whatsoever. Great first seal, great vacuum, great final seal. Which begs the question: why didn’t I just continue using those and call it a day? Answer: I was stuck on using the Genuine FoodSaver Name. While the other bags did very well initially, I was concerned on how they would hold up over time. I had no experience with a bag that was smooth on both sides. Granted, I had no experience with a bag that was smooth on only ONE side, but still…it was closer in nature than a TOTALLY smooth bag.So to finish up, if I did not make these multiple seals to start the bag, when I filled the bag with the contents, (the fish) and started the vacuum sealing process, the machine would just run and run, trying in vain to get ALL the air out. Of course it would never get ALL the air out, because there must have been a samll, tiny hole, where air was entering the bag, and getting pulled out of the top, with the vacuum running and running. Oddly, once this was addressed, rarely did I get a bad 2nd seal to close and final-seal the bag. Only that first seal to form the bag off the roll was a problem – weird.Even weirder is that I did not have this trouble with the 2-sided textured material – that is the Rivel brand – from Wallymart, only this Genuine FoodSaver stuff. So see – it doesn’t always work that if it costs more – or has the Brand-Name – it’s better. And to finish up, some of the bags that “appeared” to have worked as they should have – that is, shrunk down, sealed, and kept the newly conformed-to-the-fish packages, ended up also being duds. When I got home, some of the packages were no longer air-tight. Air had breached some packages, and they were now just bags, not shrunk, not snug, nothing. So I merely resealed them and all was good again. And the Cosco Vac(K)master bags? No problem-for me, anyway. They are available here at Amazon, at —> 

VacMaster Storage Roll, 11-1/2-Inch by 50-Feet long, 1 Roll per Box

 and here —>

VacMaster Storage Roll, 8-Inch by 50-Feet Long, 1 Roll per Box

, although for around $40, you can pick up both of these AND a bonust 32 Quart bags. BUT THEY’RE NOT GENUINE FOODSAVER BAGS! LOL….There wasn’t much of this stuff left when I got back, but Amazon is so great, I’m confident that after a long review like this, where the entire waste of my time and my aggravation, they’ll take back whatever IS left, and give me full credit for the $20ish I spent, and would probably even take back an empty box, that’s how cool Amazon.com is. I wouldn’t be that rude as to send back USED fish bags! P.U. !So if you’re still with me, to recap:—These rolls took me at least 2 or 3 heat-seals to make sure I had a reliable bottom closure.—If I did not do multiple heat seals, when I filled up the bag and went to vacuum seal the bag, the machine would just keep running, because air was leaking in – presumably th orignally attempted seal, made to start a bag off the roll.—These bags are not textured on both sides of the material, they made of are a smooth sheet of platic on one side of the bag.—Other bags I have purchased in the past (Seal/Meal, etc) had 2 sided texture, and sealed on the first go.—My machine is hardly used, a Genuine FoodSaver, about $125-$150 machine – not junk price range, for sure—No problem with another brand I purchased concurrent with these FoodSaver bags, and they are also available on Amazon. 

VacMaster Storage Roll, 11-1/2-Inch by 50-Feet long, 1 Roll per Box

 etc., (dig around you’ll find them all…)—This review is limited to these rolls, this size, this production lot. Maybe other FoodSaver brand bags might yield me better results.—Don’t catch too much fish…—Don’t catch not enough fish—There’s never catching too much fish—I’ll take the aggravation and go fishing anyday over no aggravation and no fishing—This has not – repeat NOT been a fish storyThanks for your attention and good luckand again, I would give ONE star, but in all fairness, some bags DID seal (not many) but since SOME did seal, I give TWO stars, not just one.

Love food saver bagsI use food saver bags for everything for leftovers and mainly I’ve been using them for food storage, these bags are perfect easy to cut to your specifications they last a long time when you use them with the food saver,

GreatGreat bags

Great Price!I have a hard time finding these bags and an even harder time finding them on sale. The price of this product was perfect! Love the fact that I can make the bag as big or as small as I want.

Every one sealedVery good