Bag Sealer

Around 32 years ago I bought an Impulse Sealer for my business. It never get a lot of use for the business - but it was situated in the kitchen, and immediately proved its worth as a kitchen tool.

I always considered it an "essential", but didn't realize just how essential it was until it stopped working, last Sunday afternoon. I immediately ordered a replacement from ULINE, which was delivered Tuesday, but I had cooking projects on Monday, and my kitchen was crippled. I couldn't package anything. I couldn't reseal packages of ingredients that I had opened. It was awful.

The photo shows the new one (same as the old one) equipped with a roll of V-fold heat shrink film and a heat gun to shrink it, but it gets most use sizing and sealing much stronger 2-mil poly bags, and resealing the bags ingredients come packed in. It has a precision timer that can be adjusted to get exactly the seal you want on various types and thicknesses of plastic. This machine cost 2019 US $123 plus shipping.

More on Kitchen Gear.

I am aware there are many kitchen bag sealers available, both less and more expensive than my industrial sealer. Unfortunately, I have no experience with any of them, so my ability to comment is limited. Most include vacuum sealing, but I've never felt a pressing need for vacuum. Also, from the photos, I don't think most of those sealers will work well with bags filled with soups, stews, marinating fluids, or things soaking in water, uses very common in my kitchen. I'm plenty happy with plain 9x12 2-mil poly bags, which I buy from ULINE for 2019 US $37 per 1000, about a year and a half's supply.

I don't consider the Shrink Wrap feature of my setup important, but I have it, so I do use it, but it's not nearly as secure as the 2-mil poly. A 2000 foot roll of V-fold shrink film costs about 2019 US $115 and lasts me about 4 years.