The smartest way to extend the life of your produce and proteins.
Laura Denby is a food writer and chef with six years of professional culinary experience. Find her work in Real Simple, Food Network, Better Homes & Gardens and more. Thermo Molding Machine
We independently evaluate all recommended products and services. If you click on links we provide, we may receive compensation. Learn more.
Finding ways to extend the shelf life of groceries is a great way to cut down on food waste at home. Most people spend a lot of time, money, and effort grocery shopping, and there's nothing worse than reaching for a certain ingredient and realizing it's spoiled before you've even had the chance to use it. One of the easiest ways to keep food fresher for longer is by investing in a high-quality vacuum sealer.
These handy tools remove air from the bags or containers that food is stored in, which prevents bacteria or mold from growing and protects food from freezer burn. Vacuum sealers are useful in various ways, but they're particularly helpful if you prefer buying products in bulk, meal prep, or trying to preserve food that you've grown or caught yourself. They’re also great for sous vide cooking.
To find the best vacuum sealer, we put a few leading models to the test by sealing some of the most delicate foods we could find to assess their ability to effectively preserve food without crushing it. Read on to find out which vacuum sealers made the cut.
The Spruce Eats / Russell Kilgore
Great for a beginner but suitable for any user, this is an easy-to-use and versatile vacuum sealer.
Our only complaint is that a little too much liquid in the bag can make moist sealing difficult.
The Nesco VS-12 Deluxe Vacuum Sealer is our favorite vacuum sealer of the bunch. This countertop model is sleek and not too big to keep out on display or store. The button panel on the top is designed simply for ease of use. One of our test kitchen’s favorite features was how delicate this sealer was when dry sealing the Chex Mix. Without breaking any of the cereal pieces, it was able to seal the bag tightly.
It does have some trouble moist sealing if there’s a good amount of liquid in the vacuum bag, so we advise being cautious when using the moist seal option. The bags maintained a sturdy seal throughout testing, even the halved avocado hardly showing signs of ripening. Versatile and user-friendly, this vacuum sealer is perfect for anybody’s kitchen. We recommend it for somebody just starting to work with vacuum sealing or as a thoughtful gift for the home cook in your life.
Price at time of publish: $88
Food & Wine / Russell Kilgore
With perfect scores across the board from our test kitchen, we’re confident this vacuum sealer does the job at a great price.
It’s not the gentlest we tested when it comes to delicate items.
Our pick for Best Value, this vacuum sealer is only $60, and we found it packs a powerful product for the price. The Bosenkitchen Food Sealer Machine managed perfect scores across the board during our tests. This machine boasts five different seal settings and a lid that audibly locks before sealing, which helps arrange the bag in the suction channel. This was one of the most effective sealers we tested when it came to sealing but be warned that it may take several rounds of sealing to remove all the air in the bag.
Overall, this sealer is simple to use for any sealing task. We love that it’s small enough to fit into a kitchen drawer for easy storage and access. We also love that it automatically disables itself to prevent overheating during prolonged use. It's perfect for any kitchen at a price that can’t be beat.
Price at time of publish: $60
Food & Wine / Russell Kilgore
Food & Wine / Russell Kilgore
Food & Wine / Russell Kilgore
Food & Wine / Russell Kilgore
Beautiful minimalist design and multiple seal settings make this vacuum sealer worth the price.
While there’s no delicate seal option, this appliance has a pulse vacuum setting, which allows for the manual sealing of more fragile foods.
The Anova Precision Vacuum Sealer Pro has a sleek design that won't look obtrusive on the countertop. It also features various seal settings: vacuum and seal, moist, dry, seal, pulse vacuum, and external pulse vacuum, allowing the user control over the suction power and pulse. Despite its higher price and variety of settings, this model does come with an instruction booklet that’s straightforward enough to help beginners operate the sealer.
The options here make it a more advanced model with a wide range of suction power and pulse control levels. It’s a splurge at $150, but with such a high score from our testing, it’s perfect for a more advanced home cook looking to level up their vacuum sealing game.
Price at time of publish: $150
Food & Wine / Russell Kilgore
Food & Wine / Russell Kilgore
Food & Wine / Russell Kilgore
Food & Wine / Russell Kilgore
This was one of the most effective models we tested for getting a tight seal every time.
We wish it came with bag roll storage and a delicate suction strength option, but it does the job well.
Searching for a new appliance when you’re unsure what to look for is difficult, so we sought out the essentials for our Best for Beginners pick. The Inkbird Vacuum Sealer Machine passed the majority of our tests with flying colors while being foolproof to operate. There were minimal signs of oxidation after five days of storage in sealing the avocado to test for long-term freshness and tightness. This sealer only faltered when it came to sealing more delicate foods. The suction strength doesn’t give much room for adjustment, but this shouldn’t be a problem regarding beginner usage.
We'd recommend this vacuum sealer for anyone who wants to start vacuum sealing but doesn’t need a ton of bells and whistles. It does, however, have an accessory port for a handheld suction hose. And while bag storage would give this sealer a leg up, it also has a bag cutter for convenience, which we love. The low price point and small size make this a high-value and easily stored appliance — perfect for first-time buyers or as a gift.
Price at time of publish: $43
Food & Wine / Russell Kilgore
Food & Wine / Russell Kilgore
Food & Wine / Russell Kilgore
It’s difficult to vacuum seal delicate foods without crushing them or leaving air pockets, and this model does just that.
When moist sealing, air bubbles are still apparent in the liquid.
Vacuum sealing fragile or oddly shaped foods can be significantly more difficult than sealing substantial or uniformly shaped foods. Sealers have the propensity to crush lightweight foods with suction power. The air bubbles often left behind need to be removed to keep the food in a truly airtight environment. Here’s where the Nutrichef PKVS Sealer comes in. Not only did it function well in our dry and moist tests, but the seal was so tight there was little to no oxidation on the avocado.
While this vacuum sealer has only two seal settings, it has additional accessories like an air hose. This model is our favorite if you plan to use a vacuum sealer for delicate foods like produce that might be easily bruised or loaves of bread. Despite its small range of functions, it is worth it, thanks to its price and stellar performance in our tests.
Price at time of publish: $60
Food & Wine / Russell Kilgore
Food & Wine / Russell Kilgore
Food & Wine / Russell Kilgore
Food & Wine / Russell Kilgore
Super compact, the design of this model makes it extremely easy to store vertically or horizontally. It also reduces bag waste.
There is no delicate option for auto-sealing, though manually stopping the machine is an option.
Few people have endless storage space in their kitchens. While keeping all your appliances on the countertop would be nice, looking for a model with easy storage options might be right for you. The FoodSaver VS0150 PowerVac Compact Vacuum Sealer can be stored horizontally, and its small size makes this very convenient. However, it’s also designed to be stored vertically, something you can’t say for most vacuum sealers.
This is our favorite compact model, but it also performed exceptionally well during our testing. All the vacuum bags we sealed were tight enough to leave no air bubbles and stayed sealed throughout our tests. It has a super short refractory period of only 20 seconds, and the design also features a removable drip tray. If you’re looking for convenience, this is a perfect vacuum sealer for your kitchen.
Price at time of publish: $95
Food & Wine / Russell Kilgore
Food & Wine / Russell Kilgore
Food & Wine / Russell Kilgore
Picking our favorite was simple: the Nesco VS-12 Deluxe Vacuum Sealer removes air efficiently and gently. It excelled in all of our tests with no effort required. This versatility makes it ideal for cooks looking to vacuum seal, from experienced appliance users to newbies.
Food & Wine / Russell Kilgore
To determine the best model for any occasion, we tested 23 vacuum sealers. These ranged from handheld to countertop models — some very simple and some that felt more professional in style. The tests consisted of an initial sealer setup, evaluating the number of accessories and bags each machine had, settings for moist or dry foods, and suction power.
To get the best understanding of each sealer's full range of functions, the test kitchen put each model through a series of trials to determine ease of use, performance, suction power, and versatility. Each machine first sealed cereal as a dry test, its irregular shape creating pockets for air bubbles to hide in. Ideally, a vacuum sealer can remove all air pockets and create a tight seal without crushing the cereal.
Next, marinated bone-in chicken breasts were sealed for sous-vide cooking, and a halved, ripe avocado was sealed to determine long-term freshness. Through this series of kitchen tasks, we rated each appliance to find the best vacuum sealer for any cook at any level of expertise.
Food & Wine / Russell Kilgore
When purchasing a vacuum sealer, assess the machine’s ability to seal food tightly without crushing delicate or irregularly shaped items. Ideally, a machine will offer its users a good amount of control over the power being used. You’ll want to look at each machine's control options to ensure it has a mode designed for more delicate foods.
Effectively sucking air from sealer bags can be challenging, especially if you preserve irregularly shaped foods or delicate or leave ample room for air pockets. When it comes to things like dry snack foods, produce that can bruise easily, or dehydrated ingredients, this is essential to maintaining the structure of the food. Throughout our tests, we assessed whether each machine could effectively remove air or if pockets were left behind in the process.
Typically, countertop vacuum sealers have more functionality than handheld models. They can work with a wider variety of bag and roll sizes. However, handheld sealers are better for portability. The lack of a cord and smaller size can also be helpful for storage. Our test kitchen evaluated both types, but only countertop models made it into our best picks. The versatility of a countertop model is more useful.
Bag storage and a cutting feature can make using a vacuum sealer even easier. We often prefer a model with storage capabilities, as the bag roll doesn’t take up additional space in your kitchen. Efficiency is critical here; the ability to cut the bag with the vacuum sealer saves time and increases the accuracy of your cut.
Particularly for more experienced vacuum sealer users, additional settings give way to an entirely new set of sealing options. Sealers that offer an accessory option do the same. Attachments do everything from vacuum seal an opened bottle of wine to a mason jar.
Food & Wine / Russell Kilgore
A vacuum sealer is a highly versatile tool to have in your kitchen, allowing you to prolong the shelf life of food, sous vide, and prevent freezer burn and dehydration – without introducing chemicals. If you like to buy in bulk or meal prep, a vacuum sealer is particularly helpful and worth purchasing.
"Place your food in the vacuum sealer bag, open the machine, place the open end of the vacuum sealer bag inside the drip tray, and you're ready to go," says King. "The air is then vacuumed out of the bag and the bag is perfectly sealed so air, moisture, and freezer burn can't get in. On models with variable modes, users can select the best vacuum mode for their food. For example, pulse mode is great for delicate foods like crackers and baked goods, which can then be vacuumed without crushing the food."
"By completely removing the air from bags and containers, you can keep food fresh for up to five times longer than ordinary storage methods," says King. "This applies to products that go into your freezer, fridge, or pantry. For example, when vacuum sealed, beef and poultry can be frozen for up to three years, hard cheese can keep for up to eight months in the fridge, and baking essentials such as flour and sugar are good for up to two years."
"Some foods you should avoid vacuum sealing include soft cheese, bananas, mushrooms, whole apples, and raw onions," says King. "Some foods are great for vacuum sealing but should be handled with care. For example, use pulse mode with delicate baked goods or snack foods." In addition, steaming-hot food should cool to room temperature before you vacuum seal it, as the steam can loosen the airtight seal, which can then result in bacterial growth.
"Once you learn the basics of vacuum sealing, there is no limit to the number of uses you will find around the house for these machines. Beyond food storage, vacuum sealing is a great way to simplify meal prep, sous vide cook, and marinate faster," says King.
Unfortunately, no. Regular bags or poly bags will not work when vacuum sealing because they will leak oxygen. Look for more heavy-duty bags when using your vacuum sealer.
Mueller Vacuum Sealer ($50 at Amazon)
The Mueller performed well and is a great price for the quality, but came up short for versatility since it slightly crushed the cereal in our tests for delicate foods. If you're not storing berries or tender produce, this sealer will still be a good pick.
FoodSaver Vacuum Sealer Machine FM2000 ($100 at Amazon)
This sealer also performed well in other tests but lacks a delicate setting. For the price, there are more versatile options in our top picks.
Nesco Food Vacuum Sealer Starter Kit (VS-02) ($68 at Amazon)
This Nesco tool is a good option for beginners but isn't ideal for delicate foods. It also needs a 2-minute wait period between seals to cool down.
Geryon Vacuum Sealer Machine (E2900-MS) ($50 at Amazon)
The Geryon performed well with the delicate foods test but struggled with liquids, as the marinaded meats caused it to freeze up and stalled sealing.
The baker's dozen of other vacuum sealers we tested didn't live up to our expectations for a few reasons. While we can leave some leeway for sealers that don't have a delicate setting, the tools that couldn't seal proteins with any amount of moisture, took far too long for refractory periods between seals, or had extremely oxidized avocados at the end of testing did not make our top picks list. This included a few other FoodSaver models (VS3150, Handheld, V44840, and FM5200), and brands like SealVac, Zwilling, VacPak, Vesta, and two Anova models that didn't fare as well.
This piece was written by Christa Glennie, a freelance writer and food editor for nearly 20 years. She is also the author of two cookbooks and specializes in food and drink trends, agriculture, the regional foodways of Western New York, and the restaurant business. Her respect for simplicity and uncluttered counters in the kitchen ultimately fuels a desire to find and own well-designed, multi-purpose, best-in-class kitchen tools.
This piece was updated by Laura Denby, a product reviews writer and former chef. Laura uses her professional culinary experience to make informed, thoughtful recommendations for publications like Real Simple, FoodNetwork.com, Better Homes & Gardens, and Taste of Home. Laura has tested hundreds of kitchen products in search of the most functional, efficient, and versatile gadgets for home cooks. This piece was also updated by Stacey Ballis, a freelance writer, recipe developer, and product reviewer. Stacey's work has been published in Food & Wine, Eating Well, Allrecipes, MyRecipes, Delish, and more.
Ready Meal Packaging Machine By clicking “Accept All Cookies”, you agree to the storing of cookies on your device to enhance site navigation, analyze site usage, and assist in our marketing efforts.