REVIEW – With only the two of us in our household, grocery shopping can be a bit of a challenge. Many items come in bulk or in large quantities. I often end up buying food items and have them go to waste because it is more than I need. I have been wanting a vacuum sealer for a while, so when this popped up I jumped at the chance to review it. Let’s see if it helps to solve some of my bulk food issues.
What is it?
The UTEN vacuum sealer is exactly what it says it is. It is a vacuum food sealer. It can seal bags and it also comes with a hose attachment to let it vacuum the air out of storage containers that have the proper fitting.
What’s in the box?
The sealer came well packaged in a basic cardboard box. It had a nice film strip over the top of the sealer to protect the finish. There is an extra strip of protective film over the stainless stripe at the bottom of the top cover. That is what the blue-colored stripe is. The following items were inside the box.
- Five large (9.84 x 13.78 in), ten medium (7.87 x 11.81 in), and five small (5.91 x 9.84 in) vacuum bags
- The vacuum sealer
- Suction hose attachment
- User manual
Hardware specs
- Voltage: 110V
- Frequency: 60Hz
- Motor Power: 125W
- Vacuum Degree: -40 ~ -55Kpa
- Sealing Width:0.1in
- Sealing Length: ≤ 11.8in
- Dimension: 14.4*4.5*2.4in
- Net Weight: 0.98Kg
Design and features
I really love how the vacuum sealer has a storage compartment for the power cord. It makes putting the appliance away very easy. Cabinet space is a premium in my kitchen and I was able to just slide this puppy into a very small spot.
The picture above shows the sealer opened up. The sealer has four different options. The first is just vacuum. You would use this if you had a separate storage container you wanted to suction the air out of using the hose attachment. The hose attaches to the protrusion just on the right side of the drip tray. The seal button can be used if you have a roll of vacuum bags. You would use it to make the initial seal on the bag. The next button is the food button. I have more information on it below.
Performance
I purchased two containers of chicken wings. One was drumsticks and the others were the flats. There were way too many for a single serving for my husband and myself, so I decided to use those as my test subjects. When sealing food in vacuum bags, you first choose if the food is dry or moist. The moist option will take longer to seal. In the case of the chicken, I chose the moist option.
I loaded the bag up with the wings and then placed the open end of the back to where the opening was over the drip tray. The silver band at the bottom is where the heat will be used to seal the bag. I closed the sealer making sure both buttons on the side of the sealer popped out with clicks letting me know it was closed all of the way. I then pressed the last button on the right labeled ‘Vac Seal/Cancel’. That button vacuumed out the air and then sealed the bad with the heat strip. Any time during the process I could have pressed cancel to stop it.
The above picture shows the chicken wings fully sealed. I think it did a great job. I ended up making three bags of wings. I placed a video below showing the vacuum process. The blue blinking light stops when the sealing process is complete.
What I like
- Very reasonably priced.
- Gets the job done exactly like it is supposed to
- Nice storage compartment for the power cord.
- Very compact
What I’d change
- Nothing that I can think of!
Final thoughts
If you have been thinking about getting a vacuum sealer then don’t wait any longer. You will have a tough time beating the price. Maybe other sealers have more features, but this one gets the job done and is very easy to store.
Price: $39.99
Where to buy: Amazon
Source: The sample of this product was provided by UTEN.
