Vacuum Sealer Bags for the Freezer: Rolls, Precut and Jars

If your sealer is a FoodSaver, this is the no-thinking pick: five rolls made in the USA by the same brand, two at 8 inches wide and three at 11 inches, so you cover both channel sizes with one purchase. You cut each bag to length, which suits everything from a single chicken breast to a rack of ribs. The bags are BPA-free and rated for freezer, fridge, microwave and dishwasher, and the brand states they are suited to sous vide. The trade-off is that the maker only claims compatibility with its own machines, so owners of other sealers are on their own, and the brand-name rolls are the pricier option compared with the budget rolls below.

Two hundred quart-size bags, 8 by 12 inches, already cut and stored in a box with a lid and a cutter. The box is the reason to buy this over a plain stack: bags stay clean and flat. Each bag is embossed on one side so any suction-style sealer can pull the air out, and the maker states compatibility with the major brands. The bags are BPA-free and pitched at freezer, sous vide and dry storage. The limitation is the single size: a quart bag takes a pound of ground beef or two chicken breasts, not a whole roast, and two hundred bags take shelf space if you seal once a month.

Six rolls, each 20 feet long, three at 11 inches wide and three at 8 inches. That is the most material on this list, which is why this is the pick for anyone who buys meat in bulk or seals a garden harvest in one weekend. The material is stated at 4 mil with embossed air channels on one side and a smooth side you can see through, and the maker claims compatibility with all major sealer brands. The bags are rated for freezer, microwave, boiling and dishwasher. The trade-off with any generic roll is consistency: check the first few seals carefully, and note that a 20 foot roll may not fit inside sealers with a built-in roll compartment.

Bags are wrong for some things: cooked rice you want to reheat, nuts and flour in the pantry, soup you will eat in three days. This is a small battery-powered sealer, about 4 inches square and under 4 inches tall, that pulls the air out of a mason jar through its lid. It works with both regular and wide-mouth jars and the maker states FoodSaver compatibility. Keep it in a drawer for pantry and fridge storage rather than the freezer, since jars need headspace and care when frozen. The trade-off is scope: it does nothing for the meat and vegetables that fill most freezers, and it needs charging like any cordless tool.