New Product Reviews

If you’re like me, you remember when food sealers first came out. Big, cumbersome units that took up a considerable amount of counter space, used very large rolls of plastic, and cost a fortune. Unfortunately, those units are still available, though the costs is somewhat less and they are more readily available.

I saw a television commercial for the Handi-Vac and it looked like something I would have to have. It’s roughly the size of a hand-held can opener and isn’t very heavy. The zipper-type bags you must use with this product are made of a heavy plastic with a blue zipper type strip, plus a small air hole for the vacuum sealer. There are lines on the bag that tell you how far up you can fill the bag.

It comes with batteries already in place, but I wanted to see what type of batteries it used, so went to open the battery compartment. This was the part I disliked about the Handi-Vac. The battery compartment is not really easily accesible, you can’t just push a little button to open it up. You need an itsy bitsy teeny weenie Phillips-head screwdriver to open the compartment and retrieve/replace the batteries. Fortunately I keep that size tool around for my computer case but I don’t know if every household has that size screwdriver.

Using the Handi-Vac is simple. Put the food into the bag up to the measuring line, seal the zipper, then place the bag on the counter. Put the nozzle of the Handi-Vac right on the spot marked on the pag and push the button. What is supposed to happen, theoretically, is it will suck out all the air, leaving you a product that will stay fresher in the freezer without freezer burn.

It’s not that simple, though. You may have to move the unit up, down, to the left, to the right and wiggle it around until it makes the proper contact to suck out the air. Sometimes it can take 10 tries until you get it right. Once it begins to work it takes about 10-12 seconds to suck out all the air. If there is any liquid in the bag, it will be sucked into the nozzle area and you have to remove the plastic covering and wash off the covering and nozzle.

When it works, it works very, very well and is fairly easy to use. I froze several different types of foods in the quart-sized bags. I froze raw chicken, cooked chicken, raw hamburger meat and cooked pasta.

The chicken, both cooked and raw, remained sealed air-tight for weeks and weeks, as did the hamburger and pasta. Trying to use this on the grated cheese just to keep it fresh in the fridge was a disaster, as it stuck together in one clump. I also tried storing a loaf of artisan bread but as it began to suck out the air, the loaf of bread began to collapse, so I stopped right away.

I like how it’s compact and fits right into a kitchen drawer. While I don’t use it often, I’ve had to change batteries twice and once it begins to lose battery power you’ll know right away as it just does not work properly.

The price is right — around $10 for the unit depending on where you purchase it from. The bags can be expensive if you use them often. I paid $4.00 at my local supermarket for 20 quart-sized bags but when on sale at Target they were $2.00 and I stocked up.

I don’t reuse the bags but am told some people do put them in the dishwasher and reuse them. Since I don’t have a dishwasher and don’t relish attempting to clean out a bag used for raw chicken, I toss mine. The bags have a sort of mesh lining that will surely trap all the chicken bacteria unless it goes through a dishwasher.

The old fashioned type of vacuum sealers used rolls of plastic where you could cut a bag to size with a heat sealer and you’d often burn yourself, but you could freeze certain foods and then simply drop them in boiling water to cook the food.

This type is much easier to use, cheaper to buy and maintain, and easier to store. I wish it worked right away rather than having to move the unit around a bit, but I’d highly recommend it to anyone who needed an inexpensive vacuum sealer

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This is going to be lengthy so I’ll begin with the end and say I highly recommend the Perfect Pod Maker.

I don’t like hot coffee. In fact, the smell of coffee percolating or brewing makes me feel a little queasy. So it’s not surprise that I’m addicted to decaf iced coffee. I have tried various coffee outlets including Tim Horton, Honey Dew Donuts and Dunkin Donuts and only like the latter. No Starbucks out in this area!

But, I find I dump about 1/3 of the iced coffees I buy at Dunkin Donuts. They either have too much cream, or not enough, or have a sour, bitter taste. One time the cream was curdled. I get frustrated when I want a good cup of iced coffee and know it’s a crap shoot whether I’ll get a good one or will end up basically tossing two bucks in the trash.

I’ve tried home coffee makers. I tried just about every brand of single serve coffee maker including those using pods. Most were very large and cumbersome but for the most part, I just didn’t like the coffee, and I tried every major and minor brand out there.

I was recently in the housewares department of Kohl’s, buying some of the Food Network products (I love their knives) and saw a single serve coffee maker that uses pods, the West Bend Single-Cup Coffee and Water Dispenser. It was small and for $24 I figured what the heck, and bought it. I liked the fact I could use ground coffee or the pods, which was the selling point for me. Bought 2 different brands of pods — a French vanilla and decaf — and tried each. They were good and made a good cup of iced coffee, but not a great cup of iced coffee.

I was looking at the ground Dunkin Donuts coffee in the store, thinking, “I wish these came in pods” and on a lark, when home, typed in “pod maker” in a search engine and sure enough, found you CAN make your own pods. I was thinking I could simply make my own pods with Dunkin Donuts coffee! I did a lot of online research to read reviews of the various types of pod makers, the pros and cons, and decided to go for it.

I drove 30 miles out of town to buy the Perfect Pod Coffee Pod Maker . I also bought 2 bags of Dunkin Donuts Decaf Coffee and 2 extra packages of Perfect Pod filters .

The Perfect Pod Coffee Pod Maker is not a huge appliance and takes up a small amount of counter space. It’s small enough, though, that I can stick it in a cabinet if I want. Unpackaging it was easy and it was so easy to assemble — you just plug it in!

Using it is simple, too. Take a pod, place it in the holder, add coffee and push down. There are little tricks, though. First, I take the pod holder and fold over and crease the top piece so it lays perfectly in place over the bottom of the pod. You want a perfect seal so placement is important. You can put in as much or as little coffee as you like. When you add the coffee, make sure no loose coffee is on the edge or you won’t get a perfect seal. Now you simply fold over the top piece and press down. The instructions say to hold down for 2-3 seconds but I do it for 6-8 seconds for a better seal.

This morning I made up a dozen pods for future use and only had a problem with one, when I didn’t make sure the top fit the bottom right. I keep the pods in a square cracker keeper — the size of a sleeve of square crackers — and it fits right in my cabinet. I figure it’s a little better than making up a pod each time I want iced coffee. I love knowing it’s the brand of coffee *I* like and the amount *I* like, and you know when Dunkin Donuts has their next sale on ground decaf coffee I’ll be buying several bags and putting them in the freezer.

The Perfect Pod Coffee Pod Maker doesn’t make pods that are compatible with every single serve coffee maker out there. There are a few brands it either won’t work with or you have to do a little bit of work to make the pod fit right. Like I said above, I use it in the West Bend Single-Cup Coffee and Water Dispenser and find a full pod with 10 grams of coffee and 6 ounces of water gives me the perfect iced coffee if I fill the cup with the proper amount of ice cubes. I know too many and it will be weak and not enough and it will be too strong for me.

The Perfect Pod Coffee Pod Maker is a nifty little appliance that won’t take up much room in your pantry, won’t empty your wallet and will let you enjoy your favorite brand of ground coffee (or tea) in your favorite pod-style coffee maker.

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