# Food Sealers



## TeresaT (Mar 11, 2016)

Likeablelady started a thread about impulse sealers which was very interesting and informative.  Informative since I had no idea what an impulse sealer was.  Thanks for the lesson!  So, you use an impulse sealer to seal the bag then a heating gun to shrink the wrapping.  Why don't you use a food sealer that sucks the air out and seals?  I actually have one of those collecting dust in a cupboard in the kitchen.  It never occurred to me to use it for soap.  But now I'm thinking maybe I can.  Or not.  What do you experts say?


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## shunt2011 (Mar 11, 2016)

I would say no.  The cost alone would be prohibitive I think.  Those bags aren't cheap.  I have a food sealer and love it for food and other items.  Of course I haven't done the math either for them on soap or other products. Plus, you can't get the seal close enough with the food sealer it leaves a pretty good edge.


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## DeeAnna (Mar 11, 2016)

You could use a vacuum sealer in theory, but I'm not sure how well it would work in real life. I have one and use it a lot for food storage, but I don't use it for my soap or other products.

A home type vacuum sealer that most of us have needs a bag that has some kind of texturing inside so the air has a pathway out of the bag during the vacuuming step. The texture tends to make the bag translucent; shrink wrap is transparent. To get be able to use clear bags, you'd have to go to a commercial vac sealer and that is a lot more expensive than a home vac sealer.

A vac bag is usually made from heavier duty plastic than a shrink bag to guard against pinholes and imperfections in the plastic. If you use a light duty bag for vacuum packaging, it often fails to hold a vacuum. You end up with a heat sealed bag, sure, but it fits loosely around the item, not vacuumed down tight.

Also, a vac sealer won't shrink the bag into a wrapping that fits the item like a glove -- the plastic just compresses down flat however that happens. You can guide it a little so it flattens smoothly, but it's not going to be a form fitting cover.


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## TeresaT (Mar 11, 2016)

Thanks!  And that's why I asked the experts!


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## kchaystack (Mar 11, 2016)

I mostly agree.  However when I am sending my mother lotion, I do seal the bottle in vacuum bag just in case it comes open so lotion does not go everywhere.


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