Best Vacuum Sealers of 2025
Keep food fresher for longer with one of CR’s top-rated kitchen accessories
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Want to keep your food fresher for longer, while also cutting down on waste? Get one of Consumer Reports’ top-rated vacuum sealers. We tested seven to find the best little machines on the market. Our tests revealed that all seven do a great job dry-sealing food, but their performance varies in other measures. For example, some are easier to clean than others.
Vacuum sealers extract air from a bag, then fuse the sides together along a heated strip, creating an airtight seal. If you’ve ever frozen an expensive piece of meat only to find it covered with a thin layer of ice crystals, you’ll appreciate what a vacuum sealer can do. That frosty freezer burn doesn’t make the meat unsafe to eat, but it can change the taste, texture, and appearance.
Best Vacuum Sealers
How CR Tests Vacuum Sealers
CR tested seven vacuum sealers from six brands. The sealers, roughly $50 to $150, are about as wide as a toaster oven, though most aren’t that tall or deep. The larger models store a roll of plastic onboard, called a bag roll, that you cut to size. Those without roll storage don’t require as much counter space and are even small enough to stash in a drawer.
Some sealers come with a bag roll and/or precut bags in a variety of sizes (such as pint, quart, and gallon). Prices for replacements vary: A batch of 44 quart-sized replacement bags for FoodSaver models costs $25 on the brand’s website, while 150 generic quart-sized bags cost only $928 on Amazon. (We tested two generic brands, and they worked with all the sealers in our tests.)
In previous tests, we evaluated whether vacuum sealing extended the storage life of food. “The answer to that was a resounding ‘Yes,’ so we didn’t feel the need to repeat those tests,” says CR test engineer Bernie Deitrick. Instead, we focused on how well a model seals dry food (such as an uncooked chicken breast or steak), how well it seals moist food (think meat in a marinade), how fast it works, how quietly it operates, and whether it’s simple to clean, and has convenience features, such as cord and bag roll storage, and has easy-to-understand controls.
