My New Favorite Product

Years ago, I talked my Sweetie into buying one of those food sealer, vacuum-thingamajigs. It was roughly 50 smackers, if I remember correctly. Not to mention an extra $11 for a box of bags. There was measuring, cutting, sealing, vacuuming, and sealing again involved but that was okay, because I was being resourceful and saving money. Happy, I was, sealing & vacuuming, vacuuming & sealing and thinking of all the food I was no longer going to be throwing away and imagining all the wonderful things we could do with the money we saved!

Ahhh...good times.

I think I used it 3 times and back to the far, dark corners of the pantry it went. After awhile, sealing & vacuuming got replaced with things that are actually fun!

Then along comes Handi-Vac by Reynolds. I call him "Burt". Burt is so easy to use, it amazes me that no one came up with this sooner. I mean, really, HOW long has it been since we first put a man on the moon? Let's get with it, people!

Burt even comes with his own batteries plus three quart-size bags to get you started. The instructions are clear - basically, you are holding Burt against the designated blue spot on the freezer bag and pressing a button - and there are even pictures. I'm guessing, they used pictures to show the monkeys in their test lab how to use it. Yes, I know, cliche' but really, a monkey could use it!

Burt is extra speedy and does not require the 10-20 seconds to vacuum the air out of the bag that the manufacturer states. The bags are also reusable! Yay!

And, if I ever run into the designer in packaging who came up with the box design, I'm going to kiss him! Not only is Burt the first item I've removed from hard plastic packaging without muttering a few "colorful" words, but because you don't rip or damage the packaging in any way, you can use it to store Burt if you so desire. A little bed for Burt, if you will.

The price is a very reasonable $9.99 at Wal-mart. The bags are a bit more than regular bags but considering you can use the bags again and again (without cutting them down like with the vacuum-thingy), you can really get your money out of them.

My rating for this little gem is:

5 Mommy Kisses! (out of a possible five)