Solis Vacuum v FoodSaver

Hi there,

This is a big thank-you for all the help I was given with a query I had about 8 weeks ago. I can't remember every name but Natalie Chivers solved my problem - so big hugs to her!

I'm English and living over here in Europe. My present location in just south of Brussels, in Belgium. I bought an American vacuum packer from an online company in England some 4 years ago.

This was the 'FoodSaver Compact II Vac 50'. It was just what I'd been looking for for years. I'd been buying in bulk, and cooking in bulk for a few years, but never able to properly freeze in bulk. The machine became a godsend to us. When we moved over to Belgium it became especially useful, in fact a life saver. I love many Yorkshire (English) foods; sausages, smoked bacon, pork pies, smoked haddock etc, which I bring back after a visit. The only problem was obtaining bags and rolls for freezing so much. An American email friend from Colorado solved that by buyng in the US and posting on. Belgian customs crucified me with import duty on the first box at Xmas, but the 2nd slipped through ;-)

The machine died a couple of months ago and I asked for advice. Nancy came up with a Swiss firm called Solis. She uses one of their machines. As luck would have it I found a kitchen shop not more than 12km from my door, who had access to the firm. I am pleased to say that I am now the proud possesser of a Solis 'Champion Magic Vac'. It's larger than the FoodSaver but has the same width extractor and bags. It functions exactly the same way and I believe, has the same capacity for extraction. I'm lucky in that although it says "Don't use any other bags than ours - don't they all! my FoodSaver bags perform OK! A real bonus is that it also has a manual control function. This means that I can, when I learn how to use it properly, vacuum pack delicate items like breads and cakes.

The manual comes in French, German and Italian. Just my luck. Typical Brit. I haven't really spoken French since school. I did one year of German and I haven't a clue about Italian. I'm learning Dutch so that helps a bit with the German - but not the technical language. Anyway I'm having fun. Thanks again Natalie!!

Don