I do this but I wonder if the loss of moisture is greater.
12 inch sealing edge, so depends on the length of bag you get.
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Understood. Attractive price!
I bought this the other day:
https://www.sousvidetools.com/christmas-offers/ivide-cooker-package-offer
Mine came with a free blowtorch and loads of extra bags. I added a decent sized container with lid for not a lot extra. Iâm looking forward to playing with this.
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Buy a roll of bag instead of individual bags, so seal them the size you need them and cheaper.
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Iâve not found there to be a great deal, though in theory youâre right
Do vacuum sealers actually create a full vacuum in the bag? Given that atmospheric pressure is 14.6 lb/sq inch, why isnât soft food like salmon just squashed? 
When I worked in a joinery shop years back, we used vacuum bag presses to glue sheets of wood and veneers together.
And carbon fibre stuff is done the same way. I suppose itâs just removing the ambient air thatâs in the bag, not a strong enough vacuum to cause the water in the meat to evaporate and be extracted.
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I think on some of these machines at least, you can set the vacuum to lightly take the air out.
The situation with the water is complicated by the fact that the liquid is in contact with the vapour. If the liquid and vapour were in equilibrium then you wouldnât be able to drop the pressure below that of the vapour until all of the liquid had âboiledâ away. But in practice equilibrium is difficult to achieve because the liquid water is impeded in its migration to the surface, where the vapour is, by the foodâs structure. So if you had a strong enough pump you could drop the pressure at the foodâs surface below the vapour pressure of water (20-30mbar at room temperature). As soon as you sealed the bag though water from inside the food would start to restore the vapour pressure.
In fact as far as I can see the pumps that are used for this process are relatively primitive and I suspect they wouldnât be able to get down to this sort of pressure even if there was no water present. What they do is to remove most of the air, so the bag stays below atmospheric pressure as the cooking temperature rises and keeps the contents confined, preventing them from being lost to the cooking fluid (water or oil or air) as they would in normal cooking.
Dropping the pressure in the bag to a lot less than atmospheric will cause the external air pressure to act on the contents though. If theyâre not crushed by this then that must be because theyâre strong enough to withstand that pressure. âSoftâ (i.e. deformable) stuff can still be crush-resistant. Clay, for example, can easily have its shape changed by local pressure but if the pressure is applied uniformly its volume wonât be reduced significantly.
VB
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I think vacuum underpants might solve a lot of your problems.
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His problems or ours?
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Both
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What problems? 
I donât have any. Well, apart from an inability to measure 
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can you use a sous vide machine to gently confit stuff?
I reckon it would be very good for that.
I am pondering another. I gave the last one away, as I didnât really like cooking beef like that and it didnt get used. Meat like venison was quite good.
But I do like confit salmon etcâŚ
