Wow, flybygrace, you have inspired me to blow the dust off of my foodsaver! LOL Great tips. I love the one about the paper towel and the meat. So do you just seal up the bag with the paper towel in it? Do you do this with marinade in there too? That is my only complaint about my foodsaver - if there is liquid it gets up in the area where I am trying to seal and then it won't seal. It is actually a royal pain and it is the reason I don't use mine much. I really like to make homemade soups in big batches and freeze some, and that doesn't work well at all with the foodsaver. I am better off using big ziplock bags. But meats, fish, lasagna, anything firm really, all work well. We don't eat a lot of meat and don't hunt or anything, so I don't use it as much as I thought I would.