Foodsaver Vacuum Sealing Kit - V3440

I'm a 60 year old widower. That's what my late wife used to say about it. We bought our first Foodsaver machine about 1998 I think for $99 from a Tilia infomercial. Three years later we replaced it with the professional model. The original one still worked, but we wanted the better features. We gave that one to her mother in law and she had it until she died in 2004. Nine years later in 2010 the Foodsaver Professional finally bit the dust so I bought the V3440. I've had it for a year. it sits on top of my microwave and hasn't been moved since I bought it. I've been telling everyone I meet about this machine. If you have a freezer, or a large fridge and buy cold cuts, cheese, veggies, fruit you need this machine. If you haven't seen the infomercial, I'm sure it's on Youtube. Go look at it. It does everything they say it does exactly the way they show it. No tricks. The only problem is occasionally a bag springs a leak and loses the vacuum seal, but that's been rare in my experience. Right now, I have about 10 lbs of chicken breasts, at least a dozen steaks of various kinds, sausage, hamburger and hot dogs in my freezer in the garage, all frozen in Foodsaver bags, labeled and dated. I have actually eaten chicken breasts defrosted after 2 years in a Foodsaver bag that tasted as fresh and juicy as if they had just been bought. No joke. Even if you don't have a big fridge, it will pay for itself extending the life of any produce or meats. It's also great for preserving leftovers for more than a day or two. This product is amazing. Rarely do you hear of an "As shown on TV product" that performs as advertised. This one does and has for a very long time which is why it's usually available at [...] most good kitchen stores. I highly recommend the square marinating canister, but I rarely use the round ones, although they make great coffee, sugar, and flour canisters if you don't mind redoing the vacuum every time you open it. I have a pod brewer so I don't use ground coffee and my flour and sugar are kept in sealed containers in the pantry. I do have the small leftover containers though. They are very handy.One of my favorite tricks is to make a big pot of gumbo or chicken soup, pour it into Glad containers, freeze them and then vacuum seal them. Then I just pop the bag in boiling water for a while and presto, a bowl of fresh soup any time I want it. The nice feature about the V3440 is that you can control the amount of suction and stop it at any point or you can just seal it without any suction at all for things like chips or sandwiches. I can't recommend this thing enough. If you've ever thrown away food you didn't eat or just forgot about, you need this. And if you have a separate freezer, the money you save buying in bulk will pay for it in months.