Power XL Duo Nutrisealer: Freshness Secured – Our Review

Let me tell you a little story. About six months ago, my husband and I decided to take our kids to California. We wanted to visit Yosemite National Park, see the ocean, and cap it off with a stop in Disneyland for a few days. In total, we would be away from home for 10 days.

It was the longest trip we’d taken as a family, and we planned rigorously for it. We researched car rentals and chose the best option to get us all up and down the coast of California. We strategized the HECK out of Disney to maximize our three days there. We budgeted everything down to the cent.

What we didn’t budget for was ALL of our food going bad on the first day. We’d meal-prepped a bunch of sandwiches and snacks to keep in a cooler in our van so that we didn’t have to eat out every single day of our trip.

We’d stop at a gas station every morning and get a fresh bag of ice to refill the cooler and keep everything cold. This was supposed to save us both money and time, but it ended up costing so much more than we ever expected.

It turned out the off-brand Ziploc bags we bought to store all of our food were so low-quality that they didn’t actually seal all the way. By the end of our second day on the road, we noticed sandwiches getting waterlogged and carrots and sliced peppers getting frostbite.

By the end of the third day, everything that we’d so diligently prepped and packed was ruined. We had to dump a TON of food and bought so much more than we initially bargained for. It was a disaster. As soon as we got home from the trip, I hopped on my computer, did a ton of research, and bought the Power XL Duo Nutrisealer. It has been SO worth it.

The Power XL Duo Nutrisealer: A Thoughtfully Designed Vacuum Bag Sealer

The Power XL Duo Nutrisealer is, simply put, a vacuum bag sealer. But it’s so thoughtfully designed that I’m kicking myself for not discovering it sooner. Like all vacuum sealers, it removes all the air from a bag before sealing it shut, ensuring that whatever’s inside stays airtight and fresh for months.

But the Power XL has a patented double seal, which is basically insurance to ensure that no air will be getting into and spoiling your food. After our HORRIBLE road trip experience, this double seal is an absolute necessity for me. This prevents freezer burn and can actually extend the shelf life of food.

Since buying this product, I’ve used it to seal up bags of bread, chips, meal leftovers, avocados, cookie dough, and raw meat. I never have to worry about cross-contamination, food leaking, or spilling in my fridge. I just can’t believe how much of a weight it is off my shoulders, knowing that my food isn’t just sealed up inside my fridge or freezer, but that it’s VACUUM sealed. That’s an extra level of security.

Features and Benefits: Guided LED Display, Built-in Bag Cutter, and Versatility

Let me walk you through the features that made this product well worth the money. First, you have an LED display that helpfully guides you through the bag-sealing process. I was a little intimidated by this at first — vacuum-sealing something seems a bit like it might pose a danger to my fingers — but it was pretty intuitive to figure out. It also has a built-in bag cutter, so you can size your storage bags perfectly for the amount of food in them.

I’ve mostly stuck to using my Power XL for sealing food, but you can also use it to seal bottles (and even glasses) of wine, photos and documents, pills, and anything else you may want to protect from the environment. It comes with a vacuum bag roll, so all you have to do is throw whatever you want into the vacuum bag, then use the PowerXL to cut it and seal it to the precise size of the food item. This vacuum bag is safe for the freezer, microwave, and dishwasher; you can even use it in boiling water (if you need to defrost something).

Are There Drawbacks?

I’ll admit that the main drawback of this product is that it still requires you to use plastic. I consider myself an environmentalist, and I don’t love that I have to rely on a disposable plastic vacuum-seal bag to fully seal my food away from contamination or spilling.

However, I feel better about it because these are reusable! Since they’re dishwasher safe, I just throw them in the dishwasher after use and then reseal them when I want to use them for another food item.

Obviously, I reach a point where they feel too worn or have been trimmed too small to be practical anymore, and then I have to throw them out. But for the most part, I’ve been able to stanch my concerns about single-use plastic by reusing them over and over.

Environmental Considerations: Reusable Bags and the Impact on Food Waste

I also feel better about using plastic because of how much this product cuts down on food waste. Vacuum-sealed food lasts much longer than regularly packaged food; it’s just the truth. Using my PowerXL, I’ve been able to make meats, cheese products, and other types of produce last much longer than without it, and as a result, I’ve thrown out much less food. So I suppose the ethics there are kind of canceling out.

The other thing I like about this product is how portable it is. It’s super lightweight, so I don’t feel like I’m taking up valuable space in my car or bags when I bring it on road trips. Doing so also saves me more money because I can use it to quickly seal up leftovers or sandwiches to save money on food costs during road trips or long weekend trips. (I’ve done this so often that my friends have started making fun of me for it. Buyer beware.)

Although I don’t like using my PowerXL to simply seal up snacks (due to the aforementioned plastic waste), I can imagine that someone who’s really into meal prepping would find great value in using this product to portion out and prepare snacks ahead of time.

You can make a huge batch of a meal or a snack — I’m envisioning my custom-made trail mix here — and separate it out into smaller portions, then seal and cut them off and stack them in your fridge or pantry to rely on for the whole week. There’s definitely something satisfying about that.

Conclusion

Overall, I desperately wish I’d had this product six months ago. It’s been a lifesaver for me since I got it, and it’s made me feel so much more organized and in control of my fridge and freezer.

It’s portable, lightweight, and super easy to store and use. I love that it has a bag cutter and a vacuum seal built in, and it comes with vacuum bags; it’s basically everything you need within one product. I wish I didn’t have to rely on single-use plastic at all, but since the bags are dishwasher safe, that alleviates some of my concerns.

I would recommend the PowerXL Duo to other customers. It’s definitely been worth the price point.