FoodSaver T02-0050-05 Quick Marinator 2-1/4-Quart Square Canister

As far as a vaccum canister it is far superior to round containers that are availible. The nice part being that it is a better shape for leaving in the fridge and stacking things on top of it.

The tray iself is made of some pretty thick plastic, its not a wimpy thing. Two parts, there is a lid with a silicone gasket around the edge and then the bowl of the tray. The bowl can be machine washed. There is a valve on the top with 3 settings. Open/Vaccum/Close. To use hook the accessory hose up to the valve in Vaccum mode and engage the pump. My 550 takes about 20+ seconds to evacuate the air out with about a pound of meat in the tray.

Its kind of weird but the top is held on by vaccum pressure so if the tray is emty and you grab the top only the lid comes off. But once the vaccum is pulled they are very well held together.

The tray can hold a good amount of food. I like the dimensions.

It is said that using vaccum makes things marinate faster. I'm not sure how true this is as I have never done a side by side comparison. But I have observed one thing. I was making some Jerky and I put one batch in the tray and vaccumed it and put the other batch in a non-vaccum container of similar dimensions. Left both overnight. In the morning when I went mix the meats up so it would marinate evenly all of the marinate in the vaccum tray was gone, it had been sucked up by the mean. The regular tray still had marinade in it. Same meat, same basic marinate (one had chili pepper for some extra heat). The strength of the marinade seem stronger in the finished product as well. So I guess there is something to it.

Either way when I marinate something for a short time I always use the vaccum (if for no other reason than to justify all the money I spent on it).

I own a FoodSaver Vac 1050 and I also had an earlier FoodSaver model which died from years of constant use. I have had the square canister for a number of years, in fact I now have two of them. Suffice it to say, they are a great companion to the vacuum sealer. As the title of the review says, this product is great for marinating steaks, chops, poultry parts etc. Your marinade is able to penetrate deeper into the fiber of the meat and thus you get a much more tender cut.

But I also keep leftovers and cold cuts sealed in this unit. It stores quite well in the refrigerator due to its compact size. Food really does stay much fresher in a vaccuum packed container and the canister is more convenient than constantly sealing, cutting and re-sealing vaccuum bags.

Because you will be able to maintain the freshness of your food(s) longer, this unit will more than pay for itself in no time. If you own a FoodSaver, this is a perfect companion.

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I have had four of these, and three have failed. The first two developed cracks, and I suspect that the dishwasher, in which I only washed the bottom part of the marinator as advised, warped and weakened them. After buying two more, the first two having been relegated to the potting shed as seed-starters, I have handled them with kid gloves so to speak, (no dishwasher), and the seal on one fails to hold for even a few hours. So far, so good with the fourth one. Whoopee. These are not cheap items, and even if they were less costly, a 75% failure rate is quite unacceptable. If they really functioned as they should, they would be fabulous for not only marinating in short order, but storing other items as well. All the round canisters and the wide-mouth jar sealer work exceedingly well, but I'll not buy any more "marinators" until there is a successful improvement in design.

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Basically, the FOODSAVER system is sound and well designed EXCEPT for the canisters which often crack. Many of us have urged Tilia to upgrade the plastic canisters, and so far they have refused. I do not put the canisters in the dishwasher, or even use harsh chemicals. One canister cracked, pressurized, on the shelf after a few weeks without being moved. When you call Tilia they will let you know that there is NO WARRANTY OF ANY KIND on their canisters, which tells volumes about how they view their own product.

Tilia blames their customers for the cracks. I am honestly sorry I did not heed the warnings I read by Amazon consumers before I purchased. I usually depend on Amazon customer recommendations for all my purchases. I have spent much money on Tilia accessories, and am now considering looking for another brand. Hope this helps, Ron

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I initially purchased these because I thought they would fit better in the refrigerator since they were not round, which they do. I also appreciate the fact that you have to turn a dial to release the vacuum so that it cannot happen by accident. However, because the dial is not recessed, the containers do not stack well on top of each other without using something as a shim between them. I wad up a clean kitchen towel into a snake and place it on the top of the lid before placing another container on top of it. This method seems to work fine for holding things in place.

I do not put these in the dishwasher, so I can't tell you how that would impact their life. I have had three of these for a couple of years now, and all of them still function as designed.

Overall, I like this product a lot. They work great for quick marinating of vegetables, something that I do a lot. I took off one star because they don't stack as well as they should.