I used to roll my eyes at people who said the old way was better, mostly because I hated the mess of freezer paper. But I had the exact same thing happen with a $70 sealer I got from Walmart about two years ago. Mine made it almost two months but I was doing the same dumb thing, sealing meat that was still damp because I was in a hurry. The manual even said to pat things dry but who reads that, right? After it died I went back to double wrapping in plastic wrap then foil and honestly my steaks have been fine, no freezer burn at all. So yeah, I was wrong about the fancy gadget being a must have, the cheap ones just are not built for wet work and the paper trick has never failed me either.