It's really not that bad. I sear the meat before finishing it with sous vide. For example pork loin seared in the oven broiled. Pull it out, season it, put it in a plastic bag, and cook for a couple hours at 165.
Same with steak. Came out so tender I couldn't believe it.
The meat cooks through, but doesn't have the extreme variation you get when you try and cook something rare, and end up with the tips well done.
I've been using the beer cooler method.
http://www.seriouseats.com/2010/04/...er-cooler-the-worlds-best-sous-vide-hack.html
For Chicken breasts:
1
Preheat water oven to 140°F. Season chicken generously with salt and pepper. Place in sous-vide bags and seal. Cook in water oven for at least 1 hour 35 minutes and up to 10 hours.
After a couple hours, at 165, they were pretty near perfect.
I do want the temperatures to be at least what they would be if I was cooking the food in the oven. I usually heat the water on the stove to boil, pour it in, then add some hot water from the tap until I'm in the 160-180 range, and let it sit for 2 hours for chicken breasts.
You can even cook stuff over night without major fear of overcooking.
So far, so good.