The first piece of tech for doing sous vide was a piece of lab equipment used in chemistry.
Its a technique of making stuff work and can be done with a thermometer and a pot of water.
I would say definitely get a vacuum sealer, you can do the cold water and ziploc trick but it will never really truly work and I had to use a wet towel to keep the food submerged when I was doing it. But that means you can still if you are ok with weighting the bag.
I buy a bulk box of the premade bags from a restaurant supply store cause they are cheap and then I can individually seal meat when I buy it and freeze them, makes portioning and doing a quick sous vide faster too.
Then if you want to be cheap you can get a used immersion cooker, it doesnt touch food, just water usually. I usually use a pot on some cork board wrapped in a towel. Some chefs really like using a cooler cause it is insulated.
ANOVA is a good brand just get controls on the device cause it is just easier and faster.



He went around and handed the worst people that will shout his praises or what he wants to hear shouted for peanuts the loudest megaphones he could buy. And then acts like the noise is millions of people cause of how loud he made them.
Yup, apparently just need ketamine and loud sycophants to ignore the world.