In a vacuum packaging apparatus for packaging relatively large articles, a rotary valve (13) is provided over a turntable (11) having a plurality of vacuum chambers (12) at its periphery so that an amount of air is supplementarily discharged from a vacuum chamber (12) into one of other vacuum chambers before a complete vacuum is made and that a small amount of atmospheric air is sucked into the chamber to shrink preliminarily a packaging bag (100) before its open end is sealed.
