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Posted on 01/25/2014 10:01:31 AM PST by Kartographer
There’s a whole slew of things that I want included in my food storage pantry, but many of them don’t lend themselves well to the canning process (chocolate!), can’t be dehydrated (walnuts!), or aren’t a great candidate for the classic 5-gallon bucket (sunflower seeds!).
Packing these foods in canning jars and then using a vacuum sealer, such as a Food Saver, to store them long-term is super easy.
(Excerpt) Read more at thesurvivalmom.com ...
Preppers’ PING!!
additional links:
http://www.utahpreppers.com/2009/10/increase-short-life-supply-with-vacuum-seal-jars/
http://nchfp.uga.edu/publications/uga/uga_dry_fruit.pdf
More information on these subjects is also in my Preparedness Manual
Many of the modern jars are the equivalent of vacuum seal canning jars.
Stuff like Salsa, Olives, etc, are made and cooked at the factory, and vacuum sealed.
A good washing and they are easily re-usable.
I have bunches of them filled with peppers and mushrooms I ran through my food dehydrator.
It's a long way from a bag of garden seeds in the freezer to a meal on the table. ;)
/johnny
What a delightful woman!
So wally world sells the jars and plastic sealer attachment?
For longer term dry goods (flour, cornmeal and dry milk} we place the jars in the oven prior to storing.
If the SHTF scenario becomes extended the canning jars will become invaluable.
Ignorant question:
Why wouldn’t you seal these in plastic? Just because glass is better, which I agree with? But wouldn’t it be easier to store in plastic rather than round jars?
“It’s a long way from a bag of garden seeds in the freezer to a meal on the table. ;)”
Yes, it is - it took me a year of studying and experiments to be able to grow food. Hopefully, this spring I will get it right.
A rat can gnaw all day and he still wont gnaw through a glass jar.
Plastic bags work good you just have to be careful because when it’s vacuum packed it’s easy to puncture the bag.
Rice or anything with a sharp point in a vacuum packed bag will poke through it at the slightest bump.
The USDA says you can’t home can chocolate due to the low acidity, but you can add cocoa to home canned fruit toppings - Ball’s Chocolate Raspberry Sundae Topper http://www.freshpreserving.com/recipe.aspx?r=127 . Of course, making chocolate syrup (cocoa, water, sugar, vanilla, salt) is a no brainer from your food preps. Or just stock up on Hershey’s Chocolate Syrup. No, it’s not a candy bar but can certainly help for that chocolate fix.
Be careful vacuum sealing sharp objects like needles in a plastic bag as they will poke holes and you’ll have lost your seal. Wrap such items or put them into a container to protect the plastic bag.
Most plastic ‘breaths’ glass does not.
Yes, but I ordered mine on line and got a better deal.
I always place most things in the freezer for 24 hours. I often use frozen vegtable when I dehydrate.
Packing your own you know what you have verse the proble pointed out in the post on this thread:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/3115443/posts?page=47#47
Apparently, canning jars are already invaluable. Back in the summer, I went out to my storage to get some jars but when I lifted the box.... it was empty. I checked the rest and two boxes had been emptied. One was those Someone had taken the time to steal my jars but leave the boxes there so I wouldn’t know until long afterward. One was little 4 oz with the handles which I never use but they were my grandmother’s and might have come in handy one day, grrr. It used to be people would beg you to take jars off their hands but I haven’t seen any at thrift stores or rummage sales for years.
Something else, while I’m on the stolen jars rant. I ended up buying a box and was happy there was a package of pectin in it so figured that brought the price down a little. Ha! Not so fast. It was only enough pectin for 2 half pints. Really?!? Since when does anyone go to the trouble of making 1 pt of jelly? Imagine if someone hadn’t paid attention to the small print. Ball, that was WRONG in many ways and you’re now on my poop list.
How to Store Dry Food in Canning Jars:
1. Put the food in the jar
2. Put the lid on
FAIL
The plastic vacuum seal bags don’t work for long term. Long term they won’t hold the seal. They turn brittle and leak.
Plastic will let in oxygen. You would need to use a Mylar bag laminated to aluminum to get the gas and moisture resistance needed for long-term storage.
This is the method I prefer now, although I still have beans, cornstarch baking soda, etch, stored in glass jars. But they are heavy to transport and breakable, so I’ve decided I like storing dry goods in Mylar with oxygen absorbers and save the jars for canning meats and such.
Speaking of oxygen absorbers, I’d skip vacuum packing over an oxygen absorber any day. Vacuum packing will not remove all the oxygen and throwing in an oxygen absorber couldn’t be any easier.
Just wondering, why are you vacuum sealing needles?
;)
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