Food storage dates

[Andrea]

I like this gadget for vacuum sealing canning jars:  https://pump-n-seal.com/

 

I recently went through my long-term storage.  I found that the quality was much higher in the vacuum sealed canning jars than my number 10 cans.  Auguson Farms is okay but the LDS #10 quality of beans and rice is lousy.  The fact that I control the quality of the products I vacuum seal in jars probably has something to do with it.  LOL

 

I've been restocking after the remodel and tent fumigation and I'm focusing on vacuum sealing things in 1/2 gal or quart sized canning jars.  The bucket method is simply not practical for us.  I also found the failure rate of the mylar seal to be too high for my comfort and it's just not practical for the size of our family to have a huge bucket of wheat berries open.  

 

One of these days I'll get it figured out!  LOL

[Littlesister]

Andrea, you will get there. It just takes time to figure out what works best for you. 

It's a challenge to figure out what works best for each of us. Climate has a lot to do with it also.

 

[Mother]

Andrea, I had or maybe still do have somewhere a similar gadget but am not sure if it ever worked all that well.  This pump ‘n seal would seem to be an excellent prep for grid down situations.  

 

I am having trouble getting the how it works videos to play.  Could you explain a bit about how the system?  It looks as if you need to buy the Tab Check rolls separately.  But do you need to use them with the jar attachment caps?  I noticed that that particular system says you don’t need to pierce the jar lid yet it comes with the tabs and piercer and etc.  If the tabs are necessary it would only last as long as the number of tabs you have.  I have a jar sealer attachment to my vacuum sealer but this looks more convenient than digging that out each time.  

 

 

[Andrea]

My device is at least 25 years old and still going strong!  I started with the purchased tabs and now I make my own out of electrical tape!  I do something similar to picture 2 at this link except that I use a second piece of smaller electrical tape that goes over the push pin opening.  

https://muedemaus.blogspot.com/2010/01/freshsaver-homemade-with-tab-chek-style.html

 

[Midnightmom]

I had one of those pre Y2K. I don't remember what happened to it, but I vaguely remember not being impressed by its effectiveness. I'm glad yours has worked for you all of these years. I have one of the newer battery operated jar sealers now as I was having trouble using the attachment that came with my FoodSaver.

[Jeepers]

I think I might have bought the new battery operated one you have too. Right around $20.00 from Amazon. I haven't used it yet though. I have nothing to seal. 

 

I do like my Food Saver attachment but I have to fool around with the regular mouth lids. I usually have to use two lids back to back to get it to work. 

 

 

I have a brake bleeder thingy but you need gorilla strength to operate it. Not happening at my house. 

 

Edited May 2 by Jeepers
Added Info

[Littlesister]

I think I have one of those also. But don't know where it is. I have one I ordered from Temu a couple of months ago.  Battery operated. I got tired of pulling out the food saver and saw this one. Wish I could put a picture on here. It is beginning to drive me crazy. Might see if GS can get them to post to here. The one I bought is round and can do both wide mouth and small mouth jars. It is working great so far. 

[Jeepers]

Sounds like what I got too. I'm getting frustrated not being able to post pictures too. I can't even post a link. 

[Littlesister]

Jeepers, I have tried several times to post a link and it won' let me do it. So, I just gave up. 

At some point in time, I will be going electronics shopping.  New computer and a TV.

[Andrea]

23 hours ago, Mother said:

Andrea, I had or maybe still do have somewhere a similar gadget but am not sure if it ever worked all that well.  This pump ‘n seal would seem to be an excellent prep for grid down situations.  

 

I am having trouble getting the how it works videos to play.  Could you explain a bit about how the system?  It looks as if you need to buy the Tab Check rolls separately.  But do you need to use them with the jar attachment caps?  I noticed that that particular system says you don’t need to pierce the jar lid yet it comes with the tabs and piercer and etc.  If the tabs are necessary it would only last as long as the number of tabs you have.  I have a jar sealer attachment to my vacuum sealer but this looks more convenient than digging that out each time.  

 

 

 

It's super easy and low tech.  Fill your jar (powdery things like flour, cocoa powder, etc you need to place a paper coffee filter on top of the product to keep it from being sucked into the pump-n-seal), place your canning lid and ring on the jar, poke a hole in the center of the flat lid with a push pin, place the tab over the hole, place the pump-n-seal over the tab and then "pump and seal."  

 

It's small enough that I keep it in the drawer with all of my canning utensils.  

 

The bonus is that I can reseal the jars, although I usually don't since I seal in small amounts.  It does take space to have a lot of quart and 1/2 gallon jars in the pantry but the upside is that now that we're a family of 2, I'm not stuck opening a bucket of something and having it go buggy before we can use it all.  Not to mention that as I get older, it's not so easy to move those big buckets of grains, beans, and other supplies around.  They are HEAVY.  

 

If you're building storage for a large family, this may not be the product for you.  But for us and the time of life we are in, it works great and extends the life of dry goods far beyond the "Best Use By Date."

[Jeepers]

I got a new computer but I can't get the internet hooked up here. The computer won't let me do anything at all. I have to to be on the internet to even activate it. My old computer now says I can't access Word so I can't even see anything I have saved on it. Fortunately, about a month before it all went south, I put everything on a thumb drive. 

[Jeepers]

I had trouble with the 5 gallon buckets. I went to the square 4 gallon ones. They are still heavy though. But they stack better. I have one with salt and one with sugar that I can't budge. I bought some 2 gallon buckets and they were great. Until they weren't. The handle broke on every one of them. 

[Ambergris]

Same trouble with two-gallon buckets.  I did a lot with the 2.5 and 3-gallon buckets, same problem with the handles.  

[Jeepers]

I wonder why. I didn't have anything heavy in mine. One had different varieties of tea. One had kool-aid and hard candy. One had packets of Knoor sides. All vacuun sealed. I can't remember the others. I didn't carry them around or anything. But when I went to move them a year or two later, all of the handles broke. I'm not sure where I got them. Odd yours did too.