long term storage of spagetti pasta

[NanaX2]

How do you store your spagetti pasta long term? I foodsaver in jars all my other pasta and noodles, but the thought of breaking the pasta in half and stuffing it jars seems a bit like too much trouble. I tried just foodsavering it in the plastic bags , but the pasta actually broke as the air was pulled out! I suppose that is not the worst thing that could happen but I was looking for a better way and I knew ya'll would have great ideas!!I'm looking forward to your ideas, thanks!

[UrbanFool]

At the LDS cannery, they're broken into 2-inch bits or so. I break mine in half to cook them anyway, so it's no hassle for me --especially with the half gallon jars. They store a lot of spaghetti.

 

 

[Violet]

I store mine in mylar bags with the O2 absorbers.

Food saving in the jars doesn't work for me as mine always come unsealed. Just can't get those lids to stay vacuum sealed. Have tried all the recommended ways.

Gave up and use the O2 absorbers in mylar. I use sun tea jars with O2 absorbers for some things, too. I can get them cheap at the thrift stores.

[carr]

the sun tea jars with the spouts??

[Violet]

Yes, even with the spouts. I seem to have no problem with them. If you are concerned you could always put duct tape or something over the spouts. I put oatmeal and all kinds of things in them.

I have used them to ferment sauerkraut, too.

[Canned Nerd]

I use Food Saver bags for my pasta, using the gentle suction setting so it does not puncture the plastic. For spaghetti I use a cardboard tube or other stiff partition to take the suction force and protect the strands. I also use the smaller bags, breaking the spaghetti in half, which I do anyway when cooking like others have said.

 

 

[Canned Nerd]

I use Food Saver bags for my pasta, using the gentle suction setting so it does not puncture the plastic. For spaghetti I use a cardboard tube or other stiff partition to take the suction force and protect the strands. I also use the smaller bags, breaking the spaghetti in half, which I do anyway when cooking like others have said.

 

 

[LindaLou]

I have food saved spaghetti with great success. I buy the packages of spaghetti at Costco. I open one end of each package but leave the spaghetti in the original package. I then take four or five of opened packages and put the in a FoodSaver bag with the open end of the spaghetti package at to bottom (sealed end) of the FoodSaver bag, suck the air out and seal. With additional packages of spaghetti in one bag it gives all the spaghetti stability and I don't experience breakage. Of course you must throw in an oxygen absorber. The downside is you don't get the length of time you do with cannery stuff. Although I am not LDS I regularly participate in the local cannery so I have longer term canned stuff although it is broken in half. I agree though that I generally break my spaghetti in half to cook it so it is no big deal.

[Canned Nerd]

Of course you must throw in an oxygen absorber. The downside is you don't get the length of time you do with cannery stuff.

Since the FoodSaver is creating a vacuum (no air), I'm not sure that an Oxygen Absorber would be necessary. I also don't find a downside in the length of storage which would be in the years for dry foods.

 

 

[NanaX2]

thanks for all the great ideas! now to look for sun tea jars......

[Gunplumber]

What's the point of getting spaghetti if you're gonna break it into tiny pieces? Pasta is Pasta. It is just different shapes. One reason I like spaghetti is it is dense. If you can't seal it in its most compact state, what's the point of using it at all? If you're going to put it in a can, why not get a small elbow macaroni. Not as dense as spaghetti, but will fill a can better than sticks. Spaghetti, it seems to me, would best seal in the foil pouches.

 

I have a bunch of the elbow macaroni in the 1 gallon Rubbermaid square jars. Not perfect, but adequate for now. What I'm having trouble finding is those oxygen absorbers, nor am I sure if they will work with the plastic jars, or if they will be of any help.

[Ambergris]

To put it in buckets, I sit on the floor with one of those taller buckets and lay the bucket on its side, with the mouth propped on my ankle or leg (lets me shift about a bit). I lay one boxful/handful of pasta along the slant and set the next beside it, and the third atop those two, then the fourth alongside the stack, and so on. The trick is to keep the strands of pasta all perfectly parallel, not letting them slide about and get out out of perfect alignment. The bottom of the bucket is smaller than the top of the bucket, so there will be airspace between the strands up top. You can set the bucket upright when it's full, and pour rice, rocking the bucket about to settle it, and get that airspace filled to displace more oxygen. I've not been happy with the result when I tried to break up the last box of spaghetti and jam half-strands into the gaps. One pound, broken in half, is too much to jam in. A bit of DE can be sifted over top if you don't have oxygen absorbers. There will also be headspace. I normally put other kinds of pasta, like bowties or elbows or those double corkscrews that are dense enough to make a rather small one-pound box, loose over top of the spaghetti. I've also like to throw in a small jar of turmeric, mustard, pepper, butter buds, or parmesan on top, in case it comes down to this one bucket being all I have (or all someone I love has) for a month. No, I'm not packing for happy eating, but appetite fatigue is a real threat.

 

Choosing what kind of spaghetti is something to think about, when it's all priced the same per pound. Thicker spaghetti, for a denser package, or angel hair for quicker cooking at the other end, or linguine because it feels like more in the mouth? Or a mix? I try not to mix spaghetti with angel hair because separating them to cook is a pain. I don't mind mixing angel hair with linguine, however, because they are so different they separate easily. I do try to keep the angel hair on one side of the bucket and the linguine on the other.