Hubby gets the Backwoodsman magazine, I can usually find some interesting articles and recipes in it too. The newest issue has an article about Dry Pack Canning......using Oxygen Absorbers to can dry foods in regular Mason jars. It sounds interesting, anyone familiar with the process? They absorb oxygen from the jar and when it is complete you can see the bump on the jar seal has been sucked down just like when doing other canning processes. The food item must be dry, so it doesn't mold over time and very low in fat or oil so it doesn't go rancid. The author of the article has kept many types crackers and cereals for over two years and some Jolly Rancher candies (his favorite I guess) that he had stored for 5 years in his experiments. I totally forgot that we have vacuum sealer for freezing some foods and the attachments to vacuum seal jars too. But I am thinking that using the absorbers might be an additional way to preserve the flour I have left over from holiday baking, cookies we like but don't eat a whole package of before they go bad, cereal for the same reason. I may have to start playing with each process and fill my pantry up.
I buy flour, sugar, rice, and barley by the 25 pound sacks and store them in the basement in air-tight containers with oxygen absorbers in them. Haven't had any problem so far.
I watched a vlog about that just yesterday! It sounds interesting, not sure I would try it until I did much more research. But I'm all for filling up the pantry!
I can't see where dry canning is any better than using my seal-a-meal. I can make small amounts of whatever I am storing and I don't waste my jars or shelf space on things that I can pack in plastic containers. I use these containers in my pantry for things in seal-a-meal bags rather than jars. Mushrooms, carrots, cereal, candy can stack up more in this than you ever could in jars on the same space that jars would take up.
Many people who read the magazine that article was in are getting away from using anything plastic to hold food....no baggies, tupperware type containers. They want to use jars.
That's probably because they may plan on storing things for long term and that plastic leaches bad things into the food. I don't keep my food that long term. I find the convience is worth it. I can't afford to to give up my shelves when I can store plastic containers down below. I also freeze, can and dehydrate many alike things. Meaning carrots are frozen, canned and dehydrated as well as fresh.
Would using a seal-a-meal keep spices fresh? With just the 2 of us, there's some spices that aren't used that often and seem to lose some of the flavor.
Y'gotta lurve them seal-a-meal baggies. We have some similar things here, but I believe that yours are better.
That article was meant as an alternative or additional storage means not necessarily a replacement. Many who read that magazine are off the power grid so using an electrical vacuum sealer or a freezer are not options. And even for those with electricity, it's a method that costs a lot less than appliances and the electricity to run them. And it is meant for only dry food items, not garden produce. I think even dehydrated veggies, fruits and meats would fail since there is always a chance of moisture remaining in the food that would cause it to mold and become inedible. Jars are something they always keep on hand so this way of storage is using what you have on hand without having to buy and maintain additional items. And they are reusable instead of use one time then throw them into the garbage.
toni, Not if when the SHTF and you have to bug out.....I wouldn't want to drag those jars out with me..... Sjoerd, Actually, didn't mean to mislead you'll but I think mine is a Food Saver not a Seal-A-Meal. I just thought everyone would understand what I was doing better if I used that word. LOL I love mine.... 2ofus, I Food Saver, vacuum pack, all sorts of spices and leaves. I save celery leaves. Shrink wrap them and freeze them. When I go to make soup or something ya have to cook I grab them first. I have also dehydrated celery leaves, then shrink wrap them. Just depends on my mood or time I have. So when I grow beans of all kinds,, I pick some to use in the summer, can some and as fall comes I let them dry on the vine and if they are not dry enough I put them in the dehydrator and then put them in shrink wrap.
Well, Barb, if it does come to that I live way too close to many military locations and civilian contractor facilities to worry about having to hit the road or I should say being able to hit the road. And the people who submitted that article live so far out in the middle of almost nowhere, there will be no need for them to bug out either.
