Putting up dry goods in canning jars

[Britesea]

Mine once deposited a Live mouse at my feet in the utility room. Without thinking, I grabbed it, opened the door and tossed it out. That cat shot me the most OUTRAGED look I've ever seen and dived out after it. From then on, he brought me only dead ones. I would look at it with him, and tell him what a mighty hunter he was, and then say "It's ok, I'm not hungry- you can have it" The funny thing is, only after I said that would he take it and trot off with it.

 

[Marianne]

Our are usually in the middle of the bed. Sometimes they're still alive and there will be three cats guarding one terrified mouse. Any live mouse goes back outside, AKA recycled mouse.

Back on topic, I have never heard of oven canning before. That seems like such a slick idea.

I was reading the entire thread last night when I was extremely tired...did anyone mention these do-dads? - http://www.amazon.com/FoodSaver-T03-0023-01-Wide-Mouth-Jar-Sealer/dp/B00005TN7H

 

[Veggie PAK]

I had checked them out when I began gathering my dry stores. They are neat things, but I would need so many that they would be impractical for me. For as many jars as I use, it would be expensive I am sure. They are efficient looking though. I also checked out various ways of vacuuming out the air, but for me, the oxygen absorbers are the way to go.

 

[terri9630]

I had checked them out when I began gathering my dry stores. They are neat things, but I would need so many that they would be impractical for me. For as many jars as I use, it would be expensive I am sure. They are efficient looking though. I also checked out various ways of vacuuming out the air, but for me, the oxygen absorbers are the way to go.

If you are talking about the food saver thing you only need one for your size jar, regular or wide mouth. It just vacuumes the lid onto the jar. It doesn't stay with the jar. I think they are interesting so I had to call and ask since the directions aren't very clear.

 

[k15n1]

Back on topic, I have never heard of oven canning before. That seems like such a slick idea.

It does seem like a good idea, but many canning books warn against it. The heat transfer rate for air is a lot lower than water, so you can't actually preserve food this way. Or, if you can, it'll take a lot longer and you'll have to work out the timing yourself.

Also, there is a risk of breaking jars, if you're using the oven to sterillized or just heat up your jars. But this argument, in my opinion, is rather weak. I've considered it, but haven't tried it yet.

 

[ORChick]

Our are usually in the middle of the bed. Sometimes they're still alive and there will be three cats guarding one terrified mouse. Any live mouse goes back outside, AKA recycled mouse.

Back on topic, I have never heard of oven canning before. That seems like such a slick idea.

I was reading the entire thread last night when I was extremely tired...did anyone mention these do-dads? - http://www.amazon.com/FoodSaver-T03-0023-01-Wide-Mouth-Jar-Sealer/dp/B00005TN7H

I have one of the vacuum sealers, for wide mouth jars. It is very practical, I find. I re-use (carefully removed) flat lids that have already done their primary job covering a canning jar. I probably use this feature of the Food Saver more than the vacuum bags. I used to keep nuts and coconut in the freezer (as they are so oily, and go off easily if kept for any time at room temp); sealing them in jars with this gadget means I am comfortable keeping them on the cool pantry shelf. Anything that you might want to keep in a jar, but that doesn't need heat canning, could be sealed up with this ... except fine powders - they get sucked out along with the air (ask me how I know ). And, as already noted, the gadget seals the lid to the jar, but then is removed, so you only need one (or two, if you want to seal up wide and regular jars)

ETA: And you can re-use the flat for as long as it is still good/not bent out of shape. Seal the jar, carefully open it, and re-seal until empty, and then re-fill and repeat.

 

[Britesea]

I remember trying those when they first came out with the food saver. I had a lot of trouble getting a good seal, and I never did figure out why. It would suck out almost all the air, and then just sit there when it was almost done- never quite getting the last little bit out that would make a good seal.
If they are better now, I would love to get a food saver again.

 

[i_am2bz]

I'm sorry if someone already covered this (I've been following the thread but may have missed this particular detail), but do you have to put in a new oxygen absorber every time you open a jar? Or can you quick take out what you want & put the lid back on? I'm not talking about the ones that have been vacuum-sealed, BTW.

 

[Emerald]

I remember trying those when they first came out with the food saver. I had a lot of trouble getting a good seal, and I never did figure out why. It would suck out almost all the air, and then just sit there when it was almost done- never quite getting the last little bit out that would make a good seal.
If they are better now, I would love to get a food saver again.

I was having the same problem, but not only with the jars but with everything and I had to buy two of the rubber gaskets for my machine.. I figured that they lasted almost 10 years before giving up the ghost.. now it works great, like brand new.
Also if you put 2 lids on the jar(two flats) and then suck the air out with the adapter it works better for me. the bottom lid vacuums on super tight and the top lid just pops off.. don't know why it works better that way, but it helps.. Someone on another forum told me to try that and it sure worked.

 

[ki4got]

I bet the sugar is easier to use this way, in smaller portions, but it sounds like a lot of work. Nothing eats dry sugar except us humans, so I just plop unopened bags of it into a big plastic tote bin to keep off the dust and make sure it doesn't get wet. No bugs or weevils or mice will eat it if it is dry.

I'll disagree here... we had some black ants find our sugar (stored in plastic totes), and emptied 2 5# bags of it before we noticed them... I think they also starved to death on the 2 bags of splenda they made off with.