If you have a Food Saver, I hope you have the jar lid attachment. There’s one for the wide mouth lid and a separate one for the regular mouth lid. If you like to buy in bulk, or buy when things are on sale, these Food Saver attachments are so useful.
In 2008, when I first ordered quite a few half gallon jars, I also vacuum sealed a bunch of shredded wheat. Here’s a blog post about it. Because I was going to do this blog post, I opened one of the jars this morning, had some shredded wheat for breakfast, and resealed the jar. I’m going to see how long they stay fresh. The shredded wheat is now going on 5 years old and still tastes fresh as when I bought it.
Shredded Wheat
I store so much in these jars — rice, cereal, cake mixes . . most anything dry that I buy on sale gets vacuum sealed in these big jars. There are only a couple of things that can safely be canned in jars this size — apple juice or grape juice. I’m simply recommending them for storing dry ingredients.
When I bought the ones I have, the only place I could find them was Ace Hardware and Do It Best online. They would send them to the local stores and I didn’t have to pay shipping. That’s when we lived in MO and the Ace Hardware store has since closed and the Do It Best store has been sold and is no longer Do It Best.
But . . while walking through Wal-Mart the other night, I saw the half gallon jars there on the shelf. Wal-Mart also has them online but they were less in our store.
If you’re in the market for half gallon jars, you might want to check the canning aisle at Wal-Mart.
Diane says
I do the same thing. I got so tired of buying a box of crackers which were something like 59 cents more to buy the 4 sleeve box as it was to buy the 2 sleeve box, only to have them go stale before I could use them all. Not a bargain if you toss them. It is so hard to keep food fresh when there is only the two of us. This saves us money.
I love these jars. I found them somewhere online really cheap and bought 4 cases. I did see them the other night at Walmart too.
Debbie King says
What brand of Food Saver do you have? There are so many varieties and models to choose from.
Linda Steller says
I do have the jar lid attachment. Very useful item.
Susan says
I have the attachment, but I’m not sure the foodsaver works any more. I haven’t used it in three years. I keep beans and rice, etc., in gallon jars I buy from the bulk foods place. I find them so useful!
AngieG9 says
I keep dry beans, pasta, cereal, flour, corn meal, sugar, etc. in plastic containers and haven’t had a problem with them going bad. I do put bay leaves in the flour and corn meal to keep the mealy bugs out. It works like a charm. The little beasties hate bay leaves for some reason. I will definitely look at WalMart for the half gallon jars though. I remember both Grandmother and MOM (my dad’s mother) using the half gallon jars, which came in green 60 and 70 years ago. I wish I had some of those now, but they were considered worthless when my grandmothers passed away, so were taken to the dump. Who knew I would want them some day?
gardenpat says
This is why I keep my Foodsaver on the kitchen counter- because I use it every day! Resealing bags of chips that would lose their crunch in our humidity, sealing mason jars with dry foods to keep on the shelf as well as sealing the gallon size Foodsaver canisters with fresh melon chunks to keep in the fridge for a quick snack!!! It has been my go- to appliance for a number of years!
Glen in Louisiana says
How does the food saver suck the air out of canning jars? I can’t conceive of it being done. If the air gets sucked out, why would it not just return?
AngieG9 says
I don’t have a food saver, but I think that may be on my list of things to buy, along with the half gallon jars, jelly jars, and dozens of other items. I’m still looking for the gold in the golden years. So far it’s all going out and none of it is coming back in.
Marie Gilkey says
I use the half gallon and gallon jars for making pickles, too. Kids love dill pickles so will have to get my mom’s recipe out and re-learn it. Cuc’s are already up and growing and have a couple of tomatoes on the vine. Oh hurry up, grow and ripen!!!