Way back in August, 2008 we were living in Missouri and the grocery store had a closeout sale on frosted shredded wheat, which I actually like. I remember walking down the cereal aisle and seeing the large boxes marked down to about 50 cents. I bought three or four and the assistant manager, who knew Chad, said to me “I wish you’d take them all!” He didn’t know me nor my buying habits but I think there were 15 boxes total and I did buy them all.
Thankfully back then half gallon Mason jars didn’t cost an arm and a leg and I had just ordered 10 boxes of those and had them shipped to the local hardware store so I ran down, got those, washed a bunch of them and vacuum sealed the cereal in those.
This picture was taken today after I had already removed the ring and popped the flat canning lid off so please don’t think I’ve stored this cereal for 15 years with a plastic screw on lid. That would not work!
Vince found this jar in the garage this morning and since it has spent the summer in the hot garage, I decided to try it.
It tasted perfect . . 13 years later. I’m surprised but happy. It would be pretty easy to make sure we had enough vacuum sealed cereal and boxed milk to get us through any short term food supply issues.
No doubt, not everyone likes shredded wheat and there are probably few cereals that would last this long but this one is definitely a good choice for long term storage.
RuthW says
So Smart of you!!
Beth S. says
My husband loves frosted mini-wheats also. Every morning for breakfast! Better him than me. ; )
Susan says
I’m curious as to how this vacuum sealing in jars works. I’ve used the bag system so the jar system in new to me.
Judy Laquidara says
Not all but many of the Food Savers will have a little hole/port where a small hose plugs in. On the other end of the hose is a plastic cap that fits over the jar top. You place a metal canning lid on the top of the jar, place that plastic cap over the jar and start the sealing process. It removes the air and seals the lid by vacuum. You would need a regular mouth cap and a wide mouth cap if you use both size jar lids.