[Spotly]

We're getting all of our dehydrated meals together for the upcoming season. Last year we created the meals all mixed together then stored them in the individual bags in the freezer. This year I thought I'd dehydrate a few large batches of some "core" items then use those to create some of the meals with later. Quite a few items are fragile though - like broccoli. I have a decent vaccum packer and thought I'd just vacuum fragile items into half gallon mason jars. Does this sound reasonable for long term storage?

[Kim Brown]

Seems like a lot of effort just to preserve the shape. Do you have a thing against flat broccoli? It's OK if you do. Wierd, sure; but if it's something you have to admit to yourself and others in order to get the answer you seek, so be it. I'd do the complete dinners in the vac bags and be done with it. But I don't care about flat broccoli.

[JennieEl]

The vacuumn packers sometimes have canisters that work well, or an attachment for using mason jars. I use both.

[Spotly]

I've got the mason jar attachment and will use that. As an aside, the broccoli has a really great taste when dehydrated - should make for good finger treats if I can keep it from turning to powder in the backpack. If not, I can always mix it in with some premixed meals.

[sarbar]

For veggies and fruits, I just store them in mason jars in my pantry. My house is not hot though. Dark and cool (and dry) is what you want for storage. If you have the attachment, then by all means vac the jars as well! The only dried foods I store in the freezer are meat, dairy and higher-fat items

[Spotly]

Thanks Sarbar - that's what I was wondering. I have them all dried from the weekend and will put them in the jars and vaccum. I did a bunch of garbanzos a few weeks ago and will probably do the same as they punctured the bag when I tried to vaccum pack them. I might have to get better bags. I thought the ones I picked up at Cabelas were supposed to be fairly good. Will the veggies keep this way for a year?

[sarbar]

Yes, just shake the jars periodically - it keeps the leftover moisture even (this is a good thing actually!) As for the beans - the sharp edges of stuff like rice and pasta can break the bags. Not your fault!

[Slugman]

[ranger rock]

I keep most of my dehydrated food in a drawer in the fridge, but some of it goes in the freezer.

[Backpacker Joe]

Temperature is the first main issue with food storage. Light is next. If you cant keep temps below 73 degrees move the food to someplace else!

[Bandanabraids]

You can also add an oxygen absorber to the jar. Look for "meals in a jar" on youtube or just google it. Lots of preppers use this method to store dehydrated or freeze dried foods, or whole meals. You can just dry-can the dried food in a jar with only the absorber or you can use the food saver and the absorber.

[sarbar]

Btw...Foodsaver makes a device that "seals" canning jars for dry storage. I have both sizes ;-)

[Kim Brown]

I just got a Foodsaver device! Just fired it up for the first time last night and have sealed all kinds of things, including a cat and a boyfriend. I unsealed the cat.

[Critter]

Bandanabraids is right. You can store a bunch of dehydrated ingredients in ziploc and foodsaver bags and inside tin cans(with oxygen absorbers). It's the only method that keeps even my apples chips crisp for what seems like forever.