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Friday, June 10, 2011

Frugalite Kitchen Tool

I bought a Food Saver wide-mouth mason jar attachment (10.99) today at Bed, Bath, and Beyond, luckily I had a 20% off coupon.  Then I went to the Bosch Kitchen Center and found both the wide mouth (.99) and regular (7.99) mouth jar attachment

Food Storage
Now I can use my 1/2 gallon mason jars for storing barley, brown rice, home dried fruit, home dehydrated veggies, homemade croutons & crackers, fresh dried herbs, etc. The vacuum seal will extend their shelf life. I can vacuum seal jar cakes, nuts, spices, etc. and keep in the freezer. I may also use freezer jars for home grown, blanched, and frozen veggies.

I can brown ground beef, beef chunks, pork chunks, or chicken cubes-- then drain, flash freeze on a parchment lined tray, and then pour into clean freezer jars, vacuum seal, and freeze. I would not use the jar sealers on meat to go on the shelf, as it MUST be pressure canned appropriately. If the power goes out, and will be for a long time, I can thaw the bottles, add salted water, and process in a pressure canner on my Camp Chef, and save the food. 

Yes, I prefer glass to plastic.  It completely cleans, does not leach toxic substances with heat or high acid foods, like plastic does.There are safety considerations.  I want to make sure things are properly prepared and pre-frozen before I put them into the jars. Cooking the meat, blanching the veggies...This makes for wonderful and quick convenience!

I wonder what it will do to my homemade soaps to vacuum seal them? What about how will it preserve sewing thread? Time for experimenting. 

I have had a Food Saver for years.  I even had the hose that connects to the jar attachments. I just did not have the jar attachments, nor did I consider how helpful this tool really is in helping me be more frugal.

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