Vacuum Seal Almost Any jar ~ Recycle Glass Jars for Food Storage

[jazzy]

this is cool, i want to try it. i hate tossing my glass jars and try to find ways to re use them. i have a pump-n-seal but i like this idea too

 

[Tim Horton]

Yes... With the vacuum chamber it will work OK with most, many ...lug, 1/4 turn... jars.. Problem can be trying to store a bunch of odd size jars.. I was lucky enough to have so many both large and regular mouth canning jars and once used lids available it was easier to just use them and recycle other jars.. I did save short, big lid chip dip jars as they made the best vegetable shortening emergency candles..

 

[Haertig]

Wow, never knew you could do this. I wonder how it would work with wet stuff? For example, we buy Hatch 505 green chilis from Costco. It's salsa-like consistency. We use at most half a jar at a time. I wonder if the unused half could be put into a smaller jar and vacuum sealed in that like in this video? What I normally do it put the unused half into a plastic Tupperware type container and then freeze it. Once frozen I take the contents out (ends up being like a large hockey puck), and put that puck into a regular vacuum sealer bag. Then I vacuum seal that up normally. Since it's frozen solid, you don't have liquid to worry about - vacuum sealers don't work with liquids in bags. But if you can vacuum seal a jar with liquid contents, you could skip the freezing step. That would be handy. If anyone tries this, report back. My vacuum sealer does not have a jar attachment. But if this works with liquid in jars, then I would go out any buy another vacuum sealer specifically for doing this trick.

 

[Magus]

I like cheese dip jars, they're great for mixed drinks.

 

[Tim Horton]

I've never heard of vacuum sealing used for a ...wet... product of any kind.. Once a jar of ...fill in the blank.. is open I suspect any remaining product needs frozen or refrigerated.. For instance I have seen things kept in the refrigerator turn into a ...science project... meaning growing mold even being closed and cold.. Of course it depends on the product how long it takes to start growing green or white eyeballs on the surface..
My 5 cents of opinion..

The vacuum seal process I have used on a number of dry products ....plus... and I think this is a big ...plus... Sealing combined with a cool, dark, dry storage place contributes a lot to the time a product stays good..

 

[Haertig]

I've never heard of vacuum sealing used for a ...wet... product of any kind.. Once a jar of ...fill in the blank.. is open I suspect any remaining product needs frozen or refrigerated.

Oh, I didn't say what I was looking for. I was NOT hoping to keep the vacuum sealed remainder of the liquid un-refrigerated. I was only hoping to extend its life while IN the refrigerator. But I didn't say that. My error.

Liquidy things - leftovers - I will keep in the refrigerator a varying length of time. Some things go bad pretty quickly. Within days. Other things - like the "Hatch 505 green chilis" I mentioned before - I'll easily keep for two weeks if not more. I'm sure that statement will make the food safety folks turn green at the gills, but hey, some things just seem to keep and keep. And I'm all for giving them a chance. I was hoping that I might get those Hatch chilis to last a month or more (IN the refrigerator!) after vacuum sealing them. If I want them to last longer, much longer, I can still freeze them into that puck, then vacuum seal them, then put them back in the freezer. I've pulled frozen pucks of green chilis out of the freezer years after I put them there. When you're mixing those in with other things - like when making huevos rancheros - a bit of aging time in the freezer doesn't hurt them one bit in my experience.