Suburban Valkyrie

Of course you do. We all do.

Preserving food so it lasts longer is one key way to keeping food fresher, longer. There are various ways to accomplish this, of course, and one of my favorites is my Foodsaver vacuum sealer's jar attachment.

This jar sealer attaches to one end of a hose and the other end of the hose attaches to the Foodsaver itself. It sucks the air out of the jar and vacuum seals the lid to the top of the jar. The lack of air in the jar and the airtight seal helps keep the food inside fresh much longer.

It works for a wide range of foods. One of my favorite uses for this approach is for brown sugar. I've lost track of the number of half-used bags of hardened brown sugar I've thrown away over the years.

I needed brown sugar for the recipe I made for dinner tonight, and when I opened the jar, the sugar inside was as soft and fresh as it was weeks ago when I sealed it in there.

So, here's how it works.

Fill the jar. Wipe the rim to make sure it's clear of any debris.

Lay the lid on top of the jar.

Attach one end of the hose to the vacuum sealer.

Push the jar sealer attachment down over the lid and the top of the jar. Make sure it is pushed all the way down.

Attach the other end of the hose to the hole in the top of the jar sealer.



Turn the knob on the top of the machine to "vacuum and seal."


Activate the machine to begin the vacuum process. Different machines work differently. On mine (an older model) you use both hands to push down the front of the machine.

On mine, the motor will begin to hum and a green light will come on. It can take awhile to completely suck out all the air from the jar, so be patient.

The machine will automatically turn off when it is done removing all the air. (I've noticed on mine that the sound of the motor changes as it is nearly the end of the cycle.)

I store a number of foodstuffs in this manner, including (from left) potato flakes, sugar, baking soda, and rice.



One of my favorite uses for this approach, though, is to can lettuce. Yes, you can can fresh lettuce using the vacuum method. Whole salads, in fact.

I will typically buy a big package of six heads of romaine lettuce, then wash and chop it all at once, pack it into jars (I like big salads, so I'll a batch from six heads of lettuce into six jars), seal them, and I am set for lunches for the week.

I have opened a jar of lettuce canned in this fashion more than 10 days after the original pack date, and it was still fresh, crisp and flavorful.

A few notes:

• Several companies make various models of vacuum sealers. Mine is older and it doesn't look like they make it any longer.
• The hose comes with the Foodsaver, not with the jar sealer. If you have misplaced the hose, you'll have to buy another one before you can use the jar sealer.
• The jar sealer comes in two sizes, one for wide-mouth jars and one for regular-mouth jars. I have the wide-mouth attachment. Reviews for the wide-mouth attachment are almost universally 5-star. Reviews for the regular-mouth attachment are more mixed. There sometimes is an issue getting a good seal with the smaller jar mouth, apparently.
• Opening a sealed jar is easily done by pressing a spoon between the the rim and the lid. As the lid pulls away from the glass, you can hear the air escaping.
• I have reused lids successfully several times. Others would not seal back to the jar after being removed once. Your experience may vary as to how many times you'll be able to reuse the lids for vacuum sealing.
• You can package all ingredients for a salad together. It can take some experimenting to layer them so things don't get soggy. I've had good experience (mostly) with putting dressing in first so it's on the bottom, veggies next, meat or cheese third, and lettuce on top.
• I have cooked ingredients for things such as breakfast burritos ahead of time, then packaged individual servings in small jars and sealed them and refrigerated them for use throughout the week. They stay fresher longer than if they had been stored in plastic bags or containers.

So there you have it.

If you have an experience you want to share about using a jar sealer, or if you have any questions, feel free to post them in the comments.