Sealing Meals in A Jar with a FoodSaver

The FoodSaver comes with a hose attachment that can be used with jar sealer attachments.

The Jar Attachments are designed for Ball® and Kerr® brand wide-mouth and regular-mouth mason jars.

Wide-mouth Jar Sealers can only be used with wide-mouth jars and the Regular Jar Sealers can be used with the regular mason jars.

If a meal has a lot of powder ingredients the jar may not seal because the powder can get sucked between the glass edge and the metal lid. To avoid this from happening place a paper inside the jar to help keep the powder in the jar.

Use a paper towel and trace the shape of the metal lid.

Cut the ink line off when you are cutting the circles. Fit the paper down inside of the jar. Make sure the paper is not up on the top glass rim when putting the lid on the jar.

The attachments have a rubber seal on the inside

The hose attaches to the Foodsaver and then the other end attaches to the top of jar sealer

Make sure the glass jar is clean and free from powdered food particles.

Put the Mason jar lid on top of the jar (do not put the metal band/ring on the jar, just the flat lid), and then fit the sealer attachment over the top of the jar lid.

Each model of Foodsaver is different and you should follow the instructions for the model that you own.  Some Foodsavers need you to push the “Attachment” button.  The model V3230, used in these instructions, needs to have the sealer door locked down into place before the hose will suck the air.

When you push the button to start the foodsaver it will vacuum all the air out of the jar and shut off automatically when all the air is out of the jar.

Remove the hose from the top of the sealer attachment to release the vacuum seal.   Remove the jar sealer attachment from the jar.

Note:  The FoodSaver bags are not designed to store food for long term storage.  You can use a Mylar bag but cannot use the bags designed for the FoodSaver.

Wait for a while before putting the metal band on the jars to make sure the lid is securely sealed.  Sometimes the powder ingredients may get sucked between the glass rim and the metal lid and the powder might break the seal.  If the lid doesn’t seal look to see if the plastic baggie is laying on top of the glass rim or if there is some powdery ingredients on the glass.  If this should happen clean the glass rim again and try to seal the jar again.  If there is too much powder in the jar you might have a hard time getting the jar sealed.  An example of this might be a bread recipe that has a lot of flour.

If you can’t get the jar sealed you can put an oxygen absorber in the jar instead of sealing with the FoodSaver.

Another reason why a jar might not seal is if there is a chip in the glass on the rim.  If you should see a chip in the glass the ingredients can be placed in a new jar.  The chipped jar can be used for another purpose but it can’t be used in canning or when sealing dehydrated ingredients.

Click here for the printable file

I tried to find the Foodsaver that I have so that I could give you a link, but they don’t make my model anymore.  There are a lot of different brands on Amazon nowadays, but I would stick to a FoodSaver brand.  I’ve had mine for about 15 years. I also use my Foodsaver to seal food that I store in the freezer, in fact, I use the FoodSaver so much it has earned a permanent place on my kitchen counter.    This is the model that I bought for my son

The Foodsaver that is less expensive will work for meals in a jar also. Make sure to purchase a model that has the hose attachment.

Click here to view the FoodSaver

When I was shopping for the attachments they were a little hard to find in the stores, so I purchased my attachments on Amazon.   They usually sale for about $9.00 for the regular mouth attachment, and $9 for the wide mouth but I purchased this set because it came with everything at a better price.

Click here to view the Jar Attachments

 Oxygen Absorbers

If you don’t want to use a Food Saver you can put an Oxygen Absorber into the jar instead. I buy oxygen absorbers from the LDS Home Storage Center online store (store.lds.org). They do not have the absorbers at the storage locations anymore so you need to buy them online. Click this link: store.lds.org ONLINE ORDERING

I also found a good price on Oxygen Absorbers on Amazon.   Make sure to buy the 300 cc packages because the smaller cc packages may not be as effective.

Click here to view 300 cc Oxygen Absorbers

Introduction to Meals in a Jar

The class teaches how to prepare the meals for long term storage and also when its ok to use a zip lock freezer bag for 1 year storage for some recipes. The class teaches how to calculate the shelf life of the recipe. This class teaches the difference between Freeze Dried and Dehydrated Ingredients, and how to customize a recipe for dietary needs.

Click here for the Introduction to Meals in a Jar webpage

Oatmeal in a Jar

The Oatmeal in a Jar class teaches about the Health Benefits of Oatmeal and the 3 different kinds of oatmeal that can be used in meals in a jar recipes. Included is a section that teaches how to store shortening in food storage and a recipe for the cream of mushroom soup that is used in the meat and potato pie meal. The class highlights products such as powdered milk, chicken broth powder, powdered flavorings, freeze dried and dehydrated fruits that are used in the oatmeal in a jar recipes. A 17 page PDF file is available that includes the 21 recipes with instructions. You can purchase a 48 page file that has the tags for each meal in a jar.
Recipes featured in this class are:Carrot Cake Breakfast Oatmeal, Quick Oatmeal recipes and Crock pot Steal Cut Oats. Dessert Recipes are Oatmeal Raisin Cookies in a jar and Apple Crisp.

Click Here for Oatmeal in a Jar webpage

Desserts in a Jar

Dessert recipes are great to have in food storage because they are quick and easy to fix. I love pulling a jar off the shelf knowing I have all of the ingredients and I don’t have to run to the store. In 2014 decided to enter a couple of the recipes in the state fair to see how they would compare to recipes with fresh ingredients and was excited to bring home a first and second place ribbon. Now I can say they are award winning recipes

Click here for dessert recipes In a Jar