This is an old thread, but I thought I'd put in my 2 cents. IâÂÂve been using FoodSavers for years for both seed and food storage. I seldom use FoodSaver plastic bags because they are permeable and develop leaksâ¦and you just throw them away. If you have to use bags, mylar is a better choice, but you have to use the trick mentioned by an earlier poster. Look for the YouTube video by Offgridgeeks. It works. Glass jars are the best choice. They are reusable and arenâÂÂt permeable. Mason jars are available in sizes as small as 4 oz. and as large as ý gallon. FoodSaver makes separate adapters for regular and wide-mouth jars, so be careful when you buy your jars and order the attachment. You can also use almost any commercial jar with a platisol lid. Those are the jar lids with the inner silicon-type ring on the edge of the top. To seal them, you have to put them inside a mason jar or the canister attachment sold by FoodSaver. There are other workarounds, but I wonâÂÂt go into them here. If you really hate the 2-piece Mason jar lids, you can order 1-piece plastisol lids on-line. The regular-mouth jar lids are 70mm and wide-mouth are 86mm. In addition to seeds, many DRY food items can be vacuum-sealed and stored for years and even decades, depending on the food type. Items such and beans, legumes and whole grains are wonderful candidates. Pastas, chocolate, dried fruit with very low moisture content, freeze-dried or dehydrated fruits and vegetables store very well. You can double the shelf life of foods such as nuts with a higher oil content. My husband occasionally comes home with huge sale bags of blue corn chips. I divide them into quart jars and vacuum-seal them. I have kept them up to 18 months and they are still perfectly fresh. Very fine substances such as flour are poor candidates unless you go to great lengths to contain the fine powder. Unless they are contained, the powder is drawn out between the jar and lid, preventing the jar from sealing completely and the seal will fail. Worse yet, the powder is drawn into the machine which will eventually stop functioning.

Hi everybody. Kathy, yes, I want to get my little plants into the ground, but I'll have to wait a while longer---may have killed my squash plant. I need to check on him.lol Gals, I'm in a rather bad mood today! I think it's just too much "togetherness" with my DH. I love the guy, but... I need some time for myself. Know what I mean? I'm going into MY room, which is actually the dining room where I have a computer in an armoire and some of my things in a file cabinet, some books, etc.-----and chill out in MY ROOM---ALL ALONE. Walked this morning, had toast and turkey bacon and some apple butter --yum yum. Okay. I had a real egg. I'm bad. Haven't had lunch yet. McPeg, I love those flavored waters. I've tried doing some of my own flavorings, but they just don't taste as good as the store-bought kind. Peach is my favorite. Take care, all. I've got a ton to do, we haven't decided yet if everyone's coming here for Easter dinner or we're going to a lodge or something. I may vote "lodge." They have a nice buffet dinner and then we usually walk, tour, etc. Lodge, I say. Lodge! PS This year, after seeing the movie "Passion of the Christ" I just don't feel right about doing the Easter bunny thingy ( and I love bunnies and stuff) so I'm thinking about instead doing some cookies in the shape of fish and having a story with each person's gift about the resurrection and how Jesus met with Peter and other deciples along the sea and they ate fish and talked before he ascended to heaven. A celebration without bunnies. I wish there was a separate spring holiday with bunnies and stuff---aside from Easter. Oh, well. Traditions are sometimes hard to break. I'll have to find a low-fat cookie recipe 'cause I know I'll want to eat a few.

Shelley, you know you are ALWAYS invited, just knock on the door and come right on in. (grin) That goes for everyone here. The food was good, especially the salmon which Elery cooked on the grill. I could have lived without the store-bought cupcakes, LOL, but Mother brought them and who am I to turn down a gift, especially one made with sugar. (grin) We do usually have fun, we all manage to get along pretty well pretty much all of the time. That means everyone recognizes my authority as Empress of the Universe, LOL. Cathy, she's sure getting big, isn't she? I've been invited to her very first school concert in a couple of weeks. She's excited and tells me that she's going to sing "B-I-N-G-O". ROFL I'm sure it will be wonderful... Annie

You want to talk about a demographic that is ignored- old ladies. In the past two years I have had THREE of my most used makeup/personal care products discontinued. GRAY Maybelline eyebrow pencils. WHITE hair shampoo Pantene. WHITE Lady toner for my hair saw its name and formula changed. With the eyebrow pencils I caught it early and managed to score 20 on eBay- they now go for $40+ each and while I am sorely tempted to sell a few I will not. The Pantene shampoo still irks me. Hair people SHOULD know the difference between silver and white hair but most do not draw a distinction. So the hair I spend money on to get white is immediately turned to gray by the use of most products marketed for white. Pantene got it right and then dropped the line. The toner is always a problem- again there is a huge difference between silver, gray, platinum, and WHITE. White haired ladies get no respect, lol- all the cosmetic companies care about is drawing in new, younger buyers [/rant]