There are two sizes of the FS canning jar attachments. One is meant for regular mouth canning jars, and the other is for the larger mouth canning jars. Yes, they use the exact same lids used in home canning. The lids are placed on top of the jar, and the attachment is pushed down over it to make a seal between a rubber ring and the glass bead just below the threads of the jars. Once air is pulled out, and you pull off the vacuum hose from the attachment, a tiny 'slug' of air, blasts into the small vacuum hole and the lid is forced down onto the jar and seals it. You remove the attachement then and rinse off the jar if its wet. The seal is very strong and is usually far better than a regular canning process would do. As mentoned, The FS vacuum pump is NOT powerful enough to be safely used as an alternative to regular canning processing. Besides that, if the very small vacuum pump inside the FS gets any trace of moisture in it, it can cause damage to the FS machine. I use a much higher powered piston type vacuum pump and also have a water/moisture trap on the vacuum line. The pump I have quickly goes down to 30 inches, which is sufficient for a decent vacuum. I also vacuum seal dried herbs like dill weed. It remains very fragrent and bright green color, even after 2 years of storage.

Hello everybody, I don't usually join forums, but I ran into this one while looking for some food saver tips, so I joined in order to be able to share some ideas about freezing and vac packing foods that may make a huge difference to many of you out there. With a number of years of food saver use under my belt, I have have found that while it will never really be easy work, there are ways to make it a less labor-intensive, less messy, and more organized chore. Those lovely plastic takeout containers such as the ones you get with Chinese food are perfect for freezing food, and they are top rack dishwasher safe. Fill containers, cover and place in the freezer (make sure they are level so the shapes are uniform). When the food is frozen solid, remove from container and wrap is plastic food wrap, then vacuum pack. If you have several containers, do this assembly line style; 1) unmold 2) wrap in plastic film 3) determine size of bag to seal and make all the bags 4) vac pack and label. If you shop at a club type mega store, purchase the 3000 square foot roll of plastic film and you will have film for months to come. The film will keep the food saver bag clean to re-use. The containers will make uniform rectangles or rounds which saves space in the freezer and keep it organized. Also, if you set up everything before packing, after a while it will become second nature to you and you'll be doing it without even thinking. And just one more thing (yeah, you thought I was finished, didn't you?), after you wrap the frozen bricks (that's what I call them), put them back in the freezer while you make your bags so they don't get runny if the room temperature is warm. Hope I helped one or many of my fellow food prepaholics out there.

FoodSaver is a very good brand at a good price point. My FoodSaver is probably a dozen years old or so, and it's still working (with a little coaxing now and then!). I prefer my type: over the newer model I see in Costco: It seems like the lower profile model is easier to store. Costco often has deals on the FoodSaver and bags. I highly recommend getting one. My frozen foods/meats are protected and I can defrost easily.

That depends on how well you cooked the bacon. DH uses his foodsaver for bacon, but he doesn't like it so crisp that when you take a bite, shards fly away from your mouth, LOL. He likes it crisp soft, which means it isn't limp, but it's also not hard. If you cook your bacon to very crisp, skip the foodsaver.