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.

I believe the bacteria involved in soft cheese is Listeria, which can multiply under the right conditions and become the toxin Listeriosis. The CDC estimates that approximately 1600 illnesses and 260 deaths due to listeriosis occur annually in the United States. It's been associated with Mexican-style soft cheese, and other types made with unpasteurized (raw) milk, but other dairy products as well -- generally from lack of pasteurization, OR introduction of the bacteria at some point after it's been pasteurized, OR post-processing contamination from unpasteurized milk. Listeria can grow under either anaerobic (without oxygen) or aerobic (with oxygen) conditions. The bacteria multiply best at 86-98.6 degrees F, but it also multiplies better than all other bacteria at refrigerator temperatures. I believe these are the reasons not to vacuum-seal soft cheeses. Vacuum-sealing might encourage keeping them much longer than might be safe. We consume all kinds of bacteria all the time, it's when it's in the right environment that the bacteria multiply and become a toxin. It's the toxin that's the problem, and that doesn't happen with much regularity. The challenge comes because we don't know if the bacteria is actually present to begin with, and that is why we should practice good food safety rules when choosing, handling, preparing and storing foods of all kinds. Vacuum-sealing just isn't the appropriate method for everything. Factors that increase Listeria's potential to human health: (source: linked below) 1. Grow at refrigerator temperatures, 32-degrees F and above. 2. Grow in an acidic (as low as 4.4 pH) or basic (as high as pH 9.6) environment. 3. Tolerate low moisture environments; it has been detected in hard fermented salami. 4. Grow under anaerobic conditions at refrigeration temperatures. This property makes Listeria a potential threat to the safety of foods packaged under vacuum or modified atmospheres as the growth of this microorganism is not inhibited in vacuum packaged food items. 5. Grow at extremely high salt concentrations, especially at refrigerator temperatures. It has been detected in commercial cheese brines. Thus, cheese brines should be considered as potential sources for cross-contamination. 6. Due to Listeria's ability to attach to different surfaces, packaging materials can be a potential source of contamination. I've been using a FoodSaver since 1986 (on my 3rd one) and I have practiced home food storage since that time and vacuum\-seal large quantities of dry goods (both bags and jars), refrigerated and frozen foods \- without incident. Dry goods stored at room temperature need to be at 10% moisture or LESS. Things I DON'T vacuum\-seal because the moisture level is too high for dry\-packing using a vacuum\-seal is brown sugar and popping corn. I also avoid vacuum\-sealing home\-dehydrated foods because in most cases the percentage of moisture left in the food is unknown. Home\-dehydrated foods are also short\-term storage foods which should be used relatively quickly and store well in an airtight container. When it comes to the freezing foods that are raw, fresh, or cooked, you simply apply good food handling practices and incorporate the proper practices for thawing to increase a safe food supply. At least 80% of the food items in my freezer are vacuum\-sealed. I can "flip" through the baskets that contain frozen fruits, vegetables, breakfast meats, pre\-cooked meats in individual servings, portioned ground meat (raw and pre\-cooked) as well as all meat purchased in bulk, stacks of homemade bean burgers/tuna or salmon patties...... Chili, soup, pasta sauce, sloppy joe mixture, etc., are all frozen in user\-friendly sized containers. Once they are completely frozen, I pop them out of the containers (now the plastic containers can be used for something else), stack the food cubes and vacuum them. I can quickly use one frozen cube of chili to turn into a taco salad meal, topping for baked potatoes, or as a soup. I generally portion foods first, quick\-freeze them, then vacuum\-seal them. I cook for 2 adults, but I make most things in large amounts (cook once for many meals) and freeze them in portions. These are my "convenience" foods. I probably only make mashed potatoes 2 or 3 times a year (after my spring harvest, fall harvest, and when I find potatoes BOGO), but always have portions of freezer mashed potatoes ready to thaw, heat and serve. I also freeze portions of cooked grains and beans. I just made a large batch of black beans and I quick\-froze them on a rimmed baking sheet covered with a sheet of FREEZER paper. When they were completely frozen, I lifted the freezer paper and the beans loosed from the paper. I then used the freezer paper as a funnel to pour the loose beans into a FoodSaver bag. With the opening of the bag to one side, smooth the beans into a single layer and vacuum\-seal the bag shut. When you need some black beans, cut the bag open, give it a tap and the beans will once again become individual frozen beans and you should be able to measure out the amount you need. I try to freeze foods in a single layer this way. Then they are easy to "file" in my small plastic baskets that line my freezer shelves. I always re\-package commercial frozen foods into FoodSaver bags so they last longer. \-Grainlady Here is a link that might be useful: [Food Safety \- Listeriosis \#9.383](http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/foodnut/09383.html)

Please make sure you post how it works, would be very interested to know

Parties get complicated for leftovers as it is social and we loose control over what we would normally do. I often chill meats immediately while carving, into a small platter or bowl and into the fridge, make stock after, then add chilled stock to the meat for the freezer. (knowing i'll have leftovers)...not always possible. NewYears was easy as we had so much ham. Half of the ham, sliced, went into the fridge early. I now have ham/veg stock with big ham chunks for soups. Rather than make a big soup, then freeze, i freeze parts. Soup 'kits'. Saturday, while multi-tasking for a SuperBowl party, i made a bone broth as i was prepping so much stuff anyway and had lots of veg going, chopping... Nice meal, kitchen clean, dishwasher started, party prep done, i turned off the stock and sat down for a brief rest....fell asleep. DH dealt with the stock. Woke at 3am and had no clue what happened. (a dozen questions later) He did great by removing solids, straining, adding ice, chilling in the downstairs fridge....un-covered. Thermopen temp, containered and labeled and frozen. Our gut systems are designed to handle all messes of bacteria with no issues. Compromised is young and old or dealing with any number of infections...medications, antibiotics....if your system is fighting something, it is working hard to deal with it. No need to add to a weak immune system working overtime. Friends and family trust my cooking above all others as i cook fresh organic stocks and fresh organic produce especially if in chemo or under health stress.