When I place my 25 pound bag of sugarless angelfood cake mix in FS containers, I used 2 gallon zipper bags to hold about 10 pounds in each canister, and I leave the bags partially open. I used the big 1.5 gallon huge size canisters. I do make sure that the rubber seals are very clean and have no bits of stuff or foreign materials in the seal areas. The domed canisters are easy to pull a decent vacuum on. I use a seperate vacuum pump however as it gives me a much stronger vacuum that can hold a cover on for many months. Thats how my cake mix is stored, and is still under vacuum, as is the grated cheese in the fridge. If there is even a single nick on the plastic edge where the seal is made to the rubber ring, it will usually leak. I have moistened the lip with a little water and placed the lid on and its pumped down quite well. Another way to get that seal to hold better is to use a very light coating of non stick spray, applied on a paper towel. Its applied VERY THIN and would be lighly applied to the plastic rim of the canister. This will help to ensure a good seal, but the best I get is when I use my external vacuum pump. For the big bucket shaped containers with flat and concave lids with the knob, I have has to fix a few small cracks that show up around the knob. I use crazy glue to pull the glue into the cracks under vacuum and its hardened off with an activator that turns it solid in one second. The cracks that form are because I use a very powerful vacuum pump. Right now, I have a batch of vinegar salt brine waiting for the next wave of pepperoncini peppers to get canned, and its under vacuum. Basically, a stronger vacuum pump may be needed. It also may be that the pump you have inside the FS is either dirty or worn out so its not pulling a vacuum very well. The pumps in the FS are quite small, and most have a built in sensor that shuts them off once they reach a specific pressure which is obviously lower than 30 inches of mercury (read on a vacuum gauge). The square or rectangular containers will crack down the sides every time. I went through 3 of them and found that even though they are thick plastic, its not designe dwell enough to hold a good vacuum. All my square ones cracked in the corners.

Is there grout there? WIll there be overspray from some boy children? Or guests? Or DH? Um hmmm. Sealer. And don't forget to keep it sealed. It's not a once and done project. Every time you clean, you will strip a bit of sealer. The harsher the products used to clean, the more sealer they strip. If water doesn't bead up in those grout joints, it's time to be resealed.

The sealer I previously used did vacuum seal the bags. I had purchased it many years ago and threw it out when I got my new sealer. It worked on a completely different system because it had a "spout" that you'd put the bag into, then press down on the top of the sealer, and it would then seal the bag. I bought the new sealer in part because it is "hands free". I have the 20' long rolls as well as the bags. My confusion is that if I have one small piece of meat to seal, must I use the entire width of the bag in order to do a vacuum seal? Also, when I use the sealer, I've been using extra bag as well so that the food is able to lay on the counter before I seal. Am I doing something wrong or do you also need to use a large bag for a little bit of food? I really would rather not wash bags and reuse them. I would still need to vacuum seal any meats I put in the freezer so using the jars would only be a partial solution.

In my "old" :*( kitchen I had those white arabesque tiles. And the grout was very important to the design to give it the right look. I really needed a true white grout. What I learned from Bill V was that a lot (if not all) of the grouts have a caramel coloring in their "bright white" mixture. If there is caramel in the mixture it's in the finished product. There is a product from Latricrete that is called Permacolor. The white was very bright white. Didn't stain, didn't need to be sealed. I suppose you could seal it, but we didn't. If I splashed sauce on it, I could wipe it off, or at least make up a mixture of oxyclean and water and get it off. We are going to use the Permacolor grout in our bathroom. They have made more advances with it as far as the colors and other things the tile guy told me. good luck!