Officially, shelf storage isn't recommended unless the food is heat processed. But many fermented foods require only BWB processing not pressure canning. Personally, since yeasts and molds are the main concern, I would be comfortable with some fermented foods stored in a pantry IF it is a really cool-temp pantry like a root cellar but that's JMO. Dave

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.

The vacuum food savers will seal any bag such as chips. But it won't vacuum the air out of those bags. I press down on those bags before sealing to get as much air out of the bag as possible. I was explained by a representative of one of the vacuum sealer companies that the reason you must use their bags is that a regular sandwich type bag's thickness won't be able to withstand the vacuuming strength of the machine. That's why they use those special bags when vacuuming and sealing foods.

When I saw the title of this thread I was hoping you already had one and wanted to comment on it. I plan to get one but don't have it yet. I have used food savers for a long time though and really like them. The down-side to a food saver is you have to use food-saver bags and also you can't seal bags that have liquid in them (soup, sauces, etc). With the central vacuum type, you use regular zip-loc bags. since the bags are not sealed with heat, you can seal soups and liquids just fine. The super convenience of the central vac sealer is a HUGE plus in my mind. Storing a food saver and bags takes space.