Our FoodSaver Vacuum Sealer has become one of our most-used appliances.  We use it to extend the life of everything from dry pasta to salad greens.  Saving salad was what first seduced me into my purchase.  When I prepare salads, they tend to grow to large-party sizes and I was guilty of wasting a lot when my family failed to eat them fast enough.  Now I package up meal-size salads and am able to keep the salad fresh at least twice as long.  I have a new favorite use for the FoodSaver now though.  Since I like to cycle through all of my food storage items, I don’t wait for disaster to strike before I open a #10 can of dehydrated food.  However, the time starts ticking for the shelf life of that item once it is opened.  I’ve found that I can pour the remaining product from my #10 cans into large half-gallon mason jars and then vacuum seal a canning lid to the jar to prolong the life of these products.   Then I can use the product when I need to, but remove the air and seal the lid on again and again.  This works well for brown sugar as well.  You need a ”jar attachment” to do this.  They are available in wide mouth and regular mouth to fit both sizes of canning lids. 

If you want to prolong the life of powdered items like powdered buttermilk, powdered sugar or baking soda, place a plastic bag into the jar (AP bread bags are perfect for this), fill the bag with the product, twist the bag closed and press down into the jar.  Then seal the canning lid to the top of the jar.  This prevents the FoodSaver Vacuum Sealer from sucking the fine powder into itself which can gum up the machine and damage it.

Here’s one of our favorite recipes to use with the wheat rotini shown in the bottle above:

CURLY NOODLE SOUP

2 stalks celery, sliced

1 onion, chopped

3 cups chopped carrots

5 cups diced potatoes

4 chicken bouillon cubes

4 cups water

4 cans cream of chicken soup

1 16 oz. carton sour cream

1 12 oz. pkg. rotini pasta, cooked al dente and drained

Cook vegetables, bouillon cubes and water until veggies are tender.  DON’T DRAIN.  Add soup, sour cream and cooked noodles.  Heat through being careful not to scorch on bottom.  If soup is too thick, add milk.  This makes a large batch.  It’s fantastic served with warm, homemade rolls and makes a great meal for company.

I’ve decided once you try dehydrated, you don’t go back.  I actually feel spoiled by the convenience of using freeze dried and dehydrated fruits and vegetables in my cooking.  My latest favorite is dehydrated green peppers.  My children used to remove green peppers from any food I sneaked them into.  Recently one of my daughters started requesting them on her pizza, so I thought the pepper may be making a comeback.  I wasted no time trying to find recipes to incorporate the flavorful green veggie, but it seems I was out of the habit of buying green peppers.  I always forgot to pick one up at the grocery store.  Enter dried bell peppers!  The photo above shows the Alison’s Pantry Dried Green Bell Peppers that I now keep at the ready.  Life just got more flavor!  I love these things!  Not only are they always available for my recipes, but I love that these ones are in 3/8″ dices.  They are nice and small so my more-picky children don’t notice what is making their food taste so good.  And this saves me the time of washing, chopping and disposing parts of the pepper.  (I am all about making dinner fast, as I still have an infant on my hip 90% of any given day. ) Although they won’t work well in green salads, they are great for pasta salads, spaghetti sauces, and two great recipes I am including below.   The shelf life is at least a year, but you can vacuum seal the unused dices in a mason jar or freeze them to extend the lifespan.  The Alison’s Pantry Peppers come in 1/2 lb. bags which are a great size to experiment with before you dive into a full #10 can. 

TOMATO STEAK

2-3 lb. chuck roast

salt and pepper to taste

1 medium size onion, diced

1/4 green pepper, diced (I just sprinkled in dried peppers to my liking)

2 carrots, grated

1 Qt. tomato juice (I used a jar of home-bottled crushed tomatoes)

Place chuck roast in crock pot and sprinkle with salt and pepper.   Cover with onion, green pepper and carrots.  Then pour tomato juice over all.  Cook on low for about 8 hours. (This can be done in a dutch oven in a 325-350 degree oven for 3-3 1/2 hours also.)  When cooked, the meat should shred nicely.  Thicken the sauce for gravy.  Serve over warm mashed potatoes.  We added some of the Alison’s Pantry Beef Gravy base to the gravy for more flavor and to help with thickening.  It was delicious.

Kudos to my friend, Amy, who shared this great standby recipe that can incorporate several food storage items if desired.

GREEN SAUCE PASTA

Start 1 pkg. bowtie pasta boiling.

Combine the following 3 ingredients: 

2 TBSP. parsley flakes

2 TBSP. basil

1/4 cup butter, melted

Then add:

1 8 oz. pkg. cream cheese

1/4 c. parmesan cheese

1/4 c. olive oil

1 clove garlic, minced

1/2 tsp. pepper

2/3 c. boiling water

After mixing, stir in cooked shredded chicken (leftover rotisserie works well), and any steamed or sauteed veggies you like.  We like to saute zucchini, yellow squash, broccoli, red and green peppers, onion, and mushrooms. (The rehydrated peppers make one less item to wash and chop.)  Combine all ingredients with cooked bowtie pasta and toss well. This is a delicious recipe!  Amy often takes it to friends when they need a meal.  (That’s how I first had the privilege of trying it!)