Comments on: Screwing It Up - A Manual For the New Home Preserver

By: ranvaig

ranvaig — Thu, 29 May 2008 20:38:01 +0000

Larva will crawl right up the screws of a screwtop lid, unless there is a seal at the top as well.

Years ago, I had a huge infestation from food leftover from a camping trip. Getting rid of them took two years and throwing out every bit of grain, legumes, spices, flour, bird food, even the placemats my son made in preschool with designs of grains and peas.

Anything you bring home should go into the freezer for at least two weeks… or just throw it out.

By: Jenne

Jenne — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 17:06:19 +0000

Yes, check any supermarket that makes their own macaroni salad, etc. They often have gallon plastic jars. Restaurants are often another source. I get mine from events where luncheons are served, where we all scavenge for the pickle and olive jars. In a pinch, though, you can use lots and lots of quart jars for most things. (See if your neighbors will give you their spaghetti sauce jars.)

I admit that for long noodles (angel hair, spaghetti) I use tall plastic jars from the Dollar Store, even though they are made in China.

By: Idaho Locavore

Idaho Locavore — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 23:54:36 +0000

Leila, check your local restaurants, delis and bakeries for cast off buckets and large condiment jars. You may find that’s a more fruitful resource.

By: Leila Abu-Saba

Leila Abu-Saba — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 22:41:47 +0000

Reuse depot didn’t have large glass jars. THey did have two handsome crockery cannisters - one sized for 5# flour, one small for perhaps a half pound of coffee or something. Across the street I picked up two random containers at another thrift shop - a gorgeous crockery item, large, ginger-jar shaped with a hinge and latch on the lid for a nice seal, and a tall glass container with a snug-fitting lid. Also a two qt. sized screw top jar. Stuff doesn’t match. Better than nothing…

By: Leila Abu-Saba

Leila Abu-Saba — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 19:13:44 +0000

Re: crocks. Well I am also going to look for large glass pickle/mayo jars at my local reuse depot. Or whatever they have. I own a few glass storage containers with rubber or silicon sealed lids, bought at Ikea a while back but I really don’t want to go buy a bunch more. $$$. Hoping I can find recycled glass containers.

I also have mason jars but they’re too small for storing twenty pounds of flour. However the popcorn, flax seed and other smallish quantity items go into recycled mason jars. I used to buy that store-made pasta sauce (tomato) and acquired quite a few handsome jars that way. Recycled a lot of them in a decluttering frenzy some years ago but a few still hang around. Guess I could scrounge the neighborhood recycle bins for more, or just ask the neighbors, huh? It’s work.

By: Greenpa

Greenpa — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 14:54:17 +0000

re: plastic storage. Think about what you have to keep out. The little bug larvae have mouth parts that are designed to chew through- seed coats. Hard stuff; harder than plastic in many cases.

Then there’s mice. This year I had mice get into my root cellar for the first time since it was built. That’s typical- years of “ok, I’ve got them excluded…” - then whammo. They’ll chew through any plastic on the planet, if they have a reason to.

Metals corrode- and might have weird toxic components in that process. There’s a good reason grandma loved her big stoneware crocks. Which are sucked up by the antique dealers these days, to look cute somewhere. Still; you can find them.

By: Other Leila

Other Leila — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 12:49:38 +0000

Re: plastic bags

I once had a moth infestation and they easily burrowed holes into plastic bags or crawled into paper sacks to lay their eggs in the food inside. They didn’t touch the pasta though. It was mostly the rice, barley, beans, lentils, cornmeal, flour they were after.

By: Burbanmom

Burbanmom — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 10:22:33 +0000

Wow. Sounds like you “dear friend” has really learned a lot at the school of Oopsie-Daisicus. Thanks for the tips!

By: Leila

Leila — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 05:14:27 +0000

Also - re: pasta - so there was pasta on sale. I now have about twenty pounds of it, maybe more, acquired over the last month of shopping sales. Today it was Long’s drugstore - 2# bags a dollar each. No it’s not organic - this is emergency supply food.

Anyway. Are you saying that I can’t store the pasta in its packaging? drag….

By: Leila

Leila — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 05:12:50 +0000

Wow, I needed to hear the warning about storing grains in plastic bags. I just bought a lot of flour, oats, some cornmeal. You mean I need to decant all of it into jars or food grade plastic?

Ulp. This is a whole nother foraging expedition. I really don’t want to go spending money on containers. But I don’t want the twenty pounds of flour to go to waste. (or the 5# of oatmeal, 2# of cornmeal, etc. etc.)

Can I keep the flax seed in a plastic bag?