For those who love stocking their pantries with Thrive life freeze-dried ingredients, questions about shelf life are common. Nobody wants these flavorful additions to go to waste while waiting to be used between recipes. Here's a breakdown of the shelf life and a tip on maximizing freshness for your Thrive cans.
Shelf Life and Storage:
Thrive Life offers two sizes of cans which have a 25-year shelf life, left unopened: the Pantry can, about the size of a quart jar, and the Family can, equivalent to a #10 can. While it's more cost-effective to buy the larger Family can, the pantry can is a convenient size for your working pantry. Here's the key: when starting your pantry, opt for pantry cans initially to build a diverse selection quickly. Once your pantry is established, switch to buying Family cans to build your long-term storage and then to open and refill your pantry cans as needed.
Once opened, regardless of size, a Thrive Life can stays fresh and good to use for about a year. However, cans containing naturally sticky products like fruit or powders may start to absorb moisture sooner. Ensure they're stored in a dry environment while waiting to be used.
Maximizing Freshness:
If you're concerned about moisture affecting the contents of your Family can before you use them all, consider this alternative approach. When opening a Family can, divide its contents into 3-quart canning jars and vacuum seal each one. This ensures that nothing takes on moisture and remains pristine until you're ready to use it.
Streamlining with Hand held vacuum sealer:
As someone who dehydrates and buys in bulk regularly, I've gone through my fair share of vacuum sealers which I use to divide and preserve in jars. Recently, I discovered Masonking, a company offering a new type of vacuum sealer. I was initially drawn to their product after seeing it operated in various food preservation videos. I hesitated to purchase it since my old sealer still functioned adequately, but having the right tools for your jobs can make things so much more efficient in time and space. While I was procrastinating a purchase, I had a really neat thing happen!
One day I was looking through my spam folder of my emails and found an email heading that intrigued me. It was from a representative of Masonking reaching out to me after discovering my page and being impressed with the content. Knowing I talked a lot about food preservation they offered me their mason jar sealer, to try out and potentially become an affiliate.
I've used the Masonking vacuum sealer several times now, and I can't stress enough how convenient it is. Here are a few differences that I have noticed and features that I find very functional.
Unlike my other sealers, this one eliminates the need for separate attachments for regular and wide-mouth jars. The regular mouth attachment easily twists off, leaving just two pieces to manage, simplifying the process significantly. No more time lost, looking for the right piece!
I also like that it is easily mounted on the top of the jar making it a hands-free process. By having the freedom to move I can be readying the next jar to speed up the project at hand. My other sealers require pressure on the jar tops at all times to keep the jar from tipping over or keep the suction tight.
Another feature I appreciate is the countdown function, which alerts you when the sealing process is nearing completion. This is a huge improvement over my current sealer, which lacks this feature and requires guesswork to determine when it's fully vacuum sealed.
Compared to my bulky countertop model with extendable hoses for sealing jars, the Masonking sealer is a game-changer. The old model's cumbersome design meant I had to bring jars to it, often resulting in a scramble for counter space during larger projects.
Additionally, I noticed during my search for a new sealer that many options were battery-operated. This was a deal-breaker for me as I never seem to have spare batteries on hand, and even when I do, they tend to die out sooner than they should. This one is a USB rechargeable unit.
Overall, the Masonking vacuum sealer has significantly improved my sealing process with its user-friendly design and helpful features, making it an essential tool in my kitchen. I look forward to putting it to good use!
Whether you're stocking your pantry, sealing jars of dehydrated produce, or making a variety of dry meals in jars for the shelf, these tips and tools can help ensure your ingredients stay fresh and flavorful a very long time.
Here is my affiliate link if you would like to get one of your own handy kitchen tools! Happy food preserving!
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