Forum Discussion

Happyemptyneste's avatar
Oct 15, 2017

Veggies in sealed mason jars

Wife saw on Pinterest where you can put your lettuce and other salad veggies in mason jars, then poke a small hole in the lid with an ice pick. Cover the hole with a small piece of electrical tape and then put a ziplock hand held vacuum pump over the tape and pump several times. It seems like the jars seal fairly tight and supposed to stay fresh in the fridge for a week or more. We just did some grapes and trying salad veggies now. Has anyone heard or tried this?

Thanks, Mike
  • I don't understand the vacuum pump part of this at all. If you make a hole, it's going to loose air pressure.

    Why not do it like Mason Jars are designed to do. Set the jars in boiling water, remove, put the vegetables in, put the sealer cap (lid) on, then tighten with the ring. When the jar cools, the seal seals tight. Vegetables should last forever.
  • Why don't you just use the jar sealer that you can get with vacuum sealer? I would think spending $8-$10 for one would be much easier and would work better than trying to put holes and using tape over hole. Can't say about salad fixings, but I do use the jar sealer with regular lids to keep things like crackers less susceptible to our humidity here in the south.
  • Herzberg, Ruth. Putting Food By. 2010

    Includes reference materials from US Dept of Agriculture.

    Go to www.abebooks.com enter author and title. This is a branch of Amazon, world wide.

    You will learn the whys and wherefores of food preservation. ie. Lettuce is a low acid green. Preservatives used in stores aren't particularly safe for long term storage.


    :C
  • A week maybe, but the fridge has more to do with it than tape over a hole.
  • The title of your thread is, "Veggies in sealed mason jars" I don't understand how a mason jar can be sealed with a hole punched in the lid.

    Thanks for posting an interesting concept in food preservation. And welcome to the forums.
  • This is a different thing completely to the wife and I. She's gotten so tired of her lettuce and celery turning brown in the fridge within a week. She's even wrapped them in paper towels and put the in ziplock bags. I will tell all that our arms are sore from pumping that vacuum pump. It's not a perfect seal with the tape over the hole in the lid but it's weird how it can seal somewhat over the taped hole. She did grapes as well and doing all this per servings. I'll definitely let all of you know within a week or so how this compares to veggies in zip locks, Tupperware, and in these jars.
    Thanks again,

    Mike
  • I layer lettuce, mushrooms, chicken and veggies in a quart jar with dressing in first. I make up enough for 3-4 days and put on a lid. Store in frig. Take to work, dump out in large bowl and toss.
  • http://pump-n-seal.com This is the same concept. Have one. Works great.