17 Great Ways to Use Your Foodsaver for Preparedness

I’ve been thinking about my foodsaver again lately. After the post on Foodsaver Successes, Failures, and Tips I figured I would point out many of the positive ways you can and should use a foodsaver for preparedness. While I own the FoodSaver V2244 Vacuum Sealing System (which is a budget model) I’d say it’s served me well over the years for my purposes. Obviously, if you intend to use your foodsaver on a daily basis and for the intended purpose–to seal leftovers–then you may well want to purchase a better model such as this one.

Beyond the foodsaver itself you’re going to need a few items, including:

All-in-all the investment isn’t much considering how useful they are.

With the above in mind, here’s some of the many ways you can and should use a foodsaver to further your preps beyond just sealing leftovers:

  1. Extend longevity of Rx and OTC medications, antibiotics, vitamins, etc (basically anything already stored in pill bottles)
  2. Seal out moisture from UCO Stormproof Matches and fire starting supplies for your bug out bag or vehicle kits (these items tend to go bad over time due to moisture alone)
  3. Prolong shelf life of foods for your bug out bag–e.g., hard candies, granola bars, etc–or at home (note: not needed for pre-packaged freeze-dried foods)
  4. Prolong longevity of dehydrated foods in mason jars (they can often last years if dehydrated and stored properly in mason jars)
  5. Seal clothing and other personal protective gear from moisture and even to compress them for addition to a bug out bag (depending on what you’re trying to seal you can fit quite a bit in a very small space)
  6. Seal medical supplies–e.g., gauze, bandages, sports wraps, etc–from moisture (anything that moisture would affect)
  7. Help prevent leakage from anything that contains liquids such as water bottles, isopropyl alcohol, hydrogen peroxide, etc (I’ve actually had a bottle of isopropyl alcohol leak and ruin some preps that was NOT sealed)
  8. Ensure ammunition is moisture free when needed (that’s about the only problem you can run into)
  9. Contain items that may melt in extreme heat such as candles or petroleum jelly (if not properly contained in a jar but as part of a makeshift fire starter, for example)
  10. Prevent alkaline battery leakage onto other gear should something bad happen or even due to exposure to extreme heat
  11. Contain small/similar items that could easily be lost or separated–e.g., small needles, safety pins, etc–if they’re not contained in something else
  12. Store toiletries to prevent moisture contamination
  13. Preserve important documents, photos, identification, etc (realize that if information needs to be updated regularly then this could be a pain to reseal each time)
  14. Save a tasty treat for later, especially if you tricked your kids on Halloween (this is perhaps the BEST reason to use a foodsaver!)
  15. Make small pouches of dry food or trail mix, for example, for bug out or hiking use, similar to meals in a jar but “virtually” indestructible
  16. Save “unexpected” items in bulk such as seasonings, hot chocolate, seeds (anything sealed in a mason jar should be nearly impervious to both oxygen and moisture intrusion)
  17. Make meals in a jar from an assortment of freeze dried foods (this is a great idea but will require a significant investment in foods before becoming feasible)

I’d imagine there’s quite a number of additional ways you can mix and match foodsaver rolls, bags, and mason jars to further your preparedness. What say you?

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Comments

17 responses to “17 Great Ways to Use Your Foodsaver for Preparedness”

  1. oh! this is the what I look for a long time, often use FoodSaver Vacuum Sealer but not pay attention.thank you!

  2. Thank you very much for your information. I appreciate it

  3. Patricia Davis

    Hi, first of all i just love this blog. so glad i skipped up on it. but i have an important question? i hope someone may have an answer. my husband and i are both disabled and he is a retired 18 year army vet , because of his medical reasons. the main concern is he is a diabetic. and takes shots. he gets all his insulin from the VA and they send him so much that he has a great supply of it. the only problem is that it expires. any solutions on this would be great. and i would like to also add for the blog . i have been smoking meat like hamburger patties, steaks, fish, ex: i save energy and money by using a home made grill pit with cinder blocks and hickory wood chips. then i double seal them in my vacuum bags. with meat this is great and saves space while packing to bug out. the double bagging the first is a clear seal bag and the second is a rennals foil color bag. i make my own bags lots cheaper and the color bags keeps the sun and heat away. and you can use a shop vac to such out the air and use a candle or lighter to heat seal the bag while the vac is still sucking. it works great.

    1. David Graeme Smith

      I use a set of ceramic hair straighteners to reseal bags of frozen produce from my freezer, I’ve also used it to heat seal mylar bags that go in my “hiking packs”. The best thing about using the hair straighteners is that they can give a semi professional seal an inch deep with enough space to use a hole punch to make organising with zip ties easier than using duct tape.

  4. Seeme to me that if you were preparing a weapon for long term storage, you could slide it into the bag, add some machine oil, then vacuum seal it prior to storage.

    1. That might work but with sharp edges you may well find the bag being punctured or maybe worn away if it rubs against something else, but that’s a good suggestion. Thanks.

  5. Vacuum sealing is great but can sometimes be way more work then needed: http://www.bugoutshop.com/what-is-in-most-bug-out-bags/

  6. colleen

    I took the tube out of a roll of toilet paper and sealed it with my food saver. Comes out pretty flat to fit in Bob.

  7. try dry ice

    I like the dry ice idea. Its nothing but CO2. Author is correct, 3 things that will ruin anything, moisture, oxygen and light.

    So put a block of dry ice in the bottom of your container, put you items in, seal it up, and let the dry ice melt. It’ll fill the container with solid CO2. Burp your container as it swells. Items are preserved in a solid CO2 environment, no oxygen, no rot.

  8. Brick

    Be careful vacuum sealing ammo, especilally if they are reloads.
    See: http://survivalblog.com/letter-vacuum-sealing-ammo/

    1. Thank you. I wasn’t aware of that.

  9. Thank you very much for the information, and responding so quickly, I appreciate it.

  10. I seriously need Dr thought about using it to extend the life of my medications, which are numerous, I should have though, thanks for reminding me. How much longer does their effectiveness last? They

    1. I don’t know how much longer they may last. In general, I’ve seen doctors and even the military suggest that the efficacy of most dry medications to long outlast their best by dates. Sealing them in mylar bags will both reduce oxygen and moisture which are the two biggest enemies to most anything lasting longer. Keep out of the light and in a relatively cool place too. Practice FIFO (first in first out) by labeling your meds and you’ve done the best you can do to keep your meds in good shape for emergencies and more.

      1. Patricia Davis

        Hi, first of all i just love this blog. so glad i skipped up on it. but i have an important question? i hope someone may have an answer. my husband and i are both disabled and he is a retired 18 year army vet , because of his medical reasons. the main concern is he is a diabetic. and takes shots. he gets all his insulin from the VA and they send him so much that he has a great supply of it. the only problem is that it expires. any solutions on this would be great. and i would like to also add for the blog . i have been smoking meat like hamburger patties, steaks, fish, ex: i save energy and money by using a home made grill pit with cinder blocks and hickory wood chips. then i double seal them in my vacuum bags. with meat this is great and saves space while packing to bug out. the double bagging the first is a clear seal bag and the second is a rennals foil color bag. i make my own bags lots cheaper and the color bags keeps the sun and heat away. and you can use a shop vac to such out the air and use a candle or lighter to heat seal the bag while the vac is still sucking. it works great.

        1. Glad to hear you’re putting away meat and it’s working well for you… sounds like you’ve got a good system going. As for your concerns about storing insulin, that’s a tough one. I know the Alton’s have several good articles on the topic, here’s the last of a four parter (you can find links to the previous three in this one) that deals specifically with your concern:
          http://www.doomandbloom.net/diabetes-and-survival-part-4-treatment/ and another that may be of interest: http://www.doomandbloom.net/the-formula-for-making-insulin/

          You might also check out The Patriot Nurse’s channel on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/user/ThePatriotNurse as I know she’s covered this topic in the past as well; here’s a specific search query on “insulin” for her channel if you prefer: https://www.youtube.com/user/ThePatriotNurse/search?query=insulin

          Hope that helps.

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