Food storage pouch sealer. Dry pack "canning" at home.

Our stake used to seem kind of disorganized about using the local dry-pack cannery at the local LDS storehouse. Or, maybe it just seemed that way because the women handle it in Relief Society and the information and announcements never make it to Elders Quorum.

(Update, June 2008: The ward I'm in now is moving strong on "home storage" and "provident living". Things are getting more organized, and information is getting out to the whole ward, including the Elders Quorum. The whole church is putting more emphasize on home food storage, making it a priority.)

I ended up buying my own dry pack foil pouches, oxygen packets, and pouch sealer at www.ldscatalog.com.

There are practical restrictions on stuff you can dry-pack, so get a list from your local cannery or your ward's cannery rep. Products packaged in the pouches should be low in moisture and oil content. Some stuff won't keep very long. You can't/shouldn't dry-pack brown rice or whole wheat flour for instance. (Whole wheat kernals, yes; whole wheat flour, no.) An oxygen absorber packet should be used in each pouch for all products except sugar.

Here's a list of stuff you shouldn't dry-can long term. (link updated Feb 2010)

After you open a package of oxy-absorber packets, you need to keep it closed with some kind of clip, taking out only a few at a time. They sell a clip, but I can't find it right now. At the end of your canning session, put all unused oxy packs into their own foil pouch and seal them. Putting them back in the plastic container and putting a clip over them isn't enough.

What does this have to do with the rest of my blog? I have to do something with all the beans, rice, and noodles that I buy at ethnic groceries.