# Long term spaghetti storage



## afreeradical

How would you store your spaghetti long term? I use mason jars for the smaller pasta, but the spaghetti doesn't fit and I don't want to break it up. I have a spaghetti jar with a rubber seal for immediate use. Ideally I'd like to do 3-4 boxes of spaghetti together instead of bulk storage. I need a creative solution. Vacuum bags?


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## lotsoflead

afreeradical said:


> How would you store your spaghetti long term? I use mason jars for the smaller pasta, but the spaghetti doesn't fit and I don't want to break it up. I have a spaghetti jar with a rubber seal for immediate use. Ideally I'd like to do 3-4 boxes of spaghetti together instead of bulk storage. I need a creative solution. Vacuum bags?


 I have a couple hundred jars of different pastas stored in vac sealed mason jars. I didn't want to break the spaghetti either, but there's no other way for long term unless you put like 25 pounds on end in a 2 gal pail with mylar and o2 absorbers. besides it gets broke when cooked or ate.


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## Clarice

I have mine stored in 1/2 gal. jars. Can never have too much pasta.


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## Emerald

Have you tried the tricolored spaghetti yet? it was on sale a few weeks back and I had coupons so I ended up getting a few boxes for free! If I was going to store it for longer than say a year or so I would just take it out of the box and vac-pack it, or vac-pack it into the 1/2 gallon masons.


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## NaeKid

I buy my pasta in the plastic-bags instead of in boxes. I can shape the factory package when stuffing into buckets for storage easily enough. I was at Walmart a couple weeks ago and was able to purchase large packages of pasta for $1 per pack ... walked over to the sauces aisle and they had the sauces (store-brand) for dirt-cheap as well, so I snagged a pile of them too.

My buckets are all gamma-seal lidded for easy access.


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## lotsoflead

Emerald said:


> Have you tried the tricolored spaghetti yet? it was on sale a few weeks back and I had coupons so I ended up getting a few boxes for free! If I was going to store it for longer than say a year or so I would just take it out of the box and vac-pack it, or vac-pack it into the 1/2 gallon masons.


we have some tri colored pasta also, but I read somewhere a few yrs ago that it wouldn't store long term like the regulars pasta. I think it is spinach and tomato flavored


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## GroovyMike

I leave it in the original containers and so long as it is kept dry and rodent free (in my basement) it is good to go for several years.


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## afreeradical

Emerald said:


> Have you tried the tricolored spaghetti yet? it was on sale a few weeks back and I had coupons so I ended up getting a few boxes for free! If I was going to store it for longer than say a year or so I would just take it out of the box and vac-pack it, or vac-pack it into the 1/2 gallon masons.


I have not tried the tricolored spaghetti. I will check it out. I love other tricolored pastas.

What would you recommend as far as buying a vacuum sealer? My mother in law has a foodsaver, I'm not sure of the size. What would be a good make, model and size for someone who wanted to use it for small long term storage and mason jar vacuum sealing?


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## afreeradical

GroovyMike said:


> I leave it in the original containers and so long as it is kept dry and rodent free (in my basement) it is good to go for several years.


I have a dirt cellar that gets a little damp in the spring. I was afraid the musty stink might infiltrate the pasta. What do you use for a container to keep the rodents out?


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## afreeradical

lotsoflead said:


> I have a couple hundred jars of different pastas stored in vac sealed mason jars. I didn't want to break the spaghetti either, but there's no other way for long term unless you put like 25 pounds on end in a 2 gal pail with mylar and o2 absorbers. besides it gets broke when cooked or ate.


What do you use for a vacuum sealer(make model)?


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## The_Blob

afreeradical said:


> I have a dirt cellar that gets a little damp in the spring. I was afraid the musty stink might infiltrate the pasta. What do you use for a container to keep the rodents out?


I use a CAT to keep the rodents at bay, it works pretty good!


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## The_Blob

Emerald said:


> Have you tried the tricolored spaghetti yet? it was on sale a few weeks back and I had coupons so I ended up getting a few boxes for free! If I was going to store it for longer than say a year or so I would just take it out of the box and vac-pack it, or vac-pack it into the 1/2 gallon masons.


doesn't it have a much shorter shelf-life? :dunno:


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## OldCootHillbilly

I vac seal mine inta 1 gallon mylar bags. I use a foodsaver V2840.

The vac sealed mylar bags be nearly as good a can. Then they go inta 5 gallon buckets er good totes.


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## Emerald

The_Blob said:


> doesn't it have a much shorter shelf-life? :dunno:


Don't know--we will probably eat it all up and just put the plain stuff back for storage.


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## lotsoflead

afreeradical said:


> What do you use for a vacuum sealer(make model)?


foodsavor V2420 with the jar adapters


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## BadgeBunny

Goodness ... ya'll make me feel so lazy sometimes.

I buy my spagetti and elbow macaroni and noodles and such in bulk. The original packaging gets marked with a sharpie with the expiration date first/the buy date second.

I have a big sterlite container (dark colored) labelled for each type of pasta. In the tub it goes. That container is stored in a room that stays dark, cool and dry ... average temp is a little below 60 but usually closer to 55. There are several rodent traps and roach/bug traps along the perimeter of the room but I can't tell you the last time I caught anything except a spider here and there. 

Every once in a while (every quarter actually) I open them up and make sure they are still bug free and that all the noodles are actually rotated around with oldest to the front, newest to the back (because I am bad about just tossing stuff where it goes when it comes to the stuff in those containers).

Also ... though some have told me that it is a waste of shelf space NONE of my containers are on the floor. Just a peeve of mine. Stuff gets on the floor and next thing you know you are stacking stuff up on top of it ... you get the picture.

We are eating noodles that are 3 years past the expiration date that are fine.


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## goshengirl

BadgeBunny said:


> We are eating noodles that are 3 years past the expiration date that are fine.


I could be wrong, but I think pasta expiration dates are usually bogus.


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## Nadja

I buy lots and lots of sketti and put it in vacum sealed bags. If you want, go on the net, and look around for the Food Saver V3460 I got mine on sale and with shipping and everything to my door, came to about $70.00. Not many bags, but found them on ebay in bulk , resturant supply for really cheap. Three 50' rolls shipped for around $50.00. After it is vacum packed, I then put it in small tubs which will soon be stored under the house on pallets. No smell, no problem with rats.


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## BadgeBunny

goshengirl said:


> I could be wrong, but I think pasta expiration dates are usually bogus.


 They are ALL wrong if you ask me ...  Can you imagine what kind of money people throw out because they trust the expiration dates?? 

I can't bring myself to waste a lot of money on repackaging something that will be just fine the way it came home with me for a long, long time.

I don't repackage ANYTHING I intend to use within 3 or 4 years. Anything I want to keep longer than that I (like FD or bulk stuff) I just buy already packaged from long term storage places ... like ee ...

Guess I am just lazy. I tried the repackaging thing for a while but it was just a royal PITA to me. Wait, except for meat ... I repackage whatever is gonna be in the freezer for a while into smaller packages that we can use one at a time. But I tend to buy that canned meat for LTS anything in the freezer is only supposed to last not more than year or so.


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## The_Blob

BadgeBunny said:


> ... I tend to buy that canned meat for LTS anything in the freezer is only supposed to last not more than year or so.


uh oh... 

I just ate frozen venison stew with meat from... 2005! :sssh:


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## OldCootHillbilly

Use by dates be totally unreliable. I get my oatmeal from a feller at work who's wife works fer the cereal company. Ya get a name brand with this use by date er the store brand what has a much shorter use by date. The kicker, it all be the same oatmeal put in a differently labeled container!


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## Emerald

The_Blob said:


> doesn't it have a much shorter shelf-life? :dunno:


I did go and check the boxes and they have a nice long use by date on them of Dec. 13/13 so if I vac pack some it should last far longer. And it is so good that I can taste the different flavors of tomato, carrot and spinach in the pasta.


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## Emerald

The_Blob said:


> uh oh...
> 
> I just ate frozen venison stew with meat from... 2005! :sssh:


I've just had a few weeks ago some sweet corn that was vac-packed in (I think it was 06) that was dug out of the bottom of the big freezer when we defrosted and cleaned it and it tasted fine, in fact almost as good as the stuff that was frozen this last summer- the only difference I could taste was it had a bit of "corn husky" flavor probably from the few silks that were in there, I guess I ought to clean it a bit better. But the flavor was still quite sweet.
My food saver is a 24something number too that was bought at Sam's club for $128 it came with 3 canisters and 4 rolls of stuff.. The best money spent ever. I just only had problems with it not creating a vacuum this last summer and it was the gaskets getting worn and not holding the seal tight while it tried to pull a vacuum, I got new gasket thru the company(_they ended up being free as there was some kind of computer glitch and they took money out of the debit card and then put it back and then told me to not worry the parts were free! Whoot!)_ with the new gaskets in it works like brand spanking new again. I might save a bit of cash and get a couple more sets and the small mouth mason jar sealer too.


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## UncleJoe

The_Blob said:


> uh oh...
> 
> I just ate frozen venison stew with meat from... 2005! :sssh:


Where would you like us to send flowers for the funeral? 

I'm another one for leaving pasta in it's original packaging and storing it in sealed buckets. I do put a little DE in the bottom of the bucket just in case a bug or two slipped in when I wasn't looking.


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## JayJay

OldCootHillbilly said:


> Use by dates be totally unreliable. I get my oatmeal from a feller at work who's wife works fer the cereal company. Ya get a name brand with this use by date er the store brand what has a much shorter use by date. The kicker, it all be the same oatmeal put in a differently labeled container!


My Mom worked for 17 years in a plant manufacturing kitchen appliances...be careful swearing by one brand--Mom just stuck the identifier they wanted that day--might be White...Electrolux...Whirlpool????
Same appliance; different BRAND NAME.


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## Emerald

JayJay said:


> My Mom worked for 17 years in a plant manufacturing kitchen appliances...be careful swearing by one brand--Mom just stuck the identifier they wanted that day--might be White...Electrolux...Whirlpool????
> Same appliance; different BRAND NAME.


:ranton:HAH! I learned that one early on! My parents worked for that company for over 35 years and those dirty nasty low life potlickers up and closed the company, put over 3000 people out of work and moved their plant to Mexico only to find out(billions of dollars later of course) that they had a hard time keeping employee's for a measly salary closed the plant and then had to spend more to expand the plant down in North Carolina, when they could have just come back and reopened the damn shop they left there rotting! Swedish bastards every damn one of them! I hope they go bankrupt!
Ok :rantoff:


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## JayJay

The plant in Tn. has about 75% Illegal Mexicans...that's why I'm in Ky now!


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## BadgeBunny

JayJay said:


> My Mom worked for 17 years in a plant manufacturing kitchen appliances...be careful swearing by one brand--Mom just stuck the identifier they wanted that day--might be White...Electrolux...Whirlpool????
> Same appliance; different BRAND NAME.


I realize that this has nothing to do with storing spagetti but my dad was a DVM. I learned very, very early on that the meds you can pick up at livestock places is, in many instances, EXACTLY what is prescribed to people at a GREATLY inflated price ...

That and Mycodex with carbaryl (a dog shampoo) in it will take care of head lice better than RidX ever thought about doing it ... And you can afford to wash the kids sheets, clothes and whatever else in it too. My kids only came home from school ONCE with lice. After that, once a week head washing and just doing their laundry with a little along with regular detergent and we NEVER had that problem again. :congrat: Can't use it on cats though ... it's toxic to them.


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## BillM

*Head Lice*



BadgeBunny said:


> I realize that this has nothing to do with storing spagetti but my dad was a DVM. I learned very, very early on that the meds you can pick up at livestock places is, in many instances, EXACTLY what is prescribed to people at a GREATLY inflated price ...
> 
> That and Mycodex with carbaryl (a dog shampoo) in it will take care of head lice better than RidX ever thought about doing it ... And you can afford to wash the kids sheets, clothes and whatever else in it too. My kids only came home from school ONCE with lice. After that, once a week head washing and just doing their laundry with a little along with regular detergent and we NEVER had that problem again. :congrat: Can't use it on cats though ... it's toxic to them.


My wife and daughter in law work for the school system. 
My daughter in law was trained to check children for head lice.
After finding them on three children from the same famiely twice and calling in the parents, the mother stated ,

" I'm gettin tired of being called down here to school over this and I know how to solve the problem. I'll just dye their hair black."

:scratch


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## Halyna

I bought lots of pastas in bulk for long term food storage. I measured out how much I would need per meal for my family and packed that amount in ziplock bags. My plan was to put a good supply of these bags into the large Mylar bags and seal up. 
I bought a case of hand warmers to use as O2 absorbers. Would you recommend a hand warmer in each ziplock bag or sever into the Mylar bag?


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## stayingthegame

*lice*

when head lice were going around my kids school i used flee shampoo after I saw it had the same stuff as ridx. was a hell of a lot cheaper too. used it once a week for a couple of weeks and then once a month or two for the rest of the year. my DD had hair so thick that we spent hours trying to comb it to get rid of the nits. some one told me that the ridx killed most of the nits and as they dried up they would fall off. after that I didn't comb her hair just watched for a day or two to see if the lice hatched, they didn't.


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## stayingthegame

can you use a food saver to seal Mylar bags? how do you seal the large ones for the 5 gal buckets?


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