Dry Pack Canning

So what is it?  Dry Pack Canning (cold) is just another method of storing foods for significantly longer periods.    As the name suggests, however, the items you preserve must contain little or no moisture to begin with.   A few examples would include unsweetened cereals like Cheerios,  pasta, powdered milk, sugar, wheat, rice, and nuts.   This is not an exhaustive list, but these generally work very well and will provide much longer shelf life than normal. Storage times vary depending on which food type you are canning, room temperature, etc.

Here's a few things I did over the winter...

 

I simply put the dry goods into a canning jar, added an oxygen packet (can be purchased on the internet in several places), and screwed on the heated insert and ring.  Inserts heated in water must be dried with a towel before putting them onto a jar containing dry goods.  Some prefer not to heat the inserts...  that is okay too, but your lids might take awhile longer to seal, and my experience is I get more lids that don't seal.  Another thing to be aware of with this method is that the lids seal over time.  Mine took anywhere from 1/2 hr to as much as 10+ hrs. to seal.  Once sealed, store your jars in a dark, cool place.  Cooler temperatures yield longer shelf life.