DIY Life

We've all seen those vacuum sealers on the infomercials. Sure, they might be handy, but at those prices you might as well just buy the minimum amount of food and not worry about food storage. But thanks to the DIY imagination of Eric Foreman, you can make your own vacuum sealer for about $30!

The parts list is pretty simple:

1. A brake bleeder / vacuum pump
2. A Tila FoodSaver Mason Jar adapter
3. MasonJars with lids
   

Obviously this won't allow you to leave out spoilable foods, but it's a great way to keep other things fresh. Use it to store things like tea, your expensive coffee beans, pasta, and bulk spices. And if the survivalists are right, this will turn out to be a very handy contraption to have!

[Via instructables.com]

Sometimes I avoid using the blender for smaller tasks because I dread cleaning it. Next time you whip up your favorite peanut butter hummus recipe (ok, my favorite recipe, but try it and I'm sure you'll love it too!), you can blend it straight into the jar.

Our friends at slashfood pointed us to this tip by Elise, suggesting that most blenders can be used with a standard canning jar. Apparently this used to be a common way to blend spices and other small quantity mixtures. 40 years ago new blenders even came with a canning jar and a collection of recipes. I didn't know that this was ever the case, so the tip is inventive genius to me.

Regular size mason jars will fit perfectly onto most blender bases. Simply blend your mixes, unscrew the jar, and store it as is. If you accidently break the carafe, you don't have to run out and get a whole new blender either, just use canning jars for all your blending needs. Brilliant, pure brilliance.