I agree, for Seneca the pails work great, for me, the pails work great. What works well for one person does not mean it will work for you. As always, do your own research, talk with others, and maybe give the different methods a try before going hog wild. New jars with necessary good, flat, undamaged seal areas will cost more than an old flat iron for sealing the bags. If you buy used jars, check the top of each jar carefully for nick, cracks or chips, the lid won't seal on these. But my use of nitrogen in packaging (like commercial establishments but not necessary) costs extra. Jars are more susceptible to breakage if mishandled or in an earthquake, but can be capped up after opening and tossing in a new oxygen absorber will start the process all over again, not so with bags. The 5 gallon pails protect my bags for normal handling and they are easy to care. For my purposes, I don't care about cubing out a space to max. Since I buy new lids to use on the pail I get from a bakery (free to $0.50 each, lids $2), they are air and water tight and could be buried, stored outside, etc. Talking to my sister (experienced with my mother's canning) try not to go over 3 high for quarts, 5 high for pints and 7 high for half pints with thin plywood between each layer. Over the years she has had some come unsealed because of the weight. One year she had a bottom jar break from too much weight and the entire stack of 3 high, 3 deep and 6 wide came crashing down. She also warns about using old salad dressing quart jars because while they seal ok, they are not as strong as mason canning jars and seem a little more prone to cracking. Ok to use if not stacking. Since basement storage is usually a bit damp, she doesn't store jars in cardboard boxes because they eventually give way too.
The following is a quote from
http://www.usaemergencysupply.com where I buy my supplies.
"In food storage, particularly for the long term, Mylar is commonly found as a laminate with Mylar as the top layer, a very thin aluminum foil in the middle and one or more other types of plastic films on the bottom acting as sealant plies. This laminate combination possesses a
high resistance to the passage of oxygen, carbon dioxide, nitrogen, other gasses and water vapor and is what makes it valuable for long term (15 -25 year) packaging with oxygen absorbers. The slight amount of oxygen capable of diffusing thru the bag would be absorbed by the oxygen absorber. Commercial packaging companies usually nitrogen purge the bags prior to sealing so as to extend the life of the oxygen absorber without increasing the size and therefore the cost of packaging. Unfortunately, it has a poor puncture resistance so it must be used as an interior liner for more puncture resistant containers rather than as a stand-alone package."
