Moxie,
 
Here is what I do to keep my fuzzies' food fresh.  I am lucky enough to
have two good ferret friends and we buy two or three varieties of ferret
food and share it between us - keeps the cost down 'cause we buy larger
bags and it enables us to try different foods for our ferrets when they
come out.  The other thing we do is to freeze the food and just take out
small enough quantities to mix up a "weekly" container, which I always keep
in the fridge.  The frozen ferret food more or less stays free flow and
thaws out very quickly once it comes out of the freezer.  Make sure (as
you would with your own food) to exclude as much air as you can before you
freeze it - we normally transfer it to reusable freezer bags, which makes
it easier to use and store.
 
Even if you don't have folks you can split food with, freezing the smallest
bags you can get and just keeping smaller quantities on hand will help to
keep your food fresher and make it last longer.  If you don't have enough
freezer room for a bag, try and find a friend who can stash a bag in a
chest freezer - you may be doing them a favour as it costs less to run a
full freezer than an empty one!  If your bags are well sealed and labeled
it shouldn't give anyone a problem with storing hooman food along side
fuzzy food in the freezer.
 
The problem with making food available in smaller bags is it costs more
that way, (packaging adds a lot to the cost whatever the size of the bag),
and we have already had lots of posts re the rising cost of ferret food!
 
Hope this helps.
 
Jan, 'Nella, Hoots, Zachary and Cirque
[Posted in FML issue 3460]