I was a packaging and preserving specialist in the Air Force. We used to vacuum seal many different types of items including weapons in mylar. The technique we would use is after making the final seal we would cut off a corner, vacuum out the air with a tube attachment we had, pull out the vacuum tube, immediately blocking the corner with our fingers to prevent the air from re-entering and then quickly resealing the corner.
I saw you stored weapons in mylar... I've been looking for a mylar bag to store an AR... any idea where to get the bags? (I have a friend who was a weapons inspector in the AF who suggested the same thing)
A couple of questions: 1) Will pancake mix or Bisquik store well in Mylar with O2 absorbers? 2) I have started dehydrating mushrooms and celery and hope to have success with carrots and a few other vegetables. Can these be mixed together and stored in Mylar bags or do they need to be stored separately? You two are such calm, fun and helpful teachers! 🥰
May I suggest finding a scratch recipe and storing the separate ingredients. Flour, sugar, baking powder, dried milk, salt, and oil are all able to be stored long term separately. I haven’t tried to find dehydrated eggs yet or know the shelf life, but I’m sure they’re out there if you don’t have chickens or live in farm country.
@@KyleKalevramy thing with storing them separately is that to make soup for example, I’d have to open up 6 bags for a bit in each vs. 1 bag of mixed veggies for soup mix. Thoughts? Yes, you can buy powdered eggs. I literally just watched a video before this to learn how to dehydrate them at home & make powdered.
When his wife said "you can store a weapon in here with desiccant packets" can't decide if the look he gave her was more "I don't even know who you are anymore!" Or "and this is why I freaking love the heck out of this woman. Just listen to this rambo talk!"
Tip: Be careful sealing up anything hard with 'sharp' edges, like certain types of pasta. As the oxygen is absorbed and the mylar bag contracts around your food, any sharp, pointy bits can pierce the bag and let in air again, making the whole exercise pointless. Try something like a layer of kitchen paper or similar just to help prevent anything poking through the bag.
We are using foodsaver to vac seal some smaller bags of wheat and other things and then putting in 5 gal buckets. Just ordered some Wallaby mylar bags you recommended to do gallon bags of hard red wheat that came in 25 lb bag. Thank you for all your fun-to-watch, informative videos. Take care and be well.
I watched another video where small strips of clean FoodSaver bags (the "bumpy" side) were placed in each corner of a regular mylar bag, overhanging a bit, and vacuum sealed; I plan to do that with some of my foods. 🙂
Saw an air force comment here. As an Ex navy, current DOD who uses vacuumed mylar for explosives almost weekly, here is what you do. Use a hair iron to seal 90% of the bag, leave just enough for your vacuum cleaner hose to fit. Use a piece of cloth to cover it, we use cheese cloth, and stick that sucker in there. Start it up and shake the bag around to ensure you get that sucker sucked. When it's as collapsed as it's gonna get use the iron to seal as close to the hose as you can and quickly pull the vacuum out while sealing the hole. If done correctly, you have a vacuum/heat seal bag. If you suck at that. you can just pull the vacuum back as much as possible while still being in the bag and just use the iron to seal a couple inches deeper, in front of the vacuum, instead.
I want to use the large bas for buckets or totes but I am 66 and realize I don't lift 50 lb bags as easily as I used to. So I'm getting the smaller bags. Something for others to think about if this is long term storage how easily can you handle it later in life. Thanks for your videos I've learned a lot.
You can use those vacuum seal storage/space saving bags for things like 1st aid, fire starting stuff or anything else you want to stay dry…like spare clothes
Q1 Salt and sugar - how much longer will they store in a mylar bag (without oxygen absorbers)? Q2 Can you store antibiotics sealed in their original plastic jars but with an oxygen absorber in the mylar bag? Your videos really inspire me to get of my behind and do some more packing btw.
Regarding the antibiotics: I think this would be the best way to store them long term. Oxygen will destroy nearly anything over time. But I think that vac sealing them first in a bag might make them last a little longer. The worse case scenario is that 20 years from now after SHTF they just don't work because of degradation and you have to rely on "natural" stuff. Keep some honey around! The real honey that granulates. Not the adulterated stuff with corn syrup.
New to prepping. Thank you for sharing your knowledge with us. We bought a 28 lb White Granulated Sugar from Auguson Farms it’s in a white plastic bucket. On the label it says, “Contains an oxygen absorber. Discard immediately upon opening.” Watching this video I’ve learned this is a big No! No! because the O2 absorber will harden the sugar like a brick. Why would Auguson do that. Should we take the O2 absorber out? But then if we do will we have to repackage it again? Thanks for all that you do!
@@TheProvidentPrepper Thanks for replying, we’ve called Auguson and waiting for a call back for an explanation. We can hear the loose sugar inside the bucket & the packing date label says November 29, 2021.
@@TheProvidentPrepper I had the first laser "surgery" to kill nerves last week. It appears that my next surgery will be to insert a "shock absorber" between L4 and L5.
@@TheProvidentPrepper My family, wife, son, her parents and grandmother, spend a lot of time during air strikes in a small basement and during very intense situations in a root cellar out in the garden area. Our adult son is part of a group that crawls out into areas where battles have stopped to pull wounded soldiers to safety and to retrieve those no longer alive. Food and water is scarce and finally day before yesterday they were able to visit a market to do some restocking. Thank you for praying!
Great content! So interesting and infornative! Thank you. Two questions please. 1. How can foods with less than 10% moisture be easily identified by the novice prepper? 2. Again, novice prepper question - when packed and sealed with h2O absorbers, how should ready to store mylar packages look? ... like vacuumed food saver packages; or with noticeably visible and/or puffiness or pinchableness, etc.? i am extremely confused about all the different opinions in the videos I've watched and articles I've read on this matter. Thank you so much for your assistance. I hope you and your family members are all well. God bless you all. Enjoy the rest of your week.
I would also like to know the answer to #1. For #2, you may see some shrinkage but you will see puffiness in most. The oxygen absorbers do not remove all of the air, they only remove oxygen.
A good way to buy and store spices and herbs is in bulk bags and store in mylar bags (sometimes they come in a mylar when buying in bulk) or canning jars with oxygen absorbers. It’s so much more cost affective, especially if you want organic. Little jars are so much more expensive per ounce.
I love your content! I take an extra step for all glass containers and I have not seen anyone else do it. I use shrink wrap to cover the lids and about 1/3 down the containers. I noticed many glass containers at the store use at least a shrink wrap around the lid. I thought that was an excellent idea so I started to do it. It is an extra step for storing food but I feel much more comfortable using it to help prolong shelf life. It will help keep moisture out and protect the lids from corrosion. Since I am storing food to last years, I feel this can only help add extra protection. Shrink wrap pouches come in may sizes and both the pouches and a heat gun is very affordable. What do you think?
I do something similar. For any repurposed food jars I put a couple layers of cling wrap over the mouth of the jar before screwing on the lid. I've used beans and pasta after having been stored for several years this way and they were as good as ever
The only question that I have not heard is how much O2 absorbers do you put in potato flakes, oats, flour, corn masa flour, NON Dry Fat Milk, cocoa, spices, sugar, salt corn meal mylar bags? Basically everything! Do you put an amount of 50, 100, 500 or 1,000 oxygen absorbers? Thank you for what you do for the community! I enjoy your informative channel and how sweet the both of you are.
It's my understanding that it depends on the size of the bag you use. I saw this on a chart somewhere & wrote it down: 1 pint-100 cc; 1 quart-200 cc; 2 litre-300 cc; 1 gallon-500 cc; 5 gallon-2000 cc.
Thank you so much! This was awesome so nice that you respind not only to me but to other followers. Your content is ao yseful and presented in a friendly manner.
Good summary on mylar bags. Now I have to go check my baking soda packages to see if I used an OA. I would suggest people consider using parboiled white rice, rather than polished white rice as the polishing grinds off all the food value.
Don’t know if rice that’s parboiled is a long term keeper. Basmati white rice is supposed to be best long term kind. But having quick cooking or already cooked shelf stable rice in microwave containers is good to have. In case electricity goes out you can eat it right from the containers. 👍🏻
@@catfishm.1361 Parboiled is long term keeper. My understanding is you can get parboiled Basmati, but most here seems to long grain rice. Parboiled does also get ride of the oils. It uses water and a soak -- the tradition method (like Uncle Ben's). Polished uses sand to grind the kernel down.
seconding what Dan B said about watching out for sharp edges. whether vacuum sealing or oxygen absorbers (or just in a mylar bag) sharp edges can poke through plastic or mylar pretty fast!
Kinda blown away that you can store multiple foods in one big mylar bag. I like this idea because I can now create almost an all in one bag of different foods to grab and go instead of opening all different types of foods at once.
Thank you for this great video! I was wondering about whether it would be possible to store garden seeds in mylar bags, either with or without an oxygen absorber. I know that there are ancient wheat berries that have managed to sprout after having been stored for ages, but how about storing other 'food to be' for the long term?
Καλημέρα σας. Ο καλύτερος τρόπος για να έχουμε φρέσκους και υγιείς σπόρους είναι να φυτεύουμε και να κραταμε κάθε χρόνο για τον επόμενο! Αν έχετε κήπο θα ήταν πολύ ωραίο να το κάνετε. Χαιρετισμούς από την Ελλάδα!
@@ΑΝΝΑΕΞΑΡΧΑΚΟΥ Thank you for your comment! I agree, having fresh seeds every year would be best. Unfortunately I have had a few failures which caused me to lose seeds (blight in tomatoes and such) so it would be nice to be able to keep some seeds for a longer time.
I have prepped since mid 80s and I have never needed to use mylar bags or absorbers for food . Grain mills store grains , beans and more in open top bins for over 30 years sometimes before selling . I have just vacumed sealed in in sizes i need and vacuumed . I have never had a issue in over 40 years . Beans , grains and much more will last over 35-40 without mylar bag or oxygen absorber . If they can stay good in open gran mills , they would be fine without mylar or oxygen absorber .
QUESTION 🙋♀️ What do you recommend to use to prevent pasta from poking the Mylar bags? I have a lot of pasta that I’m getting ready to store in Wallaby 7 mil. Bags Penne Bow tie Spaghetti Veggie Rotini Elbow large and small
I'm in UK, so I'm not sure if you get these in USA. Our Mushrooms come in a little plastic tub, that's covered in Cling film. I wash them out, thoroughly dry them, & put the Pasta in them, then I vaccuum seal them, they don't poke through. It might work with Mylar too. 👍
This was a very informative video. Thanks for the list of items. It’s very helpful. I was wondering if I need to freeze the food ahead of time before storing them in the Mylar bags?
oh yes! Eggs, cheese, spaghetti, fruits, vegetables, some things you want to freeze before you place in freeze dryer, actually I always freeze it, you can freeze dry anything that does not have high fat content, then stick it in a mylar bag with an oxtgen asorber, I have been sticking some in suitcases to protect from rodents because can't use buckets for everything
Rose Red Homestead show how to vacuum seal with mylar bags. She cuts off part of the tips of her food saver bags and puts one little one on each side of the top part of the mylar bag to create a channel and then vacuum seals. She has this particular video in her dehydrating videos playlist. So, find that one and watch it to see if that’s what you want to do.
Thanks for this list. Do you have lists for: Uses of silica gel packs / recommended for vacuum sealer bags / recommended canning jars vacuum sealing. I have my year's worth of preparations but am now investing in storing long term that I am not rotating through in a year. Love from London, Ontario, Canada.
I enjoyed this video! What would the expected shelf life of Quinoa be in a mylar bag sealed correctly with an appropriate oxygen obsorber? 10 years? 20 years?
A few months back I upgraded from a vacuum sealer to a chamber vac - personally I feel it was worth the moola - and it vacuum seals mylar amazingly well - and the plastic bags are so much cheaper than the food saver style bags/rolls
@@berlygirl123 i don't...as you know you can set the pressure according to the food so it doesn't get squashed if its soft. Yesterday I vacuum Shepard pie but had put the tray in the fridge to hardened it up n vacuum at 50 amd it didn't squash. I even vacuum seal pint jars in mine. What I have done before is I will add a moisture pack to certain foods as I do not have ideal storage
@@cindyjohnson5242 i have the AvidArmour USV32....I can do pint jars by lying them down... my friend bought a chamber vacuum from Vacmaster and he can do both pints and quarts....along with bigger bags. But they're twice as much and more industrial.
Almost everything you listed i make in soup bags. I use all the dry goods and make 2500 calorie and 10,000 calorie soup mixes. But I vacuum seal them with an O2 absorber. I have enough food in my basement for my family for 20 years or so. It is very time consuming lol, but you never know.
QUESTION 🙋♀️ I have gotten a great deal on 50 - 1 pound bags of rice. I would like to leave the rice in the 1 pound bags for long term food storage. ???? Could you please tell me how would be the best way to long term store them both ways? Mylar bags? 5 gallon buckets? Any suggestions?
I just thought of another question! 🤔🤣: Are there longer-lasting alternative lid options for mason jars that last longer than the traditional canning lids? I noticed that my most recent purchase only guaranteed 18 months, and I understood that they were supposed to work for up to five years. Are there standard screw-on lids that could be used with oxygen absorbers for long term storage? (I saw a reusable Ball brand lid, but wasn’t sure if it would be a valid alternative.) And would they extend the storage life of the products within, assuming that you stored them without exposure to light and moisture?
The 18 month life is magically a minimum guarantee that they have tested and can recommend. However that is for canning. The best way to have a long term seal in canning jars is to use a food saver attachment to vacuum seal the jar lid by removing the air inside the jar. You can buy attachments that fit regular mouth or wide mouth lids and attach to the vacuum sealer on Amazon
Since corn is mostly a GMO crop and popcorn is NOT, I store popcorn to make cornmeal..it works very well! Can you please give more information on butter in mylar?
I was just going to ask a similar question. I know you can determine the moisture content by weighing something before and after dehydration. But is there possibly a way to "guess" by fat or oil content (or something like that)?
Just store only dry foods, no risk. And anything with oils of any kind are not long term. No oil,no fats including butter fats. Nuts are not long term, instant coffee keeps pretty much forever because the oils are removed. Coffee beans won’t keep.
@@catfishm.1361 Hi. Thanks for sharing that info. Would you know if ground coffee is a candidate for short term in mylar bags?. lets say 3-5 years? . I know coffee beans have lost of oils, but how about once in grounded?. thank you.
White rice- freeze dried vegetables- freeze dried fruit-potato flakes with out allot of fat-. buckwheat- all kinds of beans-chick peas- lentils-what berries- white flour - corn masa flour - corn meal- dried pasta-non fat powered milk - instant coffee- spices- tea-Hershey's cocoa- granulated sugar with no O2 absorber- sugar drink mix with no O2-baking powder no O2- baking soda noO2- salt no O2
chocolate is its own food group according to Keileen. I put moisture absorbers instead of oxygen absorbers in the bags when I store salts and sugars in mylar bags
Thank you for such great information and as always fun to watch. Would you please clarify for me (and maybe others) when you say long term and short term storage life for the food you presented in this video, How long is that?
I love your videos but I always wondered how long these individual food items can really last long term. 2 years, 5 years? Could you point me to a reference maybe?
I simply can't afford a freeze dryer right now but I've been dehydrating fruits and veggies. Will those last in mylar with ox absorbers? Thanks for this info🙏🏻💜👍
Do you have any experience storing whey protein in mylar bags??? Would it extend its shelf life??? Any way that it can be compared to your experience with other foods??? Love the channel 😀 Thanks!!! 😊
Hello, i only just found yr page and im so glad i did ! Im trying to prep for the future and i have a question please. You mentioned to heat seal the mylar bags after fillimg them with yr food stuff. My question is, do you have to keep heat sealing the bag everytime you open it up to ise whats inside it?
Thank you for the mylar bag presentation. Would you be willing to offer your thoughts on storage with devices like Food Saver that uses roll plastic (with or without oxygen absorber packets)? - How does this compare to mylar? - In what food situations/conditions should there be concern about molds?
Foodsaver bags tend to leak, often within year. Mylar bags of decent tbinkness do not, I sometimes do portions in Foodsaver bags (with a small, OA) and put them in bigger mylar bags (tea bags, home grown dried herbs, etc.),
I have been storing in vacuum sealed bags 2 yrs now, Pasta, cornmeal, oats, all types of beans, flour, pancake mix, teas, milos, quik, powdered seasoning, potato flakes, you name it I freeze items, thaw at room temp vacuum seal, without oxygen absorbers. N all items are as if just bought, Now using brown rice i stored in 2020 n 2021..these were frozen , thawed, pour in air tight buckets with bay leaves n silica gel..rice as good as if just bought. And my country is a hot country, I keep it all in Ac room.n fridges..
Would you recommend using mylar bags and oxygen absorbers for short term food storage(months-1 year) provided that the climate is mediterranean or is there a better/ more efficient way for short term storage?
Great tips! As always. In a related question, I just got my freeze dryer this week and I’m already on my 3rd batch.😀 I’m already seeing how much more storage room these Mylar bags take than my dehydrated items, which has been my go-to for years. I’m storing for a large family and seem to be running out of storage space. I would sure be interested in any tips you have for accommodating these bulkier bags, and any other storage tips you have. Thank you! -Natalie
Awesome! Have you seen the price of freeze dried food? You are gonna save a fortune! I'm freeze drying shredded cheese right now-it was 15 bucks for 5lbs of shredded cheese, my grandbabies are gonna have cheese :)
Put beds up on blocks and place mylar bags in some under the bed totes. Or even under the sofa if possible. We had to be creative when living in a small apartment. we made end tables of food storage totes covered with ruffled table clothes. We even took out our waterbed bladder in the late 80s and laid out bags of wheat that had been double bagged in tough plastic and put a mattress topper over the top and slept on it for almost a year. ( I do not recommend, quite lumpy. lol) Then we made a custom bed that was 3 #10 cans tall so that we could keep all that wheat UNDER the bed in those cans. Still got a lot of that wheat. We were young college students and put every tax return into food storage. It turned out to be very advantageous during those lean times.
Thank you so much for this info. on best practices for long-term storage with mylar bags! Can oxygen absorbers be used with long-term storage of peanut butter powder as well as milk powder?
@@TheProvidentPrepper thank you for this advice. The peanut butter powder has a 3 year expiration period per the original packaging, perhaps this is a reasonable storage estimate.
Your videos have help us so much. Thank you! Question: What about yeast to make bread? How is the best way to store yeast and how long does it last? Will Mylar bags keep it fresh longer?
Truly a wonderful video. Question on preserving whey protein powder, I'm not sure of the moisture content but it certainly appears to be preservable. Is it best left in the factory plastic hard containers or mylar bags with/without O2 absorbers? Thanks! I just subscribed!
Great Video...thanks. If I put a bunch of bean bags in a mylar bag, and then take one bag out...can you just reseal it? Or...do you have to eat all the various bean bags that remain in the bean mylar bag?
I just. Received my 25 pounds of red and 25 pounds of white wheat berries. I’ve got gamma lid containers coming from Amazon. I’m going to clean the containers of course, then dump the berries in individual containers. Do I need to put O2 absorbers in the container? I’ll be using up my all purpose flour first, then going into the wheat berries lastly. But something tells me I don’t need O2 absorbers in those gamma lid containers? Yes? No? Thank you for all the information you provided!! I follow your advice always…..Thank you!! Connie from Michigan
@@TheProvidentPrepper It sure did!! Thank you so much!! Mylar bag, 300cc 02absorbers in the Mylar bag, put Mylar bag in gamma buckets, seal the Mylar ( I iron mine) and put gamma lid on. I think I didn’t go in order, but I get it. Thank you again!! ♥️
Hey thanks for the video. I have 1 question. is it better to store the freeze dried coffe in the original glass jar rather than in a mylar bag with oxygen absorber? Im thinking if the shelf life is the same
Could you put a 1kg/2.2lb bag of white rice as is but with a little cut on the rice bag etc directly into a mylar bag with an OA outside the bag of slightly opened bag of rice but inside the mylar bag still rather than just tipping it all into the mylar bag?
I have bought craisins (dried cranberries)and dehydrated blueberries. Would oxygen absorbers in a vacuum sealed mason jar work and would I also need a moisture absorber?
I've seen your video about O2 absorbers and the size needed for glass jars, do you have a video about which size absorbers for certain size mylar bags?
Thank you for all the great information. Questions, is Jasmine Rice a candidate for long term storage (30 yrs) or only regular white rice? And to confirm, we can store granulated sugar in a Mylar bag with an oxygen absorber? I guess other types of sugar like turbinado, raw, monk fruit, demerara, brown and powdered sugar are best left in the original packaging and stored in a plastic bucket? Thanks for all your guidance!
What are your recommendations for storing jerky? Mylar bag? Oxygen absorber? How long will it last? Thank you! New subscriber, love the channel. So much good info!!!
I was told Jerky cannot be stored in mylar bags. It's mosture content is high assuming you are talking about store purchased. The items being placed inside mylar bags should be dry enough to snap. So, no I personally would not run the risk but it's great for short term in original packaging.
thank you very much for your help and time but just to confirm the lentils n all other food storage bag we need cut the edge n then put the oxygen absorbers zen put in mylar bags ???
I don’t understand if the things they mention, like rice, potato flakes, dry beans, etc. are supposed to be opened from their original packaging and dumped into the Mylar bag or do I just keep those things in their bag or box and put it that way into the Mylar bag.
Thank you for all your videos! I cannot find this answer anywhere...can I store risotto in mylar bags with O2 absorbers also? Also, I see where no one recommends storing pearled barley in mylar bags with O2 absorbers...what is the best way to store this then? thank you in advance
I was a packaging and preserving specialist in the Air Force. We used to vacuum seal many different types of items including weapons in mylar. The technique we would use is after making the final seal we would cut off a corner, vacuum out the air with a tube attachment we had, pull out the vacuum tube, immediately blocking the corner with our fingers to prevent the air from re-entering and then quickly resealing the corner.
That is a great idea, thank you for sharing.
huh?
Thank you so much.
Thanks! Exactly how i do it.
I saw you stored weapons in mylar... I've been looking for a mylar bag to store an AR... any idea where to get the bags? (I have a friend who was a weapons inspector in the AF who suggested the same thing)
A couple of questions:
1) Will pancake mix or Bisquik store well in Mylar with O2 absorbers?
2) I have started dehydrating mushrooms and celery and hope to have success with carrots and a few other vegetables. Can these be mixed together and stored in Mylar bags or do they need to be stored separately?
You two are such calm, fun and helpful teachers! 🥰
Please answer!
From what I've read and watched, you need to find pancake mixes without oil or else it'll spoil/go rancid.
May I suggest finding a scratch recipe and storing the separate ingredients.
Flour, sugar, baking powder, dried milk, salt, and oil are all able to be stored long term separately. I haven’t tried to find dehydrated eggs yet or know the shelf life, but I’m sure they’re out there if you don’t have chickens or live in farm country.
@@KyleKalevramy thing with storing them separately is that to make soup for example, I’d have to open up 6 bags for a bit in each vs. 1 bag of mixed veggies for soup mix. Thoughts?
Yes, you can buy powdered eggs. I literally just watched a video before this to learn how to dehydrate them at home & make powdered.
Can we mylar bacon bits?? Anyone help?
This is the best and most important and most comprehensive video on mylar bag storage. Excellent summary
When his wife said "you can store a weapon in here with desiccant packets" can't decide if the look he gave her was more "I don't even know who you are anymore!" Or "and this is why I freaking love the heck out of this woman. Just listen to this rambo talk!"
Tip: Be careful sealing up anything hard with 'sharp' edges, like certain types of pasta. As the oxygen is absorbed and the mylar bag contracts around your food, any sharp, pointy bits can pierce the bag and let in air again, making the whole exercise pointless. Try something like a layer of kitchen paper or similar just to help prevent anything poking through the bag.
Orzo is a great storage pasta. It almost like storing rices, so it won't poke the bag, and you maximize the space in the bag.
Kitchen paper?
Do you talking about white freezer paper?
I put pasta in a gallon freezer bag and just leave it open on the end for sharp items like rice, pasta, etc.
Hikers use a paper bag. The bag can be used for starting fires later. Works though. If worried about the paper use butchers paper. It is tough.
Yes, I had this happen with banana chips too!
We are using foodsaver to vac seal some smaller bags of wheat and other things and then putting in 5 gal buckets. Just ordered some Wallaby mylar bags you recommended to do gallon bags of hard red wheat that came in 25 lb bag. Thank you for all your fun-to-watch, informative videos. Take care and be well.
I do to. Very little air in the bags
The bags will give you more time to use your food. The light is also a problem.
I watched another video where small strips of clean FoodSaver bags (the "bumpy" side) were placed in each corner of a regular mylar bag, overhanging a bit, and vacuum sealed; I plan to do that with some of my foods. 🙂
Saw an air force comment here. As an Ex navy, current DOD who uses vacuumed mylar for explosives almost weekly, here is what you do. Use a hair iron to seal 90% of the bag, leave just enough for your vacuum cleaner hose to fit. Use a piece of cloth to cover it, we use cheese cloth, and stick that sucker in there. Start it up and shake the bag around to ensure you get that sucker sucked. When it's as collapsed as it's gonna get use the iron to seal as close to the hose as you can and quickly pull the vacuum out while sealing the hole. If done correctly, you have a vacuum/heat seal bag.
If you suck at that. you can just pull the vacuum back as much as possible while still being in the bag and just use the iron to seal a couple inches deeper, in front of the vacuum, instead.
I want to use the large bas for buckets or totes but I am 66 and realize I don't lift 50 lb bags as easily as I used to. So I'm getting the smaller bags. Something for others to think about if this is long term storage how easily can you handle it later in life. Thanks for your videos I've learned a lot.
You can use those vacuum seal storage/space saving bags for things like 1st aid, fire starting stuff or anything else you want to stay dry…like spare clothes
You are always so fun to watch and educational without hysteria! 😁
Q1 Salt and sugar - how much longer will they store in a mylar bag (without oxygen absorbers)?
Q2 Can you store antibiotics sealed in their original plastic jars but with an oxygen absorber in the mylar bag?
Your videos really inspire me to get of my behind and do some more packing btw.
Hi, did you get an answer about the antibiotics? Thanks
@@charenejones Not yet
Following
Regarding the antibiotics: I think this would be the best way to store them long term. Oxygen will destroy nearly anything over time. But I think that vac sealing them first in a bag might make them last a little longer. The worse case scenario is that 20 years from now after SHTF they just don't work because of degradation and you have to rely on "natural" stuff. Keep some honey around! The real honey that granulates. Not the adulterated stuff with corn syrup.
New to prepping. Thank you for sharing your knowledge with us. We bought a 28 lb White Granulated Sugar from Auguson Farms it’s in a white plastic bucket. On the label it says, “Contains an oxygen absorber. Discard immediately upon opening.” Watching this video I’ve learned this is a big No! No! because the O2 absorber will harden the sugar like a brick. Why would Auguson do that. Should we take the O2 absorber out? But then if we do will we have to repackage it again? Thanks for all that you do!
I wouldn’t do anything now. That is really weird. Hopefully it was just a standard phrase on all their labels.
@@TheProvidentPrepper Thanks for replying, we’ve called Auguson and waiting for a call back for an explanation. We can hear the loose sugar inside the bucket & the packing date label says November 29, 2021.
Love such great infor! Also, thank you for praying for my family (wife, son, parents, grandmother) in Ukraine.
@@TheProvidentPrepper I had the first laser "surgery" to kill nerves last week. It appears that my next surgery will be to insert a "shock absorber" between L4 and L5.
@@TheProvidentPrepper My family, wife, son, her parents and grandmother, spend a lot of time during air strikes in a small basement and during very intense situations in a root cellar out in the garden area. Our adult son is part of a group that crawls out into areas where battles have stopped to pull wounded soldiers to safety and to retrieve those no longer alive. Food and water is scarce and finally day before yesterday they were able to visit a market to do some restocking. Thank you for praying!
Great content! So interesting and infornative! Thank you.
Two questions please.
1. How can foods with less than 10% moisture be easily identified by the novice prepper?
2. Again, novice prepper question - when packed and sealed with h2O absorbers, how should ready to store mylar packages look? ... like vacuumed food saver packages; or with noticeably visible and/or puffiness or pinchableness, etc.?
i am extremely confused about all the different opinions in the videos I've watched and articles I've read on this matter.
Thank you so much for your assistance.
I hope you and your family members are all well.
God bless you all.
Enjoy the rest of your week.
I would also like to know the answer to #1. For #2, you may see some shrinkage but you will see puffiness in most. The oxygen absorbers do not remove all of the air, they only remove oxygen.
Perfect timing. I just received my package of Mylar bags and absorbers, and my sealing wand.
A good way to buy and store spices and herbs is in bulk bags and store in mylar bags (sometimes they come in a mylar when buying in bulk) or canning jars with oxygen absorbers. It’s so much more cost affective, especially if you want organic. Little jars are so much more expensive per ounce.
Most informative prepping channel on youtube and clean and wholesome.
I love your content! I take an extra step for all glass containers and I have not seen anyone else do it. I use shrink wrap to cover the lids and about 1/3 down the containers. I noticed many glass containers at the store use at least a shrink wrap around the lid. I thought that was an excellent idea so I started to do it. It is an extra step for storing food but I feel much more comfortable using it to help prolong shelf life. It will help keep moisture out and protect the lids from corrosion. Since I am storing food to last years, I feel this can only help add extra protection. Shrink wrap pouches come in may sizes and both the pouches and a heat gun is very affordable. What do you think?
Interesting. I thought it was more as a safety seal, not for longer storage life.
What a great idea!
I do something similar. For any repurposed food jars I put a couple layers of cling wrap over the mouth of the jar before screwing on the lid. I've used beans and pasta after having been stored for several years this way and they were as good as ever
@@BlessedLifeOriginal I did that with sugar, baking powder and salt
The only question that I have not heard is how much O2 absorbers do you put in potato flakes, oats, flour, corn masa flour, NON Dry Fat Milk, cocoa, spices, sugar, salt corn meal mylar bags? Basically everything! Do you put an amount of 50, 100, 500 or 1,000 oxygen absorbers? Thank you for what you do for the community!
I enjoy your informative channel and how sweet the both of you are.
It's my understanding that it depends on the size of the bag you use. I saw this on a chart somewhere & wrote it down: 1 pint-100 cc; 1 quart-200 cc; 2 litre-300 cc; 1 gallon-500 cc; 5 gallon-2000 cc.
I've heard here no o2 absorber with sugar. It'll turn to brick
Thank you so much! This was awesome so nice that you respind not only to me but to other followers. Your content is ao yseful and presented in a friendly manner.
Thank you for helping us store foods for the future! You have a wonderful presentation. I try to watch all your videos.
I was curious about the best way to store dried fruit long term. I found this video so helpful. Thanks!
Good summary on mylar bags. Now I have to go check my baking soda packages to see if I used an OA. I would suggest people consider using parboiled white rice, rather than polished white rice as the polishing grinds off all the food value.
Don’t know if rice that’s parboiled is a long term keeper. Basmati white rice is supposed to be best long term kind. But having quick cooking or already cooked shelf stable rice in microwave containers is good to have. In case electricity goes out you can eat it right from the containers. 👍🏻
@@catfishm.1361 Parboiled is long term keeper. My understanding is you can get parboiled Basmati, but most here seems to long grain rice. Parboiled does also get ride of the oils. It uses water and a soak -- the tradition method (like Uncle Ben's). Polished uses sand to grind the kernel down.
@@theoldguy9329 Thanks for info, wasn’t sure about parboiled rice.👍🏻
seconding what Dan B said about watching out for sharp edges. whether vacuum sealing or oxygen absorbers (or just in a mylar bag) sharp edges can poke through plastic or mylar pretty fast!
Every one of your videos are so helpful. Thank you for all that you do!!
Very well done! Loads of good info on a short video!! And your knowledge base really shows...thank you, very much.
Kinda blown away that you can store multiple foods in one big mylar bag. I like this idea because I can now create almost an all in one bag of different foods to grab and go instead of opening all different types of foods at once.
Thank you for this great video! I was wondering about whether it would be possible to store garden seeds in mylar bags, either with or without an oxygen absorber. I know that there are ancient wheat berries that have managed to sprout after having been stored for ages, but how about storing other 'food to be' for the long term?
I read to not use an axygen absorber because they are alive
Καλημέρα σας. Ο καλύτερος τρόπος για να έχουμε φρέσκους και υγιείς σπόρους είναι να φυτεύουμε και να κραταμε κάθε χρόνο για τον επόμενο! Αν έχετε κήπο θα ήταν πολύ ωραίο να το κάνετε. Χαιρετισμούς από την Ελλάδα!
@@ΑΝΝΑΕΞΑΡΧΑΚΟΥ Thank you for your comment! I agree, having fresh seeds every year would be best. Unfortunately I have had a few failures which caused me to lose seeds (blight in tomatoes and such) so it would be nice to be able to keep some seeds for a longer time.
Thank you!!! This is exactly the video I needed to see today...perfect timing.
I have prepped since mid 80s and I have never needed to use mylar bags or absorbers for food .
Grain mills store grains , beans and more in open top bins for over 30 years sometimes before selling . I have just vacumed sealed in in sizes i need and
vacuumed . I have never had a issue in over 40 years .
Beans , grains and much more will last over 35-40 without mylar bag or
oxygen absorber . If they can stay good in open gran mills , they would be fine without mylar or oxygen absorber .
I ordered my 5 gallon wallaby bags. Getting my first 25 pounds of white wheat and red wheat and my 25 flour!
QUESTION 🙋♀️
What do you recommend to use to prevent pasta from poking the Mylar bags?
I have a lot of pasta that I’m getting ready to store in Wallaby 7 mil. Bags
Penne
Bow tie
Spaghetti
Veggie Rotini
Elbow large and small
I put mine into a paper lunch bag then into the mylar bags with oxygen absorbers. Hope this helps you.
I'm in UK, so I'm not sure if you get these in USA. Our Mushrooms come in a little plastic tub, that's covered in Cling film. I wash them out, thoroughly dry them, & put the Pasta in them, then I vaccuum seal them, they don't poke through. It might work with Mylar too. 👍
@@maxibake9323 thank you for your suggestion. 😀
@@kindragregory9920 👍🤗❤🙂🐶
Keep it in the box
This was a very informative video. Thanks for the list of items. It’s very helpful. I was wondering if I need to freeze the food ahead of time before storing them in the Mylar bags?
oh yes! Eggs, cheese, spaghetti, fruits, vegetables, some things you want to freeze before you place in freeze dryer, actually I always freeze it, you can freeze dry anything that does not have high fat content, then stick it in a mylar bag with an oxtgen asorber, I have been sticking some in suitcases to protect from rodents because can't use buckets for everything
You guys are great. Appreciate the good content you provide. Best wishes
I very much appreciate all of the great information you provide. Thank you both.
Right, Right, Right, Right, Right,
Rose Red Homestead show how to vacuum seal with mylar bags. She cuts off part of the tips of her food saver bags and puts one little one on each side of the top part of the mylar bag to create a channel and then vacuum seals. She has this particular video in her dehydrating videos playlist. So, find that one and watch it to see if that’s what you want to do.
Thank you guys for being refreshing and informative
You all are just awesome! Learning lots, thank you so much for sharing!!💜
Thanks for this list. Do you have lists for: Uses of silica gel packs / recommended for vacuum sealer bags / recommended canning jars vacuum sealing. I have my year's worth of preparations but am now investing in storing long term that I am not rotating through in a year. Love from London, Ontario, Canada.
I enjoyed this video! What would the expected shelf life of Quinoa be in a mylar bag sealed correctly with an appropriate oxygen obsorber? 10 years? 20 years?
A few months back I upgraded from a vacuum sealer to a chamber vac - personally I feel it was worth the moola - and it vacuum seals mylar amazingly well - and the plastic bags are so much cheaper than the food saver style bags/rolls
We have a chamber vac, too. We love it! My question is do we need to use an oxygen absorber, too?
@@berlygirl123 i don't...as you know you can set the pressure according to the food so it doesn't get squashed if its soft.
Yesterday I vacuum Shepard pie but had put the tray in the fridge to hardened it up n vacuum at 50 amd it didn't squash. I even vacuum seal pint jars in mine.
What I have done before is I will add a moisture pack to certain foods as I do not have ideal storage
@@2012spacetraveler Thank you!
Which one do you have? I like my big Foodsaver but I like the idea of the chamber vac. What's the tallest jar?
@@cindyjohnson5242 i have the AvidArmour USV32....I can do pint jars by lying them down... my friend bought a chamber vacuum from Vacmaster and he can do both pints and quarts....along with bigger bags. But they're twice as much and more industrial.
How do you know what the moisture content of food is in the store ?
Almost everything you listed i make in soup bags. I use all the dry goods and make 2500 calorie and 10,000 calorie soup mixes. But I vacuum seal them with an O2 absorber. I have enough food in my basement for my family for 20 years or so. It is very time consuming lol, but you never know.
How do you do this? You should make a video!!
Love you guys. You are such a big help in these times.
As always thanks for making and sharing your videos.
Love you guys.. Excellent content your enthusiasm drives me in my quest for knowledge.. Cheers 👍👍
QUESTION 🙋♀️
I have gotten a great deal on 50 - 1 pound bags of rice. I would like to leave the rice in the 1 pound bags for long term food storage. ????
Could you please tell me how would be the best way to long term store them both ways?
Mylar bags?
5 gallon buckets?
Any suggestions?
Fantastic video. Thanks.
You answered a lot of questions I had. Thank you,
Thank you !!! I purchased mylars for prep, now I know.
I just thought of another question! 🤔🤣:
Are there longer-lasting alternative lid options for mason jars that last longer than the traditional canning lids? I noticed that my most recent purchase only guaranteed 18 months, and I understood that they were supposed to work for up to five years. Are there standard screw-on lids that could be used with oxygen absorbers for long term storage? (I saw a reusable Ball brand lid, but wasn’t sure if it would be a valid alternative.) And would they extend the storage life of the products within, assuming that you stored them without exposure to light and moisture?
The 18 month life is magically a minimum guarantee that they have tested and can recommend. However that is for canning. The best way to have a long term seal in canning jars is to use a food saver attachment to vacuum seal the jar lid by removing the air inside the jar. You can buy attachments that fit regular mouth or wide mouth lids and attach to the vacuum sealer on Amazon
Since corn is mostly a GMO crop and popcorn is NOT, I store popcorn to make cornmeal..it works very well!
Can you please give more information on butter in mylar?
Is cornmeal like flour? What is it?
How do you know for sure a food is below 10% moisture? Is there a tool to measure it?
I was just going to ask a similar question. I know you can determine the moisture content by weighing something before and after dehydration. But is there possibly a way to "guess" by fat or oil content (or something like that)?
Just store only dry foods, no risk. And anything with oils of any kind are not long term. No oil,no fats including butter fats. Nuts are not long term, instant coffee keeps pretty much forever because the oils are removed. Coffee beans won’t keep.
@@catfishm.1361 Hi. Thanks for sharing that info. Would you know if ground coffee is a candidate for short term in mylar bags?. lets say 3-5 years? . I know coffee beans have lost of oils, but how about once in grounded?. thank you.
@@lizbethmagdaleno4226 I think ground coffee can keep that long in mylar bags. Instant is only coffee without oils. So it keeps the longest.👍🏻
@@catfishm.1361 Thank you!
White rice- freeze dried vegetables- freeze dried fruit-potato flakes with out allot of fat-. buckwheat- all kinds of beans-chick peas- lentils-what berries- white flour - corn masa flour - corn meal- dried pasta-non fat powered milk - instant coffee- spices- tea-Hershey's cocoa- granulated sugar with no O2 absorber- sugar drink mix with no O2-baking powder no O2- baking soda noO2- salt no O2
chocolate is its own food group according to Keileen. I put moisture absorbers instead of oxygen absorbers in the bags when I store salts and sugars in mylar bags
Thank you for such great information and as always fun to watch. Would you please clarify for me (and maybe others) when you say long term and short term storage life for the food you presented in this video, How long is that?
Great tip storing cocoa powder in a mylar bag! I couldn't imagine life without it.
Dried peas are great long term storage. I also dry can a lot of beans and grains.
I love your videos but I always wondered how long these individual food items can really last long term. 2 years, 5 years? Could you point me to a reference maybe?
I just bought some Wallaby and a flat iron! Thank you.
Wonderful video. Thank you so much ❤️🙏❤️
I simply can't afford a freeze dryer right now but I've been dehydrating fruits and veggies. Will those last in mylar with ox absorbers? Thanks for this info🙏🏻💜👍
Great insights! Appreciate the info! I perfer this over the foodsaver plastic.
Do you have any experience storing whey protein in mylar bags???
Would it extend its shelf life???
Any way that it can be compared to your experience with other foods???
Love the channel 😀
Thanks!!! 😊
I’ve seen it in emergency food buckets. They say 25 years.
Y'all are awesome! Thanks for the video!
I purchase pancake mix in bulk that came in a sealed plastic bag. Should I remove the bag it came in before I store in Mylar?
Hello, i only just found yr page and im so glad i did ! Im trying to prep for the future and i have a question please. You mentioned to heat seal the mylar bags after fillimg them with yr food stuff. My question is, do you have to keep heat sealing the bag everytime you open it up to ise whats inside it?
So much great information. I’ve been binge watching. Could you please tell me about cereal ( Cheerio) and instant mashed potatoes? Thank you
Thank you for the mylar bag presentation. Would you be willing to offer your thoughts on storage with devices like Food Saver that uses roll plastic (with or without oxygen absorber packets)?
- How does this compare to mylar?
- In what food situations/conditions should there be concern about molds?
Foodsaver bags tend to leak, often within year. Mylar bags of decent tbinkness do not, I sometimes do portions in Foodsaver bags (with a small, OA) and put them in bigger mylar bags (tea bags, home grown dried herbs, etc.),
I have been storing in vacuum sealed bags 2 yrs now, Pasta, cornmeal, oats, all types of beans, flour, pancake mix, teas, milos, quik, powdered seasoning, potato flakes, you name it I freeze items, thaw at room temp vacuum seal, without oxygen absorbers.
N all items are as if just bought,
Now using brown rice i stored in 2020 n 2021..these were frozen , thawed, pour in air tight buckets with bay leaves n silica gel..rice as good as if just bought.
And my country is a hot country, I keep it all in Ac room.n fridges..
@@theoldguy9329 Good thoughts. Thank you.
Would you recommend using mylar bags and oxygen absorbers for short term food storage(months-1 year) provided that the climate is mediterranean or is there a better/ more efficient way for short term storage?
Great tips! As always. In a related question, I just got my freeze dryer this week and I’m already on my 3rd batch.😀 I’m already seeing how much more storage room these Mylar bags take than my dehydrated items, which has been my go-to for years. I’m storing for a large family and seem to be running out of storage space. I would sure be interested in any tips you have for accommodating these bulkier bags, and any other storage tips you have. Thank you! -Natalie
Awesome! Have you seen the price of freeze dried food? You are gonna save a fortune! I'm freeze drying shredded cheese right now-it was 15 bucks for 5lbs of shredded cheese, my grandbabies are gonna have cheese :)
Put beds up on blocks and place mylar bags in some under the bed totes. Or even under the sofa if possible. We had to be creative when living in a small apartment. we made end tables of food storage totes covered with ruffled table clothes. We even took out our waterbed bladder in the late 80s and laid out bags of wheat that had been double bagged in tough plastic and put a mattress topper over the top and slept on it for almost a year. ( I do not recommend, quite lumpy. lol) Then we made a custom bed that was 3 #10 cans tall so that we could keep all that wheat UNDER the bed in those cans. Still got a lot of that wheat. We were young college students and put every tax return into food storage. It turned out to be very advantageous during those lean times.
Can freeze dried fruits and veggies be stored at room temperature?
Good information, answered a couple of questions on storage.
Thanks for sharing the video, it answered some questions I had.
Thank you so much for this info. on best practices for long-term storage with mylar bags!
Can oxygen absorbers be used with long-term storage of peanut butter powder as well as milk powder?
@@TheProvidentPrepper thank you for this advice. The peanut butter powder has a 3 year expiration period per the original packaging, perhaps this is a reasonable storage estimate.
Your videos have help us so much. Thank you! Question: What about yeast to make bread? How is the best way to store yeast and how long does it last? Will Mylar bags keep it fresh longer?
Also, dried Cat Food. Can I put that in the Mylar bag?
Put the yeast in the freezer. Lasts forEHver!
@@gailgale2375 probably too much fat and moisture for Mylar
Truly a wonderful video. Question on preserving whey protein powder, I'm not sure of the moisture content but it certainly appears to be preservable. Is it best left in the factory plastic hard containers or mylar bags with/without O2 absorbers? Thanks! I just subscribed!
Great Video...thanks. If I put a bunch of bean bags in a mylar bag, and then take one bag out...can you just reseal it? Or...do you have to eat all the various bean bags that remain in the bean mylar bag?
I just. Received my 25 pounds of red and 25 pounds of white wheat berries. I’ve got gamma lid containers coming from Amazon. I’m going to clean the containers of course, then dump the berries in individual containers. Do I need to put O2 absorbers in the container? I’ll be using up my all purpose flour first, then going into the wheat berries lastly. But something tells me I don’t need O2 absorbers in those gamma lid containers? Yes? No? Thank you for all the information you provided!! I follow your advice always…..Thank you!! Connie from Michigan
@@TheProvidentPrepper It sure did!! Thank you so much!! Mylar bag, 300cc 02absorbers in the Mylar bag, put Mylar bag in gamma buckets, seal the Mylar ( I iron mine) and put gamma lid on. I think I didn’t go in order, but I get it. Thank you again!! ♥️
Question on the corn meal. Can you store it with an oxygen absorber? What is the estimated shelf life when doing so?
Great information!
I am very new to this storage process. Your video was super helpful. I was wondering about Jiffy corn muffin mix and pie crust mix?
Hey thanks for the video. I have 1 question. is it better to store the freeze dried coffe in the original glass jar rather than in a mylar bag with oxygen absorber? Im thinking if the shelf life is the same
Could you put a 1kg/2.2lb bag of white rice as is but with a little cut on the rice bag etc directly into a mylar bag with an OA outside the bag of slightly opened bag of rice but inside the mylar bag still rather than just tipping it all into the mylar bag?
I have bought craisins (dried cranberries)and dehydrated blueberries. Would oxygen absorbers in a vacuum sealed mason jar work and would I also need a moisture absorber?
Thank you so much I just received my Mylar bags!!
Thanks for the great advice!
I've seen your video about O2 absorbers and the size needed for glass jars, do you have a video about which size absorbers for certain size mylar bags?
Very helpful! Thank you!
How would I store soups and pastas such as knorr and bear creek brands. great channel. my wife and I love you guys. stay safe
Thank you for all the great information. Questions, is Jasmine Rice a candidate for long term storage (30 yrs) or only regular white rice?
And to confirm, we can store granulated sugar in a Mylar bag with an oxygen absorber?
I guess other types of sugar like turbinado, raw, monk fruit, demerara, brown and powdered sugar are best left in the original packaging and stored in a plastic bucket?
Thanks for all your guidance!
Sugar is fine sealed in mylar. But an O2 absorber will turn it into a rock.
They had jasmine rice in the video for storage with oxygen absorbers. They said white rice stores very well.
@@handmadewithlove6720 - Yes, Jasmine and also, my favorite, Basmati, will store as well as regular white rice.
What are your recommendations for storing jerky? Mylar bag? Oxygen absorber? How long will it last? Thank you! New subscriber, love the channel. So much good info!!!
I was told Jerky cannot be stored in mylar bags. It's mosture content is high assuming you are talking about store purchased. The items being placed inside mylar bags should be dry enough to snap. So, no I personally would not run the risk but it's great for short term in original packaging.
Thank you sooo much! Love the channel
thank you very much for your help and time but just to confirm the lentils n all other food storage bag we need cut the edge n then put the oxygen absorbers zen put in mylar bags ???
Good informational video , thanks for sharing ,God bless !
Awesome! Thank yall
This was excellent. I'd like more info on moisture absorbers. When do we use those?
Great and concise info, thanks!
I don’t understand if the things they mention, like rice, potato flakes, dry beans, etc. are supposed to be opened from their original packaging and dumped into the Mylar bag or do I just keep those things in their bag or box and put it that way into the Mylar bag.
Take it out in the bag or box and put in mylar and oxygen absorber
Thank you for all your videos! I cannot find this answer anywhere...can I store risotto in mylar bags with O2 absorbers also? Also, I see where no one recommends storing pearled barley in mylar bags with O2 absorbers...what is the best way to store this then? thank you in advance
Both are dry so the answer is yes