Please check the integrity of your mylar bags as we found microscopic pin holes in the bags. Test them by going to a dark room (ie. bathroom) and with the lights off put a flashlight inside of the bag look for any light on the outside of the bags.
I place the whole bag of flour in the 5 gallon bucket in it's orginal packaging which is not air tight. I place a 3000cc oxygen absorber in the bucket, cover it then use my vaccum sealer to seal the bucket. I also put a bay leaf inside the bucket to deter bugs. I use food grade buckets that I can buy used for $3 cdn with the lids. I just bought 25 buckets for $75 cdn.
freezer is the secret ,keeps the flour fresh , you can use freezer twice ,put the flour in the freezer for 3-4 days then take it out and let it come in a room temperature and then put it in the freezer for one more time ,every egg-bug will die then its ready fore storage thank you
If you seal flour in mylar bags n suck oxygen out bugs cant live . I skip freezer step because nothing can servive without oxygen. I put flour in paper lunch bags and fold top over a couple times n then into bags n then suck air out it then goes onto 5 gal bucket and lid goes on. That way I can take out 3 lbs about in each bag at a time.
Sadly this has not been the case for us, so freezing is essential. We lost a LOT of dry goods by skipping the freezing step, even with mylar, oxygen absorbers, and using a vacuum system to remove the air. Not sure how or what happened, but I don't want to risk it again! :-)
Thank you for them information. Haven’t been getting notification on your videos. Went back and checked it see if I was still subscribed. I was, I’ve got a lot of new videos to watch. Thank you for being a great teacher!😊Regina
You might consider to seal smaller portions at a time. Once you open that 5 gallon bag, all of the food product is exposed. Take a 5 gallon bag, cut it in half. Pour in, seal the bottom half. Then seal the bottom of the cut off piece. Fill it. Then seal it. Now, you used one bag for two fills and only expose half of the product at a time. Might help reduce the exposure when it comes to rodent or pest damage also.
Just passing by due to being up next recommended video. Freezing dry goods does not kill all bugs. Some bugs hibernate when it's cold, even at freeing temperatures under 0°. I have had bugs in my bread flour even after placing in the freezer for 4 days. So, I decided to heat my flour at or just above 200° in a pan, kettle or mason jars. I've been canning/jarring perishable and non-perishable foods for over 37 years. I'm not deterring how viewers process or determine their methods on canning, I'm just suggesting ideas.
I live in Michigan, if I’m going to store flour, I’ll leave it outside in the freezing cold for three days, and I use painters tape to write on. Should I choose to rep purposes the buckets at a later date
What you just demonstrated right now was no different than leaving the flower In its own original bagging, what you needed to do was put an oxygen absorber inside the Mylar bag. That's the difference in prolonging the life and the natural taste of the flour, is the oxygen absorbers, it will kill anything living or any bacteria in there, Because nothing can live without oxygen or humidity. So no, this is not a good video.
Home Depot orange buckets are not food grade safe but if you use a mylar bag in them it’s ok. Unlike the food grade buckets from Azure you don’t have to use mylar bag’s.
I store 1 canister of whole wheat flower in the freezer immediately after grinding to keep it fresh. I use this flower to make sour dough bread when needed which is also immediately put into the freezer after it is baked. I store the wheat berries which I grind the flower out of in 1/2 gallon mason jars which I evacuate with a vacuum pump. I believe that there is not enough air left in the jar for eggs to hatch and ruin the wheat. I did do a test where I put hatched out moths in an evacuated jar and after about 3 days they died. Storing the wheat in smaller 1/2 gallon jars gives less of a chance for a single infestation from ruining 5 gallons of wheat and there is no way rodents will get into the jars.
Thank you! It's actually bit hit with a mallet many times, it's a far down as it will go. Thank you again so much, that would have been awful if it had settled!
We don't, I have done a lot of testing and the oxygen absorbers didn't make a difference at all when the bag is sealed properly, and the air is pushed out reasonably. So we save the money and don't add them :-)
Not currently, but here's a summary of the video: 1. Put any flour in the freezer for at least 24 hours (I prefer 72) 2. Remove bags and let it come to room temp overnight 3. Place a 5 gal mylar bag into a clean 5 gallon bucket (I get mine from Home Depot) 4. Fill the bags with 20 pounds of flour 5. Use an iron and wooden board to seal the very top edge of the bag, leaving the last 3" open. 6. Push out any air and seal the rest of the bag. 7. Put the lid on securely, and store in a cool dry place. I hope that helps!
Because whole wheat is not our preferred flour type, though we do also have a large supply of berries and a grinder. Many people prefer having all-purpose flour, so I wanted to show them how to store it. :-)
Thank you for your video. You could skip the freezing because the Oxygen Absorbers will make the environment impossible for bugs to live in. I picked up a straight Iron for hair at the thrift store for $5 and it's the rig for sealing Mylar, IMHO. A 10kg (22lbs) bag of flour last this family unity about two months when we're baking bread. We seem to be having a break from that at the moment. We rotate about four to six bags of flour and I'm down to two at the moment. I just packed away 100kg of flour in Mylar and I believe it's good for at least ten years. So I'm just going to keep buying fresh while I can and keep the stash stashed. I expect if I ever need to get into it, my consumption may well have changed a little because I have almost a ton of whole Wheat that I could Mill and mix fifty/fifty with the white flour and make it last a little longer. I do have buckets full of products that will not be harmed by freezing and it never gets too warm where they are stashed BUT! There's always the threat of rodents. We live above a Harbor with a Fish Plant, ... it's a constant thing here. I have Bait stations, traps, and leave an access to easy food for them so they don't bother with the buckets, and it works, so far anyway. I really stay on top of things like rodents. Keep up the great work and good luck.
Awesome! I'm glad you have been able to do all of that! Sadly, we haven't had a good experience skipping the freezing part. We tend to do a bunch of testing, so we had some bags that we frozen, some we didn't... some with oxygen absorbers, some without... and when I opened a sealed bag that had the "proper" amount of oxygen absorbers, but hadn't been frozen, I found a bunch of live moths. It was awful! But all the bags we freeze and seal in this method have been fine. I know lots of people who do it your way too, and as long as it works, I'm all for it! It just didn't work for us :-(
@A Modern Homestead oh that's awful about moths in the bag with oxygen absorbers, was always lead to believe nothing would survive. Would your absorbers have been bad?
This is poor advice even/especially if oxygen absorbers had been included. When you put flour into the freezer, and then take it out, moisture will condense into it. That's liable to ruin the flour in any case. BUT if you include oxygen absorbers, you just made a moist, oxygen-free environment---the perfect conditions for growing the bacteria that cause botulism. Since it's difficult to fully dry out flour, and bread is typically not baked at the temperatures necessary to destroy botulinum toxin, it is better to mylar package the flour as dry as you can keep it with oxygen absorbers (proportionate to the bag volume) and the best airtight seal you can make.
I didn't see you put oxygen absorber in the flour
Please check the integrity of your mylar bags as we found microscopic pin holes in the bags. Test them by going to a dark room (ie. bathroom) and with the lights off put a flashlight inside of the bag look for any light on the outside of the bags.
I place the whole bag of flour in the 5 gallon bucket in it's orginal packaging which is not air tight. I place a 3000cc oxygen absorber in the bucket, cover it then use my vaccum sealer to seal the bucket. I also put a bay leaf inside the bucket to deter bugs. I use food grade buckets that I can buy used for $3 cdn with the lids. I just bought 25 buckets for $75 cdn.
Where do you buy your used buckets?
freezer is the secret ,keeps the flour fresh , you can use freezer twice ,put the flour in the freezer for 3-4 days then take it out and let it come in a room temperature and then put it in the freezer for one more time ,every egg-bug will die then its ready fore storage thank you
If you seal flour in mylar bags n suck oxygen out bugs cant live . I skip freezer step because nothing can servive without oxygen. I put flour in paper lunch bags and fold top over a couple times n then into bags n then suck air out it then goes onto 5 gal bucket and lid goes on. That way I can take out 3 lbs about in each bag at a time.
Sadly this has not been the case for us, so freezing is essential. We lost a LOT of dry goods by skipping the freezing step, even with mylar, oxygen absorbers, and using a vacuum system to remove the air. Not sure how or what happened, but I don't want to risk it again! :-)
Thank you for them information. Haven’t been getting notification on your videos. Went back and checked it see if I was still subscribed. I was, I’ve got a lot of new videos to watch. Thank you for being a great teacher!😊Regina
I'm glad you made it back! :)
@@AModernHomestead me toooo! Thank you!😊
You might consider to seal smaller portions at a time. Once you open that 5 gallon bag, all of the food product is exposed. Take a 5 gallon bag, cut it in half. Pour in, seal the bottom half. Then seal the bottom of the cut off piece. Fill it. Then seal it. Now, you used one bag for two fills and only expose half of the product at a time. Might help reduce the exposure when it comes to rodent or pest damage also.
Can you use a hair flat iron to close the mylar bags?
Where is the oxygen absorber???
Just passing by due to being up next recommended video.
Freezing dry goods does not kill all bugs. Some bugs hibernate when it's cold, even at freeing temperatures under 0°. I have had bugs in my bread flour even after placing in the freezer for 4 days. So, I decided to heat my flour at or just above 200° in a pan, kettle or mason jars.
I've been canning/jarring perishable and non-perishable foods for over 37 years.
I'm not deterring how viewers process or determine their methods on canning, I'm just suggesting ideas.
True, they may hibernate, but not forever. So once they wake up, they will die
Thank you!! I needed to know all of this!
Where is oxygen absorber?
I live in Michigan, if I’m going to store flour, I’ll leave it outside in the freezing cold for three days, and I use painters tape to write on. Should I choose to rep purposes the buckets at a later date
I store flour with bay leaves
Love that! Do you freeze it first?
@@AModernHomestead yes
Same!
What do you put the flour?
I’m not doing thing’s right 🤪
How do you do pasta?
What you just demonstrated right now was no different than leaving the flower In its own original bagging, what you needed to do was put an oxygen absorber inside the Mylar bag. That's the difference in prolonging the life and the natural taste of the flour, is the oxygen absorbers, it will kill anything living or any bacteria in there, Because nothing can live without oxygen or humidity. So no, this is not a good video.
Home Depot orange buckets are not food grade safe but if you use a mylar bag in them it’s ok. Unlike the food grade buckets from Azure you don’t have to use mylar bag’s.
I store 1 canister of whole wheat flower in the freezer immediately after grinding to keep it fresh. I use this flower to make sour dough bread when needed which is also immediately put into the freezer after it is baked. I store the wheat berries which I grind the flower out of in 1/2 gallon mason jars which I evacuate with a vacuum pump. I believe that there is not enough air left in the jar for eggs to hatch and ruin the wheat. I did do a test where I put hatched out moths in an evacuated jar and after about 3 days they died. Storing the wheat in smaller 1/2 gallon jars gives less of a chance for a single infestation from ruining 5 gallons of wheat and there is no way rodents will get into the jars.
The corner of your shelf isn’t full seated at the 6:22 point in the video, please address that before you lose everything on that shelf. Great video
Thank you! It's actually bit hit with a mallet many times, it's a far down as it will go. Thank you again so much, that would have been awful if it had settled!
Awesome video
Four days in the freezer is pretty standard.
Does anyone know of a safe way to nitrogen purge containers prior to sealing?
Maybe I missed it, but did you use oxygenabsorbers?
We don't, I have done a lot of testing and the oxygen absorbers didn't make a difference at all when the bag is sealed properly, and the air is pushed out reasonably. So we save the money and don't add them :-)
In the UK those buckets are invariably $30+
No oxygen absorber?
WHAT I WOULDN’T GIVE FOR ALL-PURPOSE EINKORN FLOUR. Can not get that in Alberta anymore…
I'm so sorry to hear that! :-(
no oxygen absorber or anything?
Thank you for your instructions on storing flour … not sure if I missed it but how long will the flour last when stored?
10+ years if done this way and stored in a cool dry place 😊
@@AModernHomesteadDear madam, is it possible to do this method with whole weat flour? Thamk you.
@@daniellacansancaopopovic1898 Yes! You can use this method for beans, rice, and any type of flour you'd like. Enjoy!
didn't use oxygen absorbers?
Do you have this in written form, Please?
Not currently, but here's a summary of the video:
1. Put any flour in the freezer for at least 24 hours (I prefer 72)
2. Remove bags and let it come to room temp overnight
3. Place a 5 gal mylar bag into a clean 5 gallon bucket (I get mine from Home Depot)
4. Fill the bags with 20 pounds of flour
5. Use an iron and wooden board to seal the very top edge of the bag, leaving the last 3" open.
6. Push out any air and seal the rest of the bag.
7. Put the lid on securely, and store in a cool dry place.
I hope that helps!
written for? put it in a bag and seal it up
I'm curious, would vacuum sealing do the same as the mylar bags? I can't get mylar bags where I am, have to import and stupid money
Vaccum sealing works great. I have done it for years
Why don't you buy the eincorn berries and then grind it when you need it?
Because whole wheat is not our preferred flour type, though we do also have a large supply of berries and a grinder. Many people prefer having all-purpose flour, so I wanted to show them how to store it. :-)
So what is your definition of "long term storage"? in a cool, dry place how long can you store flour like this?
Theoretically, 10-15 years. I haven’t tested it that long (because it gets used and replaced), but we’ve used it after 3 years and it’s great.
Thx!@@AModernHomestead
Thank you for your video.
You could skip the freezing because the Oxygen Absorbers will make the environment impossible for bugs to live in.
I picked up a straight Iron for hair at the thrift store for $5 and it's the rig for sealing Mylar, IMHO.
A 10kg (22lbs) bag of flour last this family unity about two months when we're baking bread. We seem to be having a break from that at the moment.
We rotate about four to six bags of flour and I'm down to two at the moment.
I just packed away 100kg of flour in Mylar and I believe it's good for at least ten years. So I'm just going to keep buying fresh while I can and keep the stash stashed.
I expect if I ever need to get into it, my consumption may well have changed a little because I have almost a ton of whole Wheat that I could Mill and mix fifty/fifty with the white flour and make it last a little longer.
I do have buckets full of products that will not be harmed by freezing and it never gets too warm where they are stashed BUT! There's always the threat of rodents. We live above a Harbor with a Fish Plant, ... it's a constant thing here.
I have Bait stations, traps, and leave an access to easy food for them so they don't bother with the buckets, and it works, so far anyway.
I really stay on top of things like rodents.
Keep up the great work and good luck.
Awesome! I'm glad you have been able to do all of that!
Sadly, we haven't had a good experience skipping the freezing part. We tend to do a bunch of testing, so we had some bags that we frozen, some we didn't... some with oxygen absorbers, some without... and when I opened a sealed bag that had the "proper" amount of oxygen absorbers, but hadn't been frozen, I found a bunch of live moths. It was awful! But all the bags we freeze and seal in this method have been fine.
I know lots of people who do it your way too, and as long as it works, I'm all for it! It just didn't work for us :-(
@@nanmaco Lol! That's one way to look at it! :-)
@A Modern Homestead oh that's awful about moths in the bag with oxygen absorbers, was always lead to believe nothing would survive. Would your absorbers have been bad?
How do store flour
Hi Teresa! I did a whole video on that here
Do you us oxygen absorbers. Just sayen.
Why don't you just vac pack it?
why would I like and subscribe in 30 seconds into this video means it's false I just want money
It doesn’t cost anything to subscribe
This is poor advice even/especially if oxygen absorbers had been included. When you put flour into the freezer, and then take it out, moisture will condense into it. That's liable to ruin the flour in any case. BUT if you include oxygen absorbers, you just made a moist, oxygen-free environment---the perfect conditions for growing the bacteria that cause botulism. Since it's difficult to fully dry out flour, and bread is typically not baked at the temperatures necessary to destroy botulinum toxin, it is better to mylar package the flour as dry as you can keep it with oxygen absorbers (proportionate to the bag volume) and the best airtight seal you can make.
No oxygen absorbers?
Nope. We've done a lot of tests and the OA made zero difference while the freezing step was crucial :-)